GILBERT AND LAFAYETTE
Two days passed and there was no tidings of the missing dog; and even
Aunt Deborah began to fear that they should never see him again. It was
very difficult for Ruth to attend to the tasks that Aunt Deborah set for
her; for all she could think of was Hero.
Gilbert Merrill had gone about the city making inquiries, but no one had
seen Hero, or could tell him anything about Ruth's dog. Aunt Deborah was
very sorry for her little niece, but she still insisted that Ruth should
dust the dining-room as carefully each morning as if Hero was safe in
the yard; that the little girl should knit her stint on the gray wool
sock, intended for some loyal soldier, and sew for a half hour each
afternoon.
Ruth dropped stitches in her knitting, for a little blur of tears hid
her work from sight when she thought that perhaps her dear Hero might
be hurt, unable to find his way home; or perhaps he was shut up
somewhere by some cruel person who did not care if he was fed or not.
Aunt Deborah was very patient with the little girl. She picked up the
dropped stitches in the knitting; and when she found how uneven a seam
Ruth was stitching she picked out the threads without a word of reproof.
But on the second day, as they sat at work in the little sewing-room at
the top of the stairs, Ruth threw down her knitting and began to cry.
"I can't knit! I can't do anything until Hero is found. You know I
can't, Aunt Deborah. And I do wish my mother would come home," she
sobbed.
Aunt Deborah did not speak for a moment. She had no little girls of her
own, and she often feared that she might not know what was exactly right
for her little niece. So she never spoke hastily.
"For thy sake, dear child, I wish that thy mother were here: but it is
very pleasant for me to have thy company, Ruth," she said in her
musical, even voice. "Would thee not like to go and play with Winifred?
But be sure thy hair is smooth."
But Ruth made no reply. She stopped crying, however, and looked up at
Aunt Deborah.
"Didn't you like Hero?" she asked.
Aunt Deborah knitted on until she came to the last stitch on her needle,
then she lay down her work, and looked at Ruth with her pleasant smile.
"Indeed, I liked Hero," she said; "but suppose I decided that because he
was lost I would no longer prepare thy breakfast or dinner? that I would
not see that thy mother's house was in order. Thee would truly think I
had but little sense. It does not prove thy liking to cry because thy
dog is lost; to fix thy thoughts on thy own feelings and leave thy tasks
for me to do. It does not help bring Hero back. Now, put on thy hat and
cape and we will walk toward the river. I have an errand to do," and
Aunt Deborah got up and went to her own room to put on her long gray
cape and the gray bonnet that she always wore on the street.
She was waiting in the front hall when Ruth came slowly down the stairs.
She had put on her brown straw hat, whose ribbons tied beneath her
chin, and the pretty cape of blue cloth; for there was a sharp little
March wind, although the sun shone brightly. Ruth's face was very sober;
there were traces of tears on her cheeks. She wished that she had said
she would rather play with Winifred; but it was too late now.
"We need many things, but I fear 'twill not be easy to purchase either
good cotton cloth or a package of pepper," Aunt Deborah said as they
turned on to Second Street. "There was but little in the shops when the
British came, and of that little they have taken for themselves so there
is not much left for the people."
"They have taken Hero, I know they have!" Ruth replied. "I wish
Washington would come and drive the English out."
"Oh! Ho! So here is a small rebel declaring treason right to the face of
an officer of the King!" and Ruth, surprised and frightened, felt a hand
on her shoulder, and looked up to find a tall soldier in a red coat with
shining buttons and bands of gilt looking at her with evident amusement.
"You had best whisper such words as those, young lady," he added
sternly, and passed on, leaving Ruth and Aunt Deborah standing
surprised and half-frightened.
"This is an American city," Aunt Deborah announced calmly, as they
walked on. "These intruders can stay but a time. But they have sharp
ears, indeed. Does thee know why thy father named thy dog 'Hero'?" she
continued, looking down at Ruth.
"Oh, yes! Father said 'hero' meant courage and honor; and so it was the
right name for such a fine dog," Ruth answered quickly. "Aunt Deborah!
What was that?" she added, stopping short. For she had heard a familiar
bark.
But Aunt Deborah had heard nothing. They were passing a house where a
number of soldiers were sitting on the porch smoking.
"I heard Hero bark. He is in that house," Ruth declared, and before Aunt
Deborah could say a word to prevent such a rash act Ruth had run up the
steps.
"Have you found a lost dog, if you please?" she asked, half-frightened,
when she found herself facing two red-faced soldiers who looked at her
as if she were some wild bird that had flown to the porch. Before they
could reply Aunt Deborah's hand was on Ruth's arm, and the little girl
heard her aunt saying: "Thee must pardon the child. She has lost her
dog, and is greatly troubled. She means no harm."
The younger of the two men stood up and bowed politely, and held his hat
in his hand until Aunt Deborah had led Ruth back to the street; but
neither of the men had answered her question.
"Oh, Aunt Deborah! What made you? I know Hero is in that house. I heard
him bark. You spoiled it all," sobbed Ruth, as Aunt Deborah, holding her
fast by the hand, hurried toward home, quite forgetting the errands she
wished to do.
Aunt Deborah sighed to herself. She began to fear that Ruth was a
difficult child; and that perhaps she did not know the right way to deal
with little girls. But she did not reprove Ruth either for her rash act
or for speaking with so little regard of Aunt Deborah's authority.
"May I go in and see Winifred?" Ruth asked when they reached home, and
Aunt Deborah gave her permission.
"Oh, Winifred! I know where Hero is," Ruth declared, as the two friends
went up to Winifred's room, and she hastened to tell the adventures of
the walk with Aunt Deborah.
"I am going back after him, Winifred, and you must come with me," she
concluded.
But Winifred said that her mother was out, and that she must not leave
the house until her return. She looked at Ruth admiringly.
"I think you were brave, Ruth, to ask those soldiers. But I don't
believe they would give you back Hero if you do go back. Perhaps they
would make you a prisoner," she said a little fearfully; and at last
Ruth reluctantly agreed not to go after the dog that day. The little
girls decided that the best way would be to go straight to General Howe
and tell him that one of his soldiers had taken Hero, and was keeping
him from his rightful owner.
"I'll go to-morrow. But we must not let Aunt Deborah know," said Ruth,
and Winifred promised to keep the plan a secret.
Now that there seemed a hope of rescuing her dog Ruth was nearly her own
happy self again. Winifred got out some squares of pasteboard and very
carefully marked out patterns of the back and sides, as well as for the
seat, for the dolls' chair. Then she went to find Gilbert to borrow his
knife with which to cut the cardboard; and before Ruth started for home
the pieces were all ready to be covered. As the two little friends sat
in the pleasant window-seat Winifred said: "What do you think, Ruthie!
Gilbert wants to change his name. He wants us to call him Lafayette!"
and Winifred laughed, as if she thought the idea very funny.
"Why, I think that is splendid!" Ruth replied, her blue eyes shining at
the thought of a "Lafayette" next door to her own home. For all the
children of Philadelphia knew the story of the brave young Frenchman,
hardly more than a boy himself, who had left all the comforts of his
Paris home to share the danger and privations of the American soldiers.
He had visited Philadelphia the previous summer, 1777, soon after his
arrival in America. Gilbert had seen the handsome young officer, and
ever since then he had pleaded that he might be called "Lafayette"
instead of Gilbert.
"If I were a boy I should wish my name 'Lafayette,'" declared Ruth. "I
wish we could do something for him, don't you, Winifred?"
"Yes; but what could two little girls do for him? Why, he is a hero, and
a friend of Washington's," Winifred responded. Neither Ruth nor
Winifred imagined that it would be only a few months before one of them
would do a great service for the gallant young Frenchman.