TELLS HOW GEORGE VISITED THE HOUSE IN CROWN STREET
The broad-fronted brick mansion in Crown Street was much like its
master. It spoke eloquently of the days gone by; its furnishing and
appointments clung as tenaciously to things past as did the political
beliefs of their owner.
A serving man in livery of blue and white admitted them; and the
merchant at once led George into a room where they found Major Hyde and
the dragoon, Henderson, lounging.
“Gentlemen,” said the old Tory, most ceremoniously, “I desire to
present you to a young gentleman who did me a service some time since.
Mr. Prentiss--Major Hyde--Captain Henderson.”
Both officers greeted the young man cordially.
“We had the good luck to meet with him when he first came to New
York,” said Hyde. Then with a laugh, he added: “Though we did not
consider it good luck at the time, judging by our greetings.”
“’Pon my word,” said the dragoon, earnestly, “I was never so completely
pinked over anything in my life. Would you believe it,” to the
merchant, “I selected him as one to try my wit upon. And he flayed me,
sir. He flayed me.”
The old Tory laughed.
“I can well believe it. He’s a good up-standing lad in more ways than
one, I promise you.” Then after some further conversation, he said:
“But I’ll leave him here with you for a few moments. I have some small
matters to see to.”
When George met the merchant in the street, the sky was rapidly
becoming overcast, and the wind raising eddies of dust; and as they
entered the house, large scattering drops began to fall. Now, as the
old gentleman left the room, the storm broke, and torrents of driving
rain dashed against the windows.
“Hello, hello!” cried Henderson, “here’s a state of things, ’pon my
soul! There’s rain enough for you, major, in all conscience.”
“Ring for lights, there’s a good fellow,” said Major Hyde.
Languidly the fop arose and did as requested; in a few moments the fine
old apartment was yellowed with candle-light. Major Hyde sat back in
the corner of a sofa and studied young Prentiss with speculative eyes.
Noting this, Henderson turned to the young New Englander and said:
“These days keep some of you fellows on the jump, eh?”
“I’ve used up three horses in the last fortnight,” said George, “and I
did what I could to save them, too. And others have been kept moving
more briskly than I, by all accounts.”
“It seems the very deuce to get things settled for a fight,” complained
the fop. “I always fancied it was a very simple arrangement--one side
here and the other side there, and then go at it like all possessed.
But it’s really like the plot of a play; everything must be settled and
accounted for before a blow is struck.”
A rattling volley of thunder rolled along the sky; then a dash of
lightning lit up all outdoors and showed them Crown Street running
torrents of water.
“Of late,” said young Prentiss, “I have seen but little of either of
you.”
“We’ve been with Greene,” answered Major Hyde. “Indeed, within the
week that we invited you to share our quarters in Wall Street, we were
forced to give it up and transfer to a barn of a place beyond Brooklyn.”
“Not fit for beasts to live in, let alone gentlemen,” said the dragoon
officer. “I assure you,” earnestly, “I’ve never been asked to put up
with such accommodations before.”
George Prentiss had no great tolerance for complaints of this
character; popinjay soldiers who required to lie soft and live at their
ease were scarcely the sort to win battles. But he answered smilingly:
“We had rough quarters enough before Boston. Sod huts and ramshackle
affairs built of planks were considered luxurious; and many a winter
night some of us slept on the ground beside a camp-fire.”
“At Boston, Mr. Prentiss, you were employed in a variety of ways, were
you not?”
“Like many others,” replied the young New Englander, “I was willing to
give what service I could.”
“Ah, yes, to be sure. But I have heard it hinted that your service took
many uncommon forms. Your specialty was, in the main, the flanking of
the enemy, not the facing of him.”
“I have done my share of the secret work that our necessities
required,” said George, “though I never had any partiality or even
liking for that form of the service. But some one had to do it, and why
not I as well as another?”
“True enough.” Major Hyde settled himself farther back in the corner of
the sofa; his hands were clasped about one knee; his eyes were peering
and slit-like. “Of course,” he resumed, easily, “when a person acquires
a reputation for a certain thing--especially when he has proven very
satisfactory in it, indeed--he naturally is given the preference when
work of that sort is needed.”
George nodded.
“Yes,” said he, quietly, “I suppose that is so.”
“General Putnam,” and Major Hyde laughed, “is a direct and rather
simple-minded man. He was aware of the quality of your service, I know;
and I suppose he did not hesitate to use you when occasion demanded.”
“I have undertaken some small enterprises for General Putnam,” answered
George.
“Since you came to New York?”
“Yes; and before.”
There was a moment’s silence. The foppish dragoon had sat twiddling his
thumbs; apparently he now fancied that the time had arrived for him to
venture into the conversation once more; so he leaned toward George.
“Perhaps,” said he, “you’d not mind----” but here a sharp gesture from
his friend cut him short. George sat facing a window; and, engaged in
watching the play of the lightning and the dash of the rain upon the
glass, he gave no sign of having noted the interruption.
“When a man of parts is employed in special service,” said Major Hyde,
“it is naturally expected that he use his own discretion in many ways.”
Again George nodded. But this time he said nothing.
“But,” proceeded the other, and the slits between his eyes grew
narrower and narrower, “there is, I think, a point at which a line
should be drawn. He should not be privileged to exercise his discretion
in all things. Limitations should be set.”
“I agree with you,” said the youth.
“In the securing of information,” said the major, “he must, of course,
be at liberty to do as he sees fit. But after it is secured--it is
there that the line should be drawn.”
“I don’t think I quite follow your meaning,” said George, vaguely.
At another time his naturally keen perception would have given him
some indication as to the officer’s direction; but truth to tell,
George had, for the last few moments, ceased following the speaker very
closely.
The window through which he was gazing out upon the storm was bowed,
and very large. It was hung with heavy curtains that were only partly
drawn; and during the latter portion of Major Hyde’s remarks, George
detected something like a movement behind these which had taken his
attention.
“There is some one there,” flashed through the young man’s mind. “Some
one who is listening.” However, now that he was sure of the state of
affairs, his self-possession returned; he gave his attention to the
speaker, all the time watching the curtain with the tail of his eye.
Major Hyde was frowning a little, but at the same time he kept a smile
playing about his lips.
“I will make my meaning clear,” said he. “Some time ago I had a man
servant who pleased me very much. He had a rare judgment in the matters
that came within his province, and a close tongue. But--now, mark
this--I found after some time that the close tongue did not always
operate in my favor. He had a habit of receiving messages and then
retailing to me those parts of them that he considered I should hear.”
“He was not lacking in presumption, along with his other qualities,”
said George.
“I am inclined to agree with you,” remarked Major Hyde, drily. “He
should have given me a choice at least, as to what parts I considered
of no consequence.”
“Very impudent, ’pon my word,” observed Henderson.
“I am of the same opinion,” spoke George Prentiss. “But,” and he looked
at Major Hyde composedly, “I am still rather at loss. Just what is your
meaning? Somehow all this seems to apply to me. If I am wrong in this I
beg of you to say so.”
“You are not wrong,” said Major Hyde.
“No,” put in the dragoon, “you are right.”
“General Putnam,” said Major Hyde, “employed you upon a certain
occasion. I suppose you recall this, and also the nature of the
employment. Being very intimate with headquarters affairs at the time,
I was well informed in the matter. But I know that it resulted in
nothing.”
“Go on,” said George.
“I mean that through motives of your own, you withheld certain
information. You knew that a certain person--who for the moment shall
be nameless--was concerned in machinations against the new government,
and yet you did not denounce him.”
Footsteps could be heard coming along the corridor. George regarded the
speaker fixedly.
“How do you know that I did not?” he asked.
“By the barrenness of the result; if you had done your duty, arrests
would have been made.”
Here Mr. Camp reëntered the room; he carried a paper, apparently a
letter, in his hand; and his face was beaming.
“Gentlemen,” said he, “will you do me the pleasure of walking this way?”
Major Hyde and Henderson at once arose and George did likewise. They
passed into a room where a table was laid with much silver and delicate
ware.
“Being short-handed,” apologized the old merchant, “I must do duty
myself.” Then to George: “I sent most of my servants away yesterday.”
When he had again left them, George turned upon the officers.
“What other reason did you have?”
“What other was needed? Could anything have spoken more eloquently?”
demanded Major Hyde.
“Oh, yes. General Putnam might have done so.”
At this the young New Englander saw the two men dart looks of covert
meaning at each other. But he did not wait for either of them to reply.
“Another question,” said he, evenly. “May I ask how you came to be so
familiar with what we might call the real results of my work?”
There was scarcely perceptible hesitation, then Major Hyde answered:
“Is it not possible that there are others beside yourself who have
means of gaining secret information?”
“Let us grant that.” George spoke very coolly. “And then let us come
to a more important thing. If you know of this person whom I have, as
you say, failed to report, why have you waited for me? Why have you not
reported him yourself?”
At this, to the astonishment of George, Major Hyde burst into a laugh;
and his friend joined him heartily.
“Very shrewdly spoken,” said the major. “Eh, Henderson?”
“’Pon my soul,” said the dragoon, “I’ve never listened to a neater
stroke of the tongue.”
“A little wager with Henderson, that is all,” explained Hyde, putting
his hands upon George’s shoulders and swaying him backward and forward.
“I ventured a good dinner that upon the very next time we met, I could
worm something out of you regarding your private transactions for the
various commanders. Henderson had a better notion of your shrewdness
than I, so it seems, and----”
“And I expect the dinner to be paid with the utmost promptness,”
declared the foppish dragoon, delightedly. “But, ’pon my soul, Hyde,”
with a shout of laughter, “what a farrago of nonsense you used to gain
your point! And how you scowled and shook your head! You should have
turned your mind to play-acting instead of soldiering.”
“How am I to know, though,” and Major Hyde joined in the laugh, “that I
did not come somewhere near the real facts as they stand? Come now, was
there such a person as I imagined?”
“I can only say,” returned George, good-humoredly, “that I have done
my plain duty upon all occasions. If I say more I may lose Captain
Henderson his dinner.”
The dragoon slapped his thigh at this, and vowed that as a witticism he
had never heard its equal.
“He’s a rare fellow, this lad from Boston,” declared he.
“He’s gotten the better of me this time, at any rate,” answered the
major, good-naturedly enough.
The two were still laughing and discussing the matter when the old
merchant reëntered. Then Major Hyde begged leave to retire for a moment.
“I have this matter noted down in a little book which I usually carry,”
said he to George. “But it is in the pocket of another coat which I
sent on here with some other traps a week ago. I’ll hunt it up and get
all straight.”
“Not a moment do you get out of my sight,” declared the dragoon. “If
you go, I’ll go with you.”
“Come along then,” laughed the other. “I’ll play fair. You shall have
a peep with me.”
And so out they went; and George heard them go stamping up the stairs,
wrangling and protesting and laughing; and as he listened, the young
man somehow felt a doubt creep into his mind.