BETTY'S ADVENTURE
"Come, Ruth, Mistress Hastings is waiting for thy fine velvet coat," and
Ruth looked up to see Aunt Deborah smiling down upon her; and in a
moment the little girl was clinging to Aunt Deborah's arm, and asking
anxiously:
"Did Mother find the mended place in her dress? Oh, Aunt Deborah! I do
wish I had told her all about it!"
"Slip off the coat, dear child, and run and tell her now," said Aunt
Deborah, and in a moment Ruth was running across the garden to where her
mother was standing with Mrs. Merrill. Mrs. Pernell smiled down at her
little daughter, and clasping the warm little hand in her own turned
toward the gate.
In a moment Ruth was in the midst of her story, and Mrs. Pernell
listened without a word until Ruth, breathless and almost in tears,
finished by saying:
"I didn't think it would hurt the dress, Mother! I'm so sorry. And I am
sorry I didn't tell you the moment you got home."
Ruth felt her hand clasped a little more closely at this; but her mother
made no response until they were in Ruth's pleasant chamber. Then Mrs.
Pernell drew her little girl down beside her on the broad window-seat;
and leaning her head against her mother's shoulder Ruth told of the day
she had stayed up-stairs as a punishment for her thoughtlessness.
"Mother, you haven't said a word!" Ruth finally exclaimed, looking up
anxiously. "Are you ashamed of me?"
"Why, I think I am rather proud of my little daughter," was the smiling
response. "You set your own punishment, and I know you will stop and
think when next you plan such a masquerade party. My dress, it seems, is
but little the worse, after all; and Hero is well worth some sacrifice.
Perhaps if you had not been 'dressed up' you would not have been
admitted to General Howe's house, and might not have succeeded in
rescuing Hero," said Mrs. Pernell, stooping down to kiss her little
girl's flushed cheek.
"Oh, Mother! I do love you," exclaimed the happy child. "I'll never be
afraid to tell you everything."
"Of course you will tell me everything. That is what mothers are for,"
rejoined Mrs. Pernell. "And now I will take off my silk gown, and you
had best smooth your hair and make yourself tidy for supper."
"That sounds like Aunt Deborah," said Ruth laughingly. But as she obeyed
her mother's suggestion she thought happily that now Mother was at home
everything was sure to go smoothly.
When Gilbert's play was over Mrs. Hastings, although sadly troubled over
Betty's "borrowings," and the ruin of her pretty bonnet, complimented
Gilbert and Winifred on the success of the play; and not until she had
chatted for a few moments with Mrs. Merrill did she go to rescue her
valued mantle and the treasured velvet coat. She hoped the English
officer's coat was none the worse for its part in the play; and, like
Betty, she hoped to return it before it was missed by its rightful
owner; for it would be no easy matter to explain why it had been
borrowed, and she knew its loss would make serious trouble.
She noticed that her mantle was dusty and wrinkled, and that the lace on
the velvet coat was torn. The scarlet coat, however, was not to be
found, and Betty had also disappeared.
Deciding that she would find her little daughter and the coat safely at
home Mrs. Hastings bade her friends good-bye and started for her walk
home. But she did not find Betty there. Supper time came, and still no
Betty. A servant was sent to Mrs. Merrill's to inquire for the little
girl, but came hurrying back with the tidings that Betty had not been
seen since the end of the play.
Mrs. Merrill now looked through every room, but Betty was not to be
found. She inquired at the homes of her neighbors, but no one had seen
the little girl.
The April twilight deepened to dusk; the stars shone out and found Mrs.
Hastings anxious and troubled, for she could find no trace of Betty.
When Betty ran down the alley she had thought it would be an easy matter
to reach home with the red coat; but she had forgotten that Philadelphia
was full of the King's soldiers, and that a bareheaded little girl
racing down the street with the coat of an English officer over her arm
would not escape notice; and she had only reached Second Street when a
passing soldier called to her. His call only made her run the faster,
and the soldier sped after her. If Betty had stopped at once, told her
own name and address, and the name of the owner of the coat, the soldier
would doubtless have taken her directly home and made sure that she had
told him the truth, and it is probable that her troubles would have been
at an end. But Betty was now too frightened to think clearly. She did
not even know the direction in which she ran was straight away from her
home. The English soldier ran clumsily, and Betty, turning quickly into
another street, soon distanced him; but only to run straight into
another soldier, who seized her firmly by both arms, swung her about,
and without a word marched her down the street.
"Making off with an officer's coat," he said, after what seemed a very
long time to the frightened girl. "What's your name?"
Betty made no response. She resolved that no one should ever know that
Betty Hastings had been suspected of such a dreadful thing as taking
what she had no right to take.
"Won't speak, eh? Well, I'll take you to Captain De Lance and see what
he has to say to you," said the soldier, and the silent little girl,
still holding the scarlet coat, was led down one street after another
until she saw the shining waters of the Schuylkill River before her, and
the soldier led her up the steps of an old stone house whose garden ran
down to the river. The soldier was evidently familiar with the house,
for he pushed open the door and led Betty into a big pleasant room, and
motioned toward a comfortable chair.
"You can sit there until the captain comes in; and you had best tell me
your name. 'Twill do you no good to sulk," he said, taking the coat from
her reluctant grasp. But Betty only set her lips more firmly. She
resolved not to speak, no matter what might befall her.
"Very well, Miss. I'll leave you to find your tongue," said the soldier,
laying the coat carefully over a chair and leaving the room. Betty heard
him turn the key in the lock. She was tired, and leaned back in the
cushioned chair, hardly realizing what had befallen her. She could hear
steps now and then outside the door, and every moment expected that it
would open and the captain of whom the soldier had spoken would appear.
But the room grew shadowy in the deepening twilight and no one came
near. Betty's thoughts flew homeward to the candle-lit dining-room where
Dinah, the Hastings' colored servant, would be spreading the table for
supper, and Betty realized that she was very hungry.
She left her seat and tiptoed toward a long window at the further end of
the room. The window looked out into the garden, and Betty instantly
realized that it swung in on hinges and was not fastened, and that it
would be an easy matter to let herself down to the ground.
"I must take the coat," she thought, and crept back to the chair where
the scarlet coat lay. In a moment she was back at the window and had
dropped the coat to the ground; and now, grasping the window sill with
both hands, she let herself carefully down. Picking up the coat, and
keeping close in the shadow of the house, Betty made her way until she
was near the door through which she had entered the house. She went very
carefully, peering ahead into the shadows, and listening intently for
any sound that might warn her that her flight had been discovered. But
she heard no sound, and at last she reached the road.
"It is too dark for any one to know what color the coat is now," she
thought, as she hurried along.
Betty realized that she was a long distance from home, but she was sure
that she could soon find her way to some familiar street and then it
would be an easy matter to reach home. Now and then she passed groups of
people homeward bound, or English soldiers sauntering along the street,
and then turning a corner she gave a little exclamation of delight, for
there, close at hand, were the brick walls of Christ Church, its
graceful spire rising against the clear April sky. And now home was near
at hand and Betty quickened her pace. She had almost forgotten her
mother's ruined bonnet and the fact that she had no excuse to give for
borrowing the things for Gilbert's play without permission. All she
could think of was the fact that she was in sight of home. She ran up
the steps and the door opened as if by magic, and Betty's mother clasped
her little girl, scarlet coat and all, in her welcoming arms.