The Buford mansion reached, I was at once assisted to my room, and put
to bed, a special servant being assigned to attend upon me. A week later
I was able to sit up each morning in a cushioned chair before my
cheerful fire, and presently to walk about my room. I spent many of my
waking hours listening to the voices which floated up to me from the
lower floor, trying to distinguish Nelly's gay sweet tones among them.
Now and then I recognized a light footfall, as she flitted past my door,
and hoped vainly that she would stop to speak to me. At last I grew
desperate, demanded paper and quill of my man, Hector, and wrote this in
scrawling characters:
"Am I never to have the honor and privilege of thanking my
generous deliverer? The weight of my gratitude oppresses me;
will you not add another deed of gracious kindness to my debt,
and give me the opportunity to ease my soul by expressing a
part of the thankfulness and devotion which fill it to
overflowing? Only let me see you, and I shall be, for as long
as it pleases you, sweet Nelly.
"Your most willing captive,
"DONALD MCELROY."
Then I sealed, and addressed the note, and bade Hector take it to his
young mistress. He came back in a few moments with the message that
"Miss Nelly would see me in half an hour." The interim was spent by me
in making as careful a toilet as any young girl robing for her first
ball. I had had Captain Buford purchase for me two suits of citizens'
clothes of latest cut and pattern, and I flattered myself that the plum
colored breeches and coat, the sprigged velvet waistcoat, black silk
stockings, and silver buckles set off my heroic proportions to some
advantage. I had been daily clean shaven since I had been strong enough
to stand it, and my "curling chestnut locks," had grown long enough to
admit of their being gathered into a respectable resemblance to a queue,
which I tied with a black satin ribbon.
Just as I had satisfied myself that I was not ill to look at, a liveried
footman came to my door to say that Miss Buford awaited me in the second
floor reception room, and that I was to follow him thither. I found her
standing by the window, a plume covered brown felt scoop hiding all her
blonde head, except the airy curls upon her forehead, and about her
throat a dark fur tippet, from which her fair face rose, like a flower
set in rich leaves.
"I'm just going out, Captain McElroy," she said, after she had given me
a gracious greeting, "but I could not resist your gallant appeal, nor go
until I had relieved you of your heavy burden--though I'm sorry, sir,
you should feel it as a burden, the small service it has been our
pleasure to render you."
"I feel not your kindness as a burden, Miss Nelly, it has been accepted
as freely as bestowed--'twas the longing to see and to thank you that I
could endure no longer. I have now no further cause for unrest, save
this threat of yours to leave me, before I have had time to clothe my
gratitude in adequate words."
"Will't say you're glad I'm a Tory--and that even a Tory may be honest
and a Christian? If you will, I shall call it fair quittance of all you
owe me," and she laughed the rippling saucy laugh that had been ringing
through my dreams for months.
"That a Tory may be honest and a Christian, I admit most freely,--but
that I am glad you are one is more than I can say, with aught of truth.
I would have you all on my side if I could; still more, I would have no
one with half so good a claim to you as I."
"But 'tis the other way, Sir Patriot--no one else has so good a claim to
you as have I; since you are my paroled prisoner. Do they treat you
well, poor captive?"
"As an honored guest, fair jailer; there's but one thing lacking to my
comfort."
"And what may that be? It shall be supplied."
"A daily interview, and a long one, with my jailer."
"You have been very slow, sir, to signify a wish to see her. Two weeks
ago to-day it has been since you came, and this is the first intimation
I have had that my presence would be welcome."
"And daily I have hoped you would stop at my threshold to ask of my
improvement--you could not fail to know that I have been pining for one
look at your bright face."
"Young women must not take things for granted, sir; you, however, are
not like the British officers and the city macaronis, you are both
honest and modest, and if you have not made great haste to be gallant, I
feel sure you are sincere. But I must say good-by for the present, a
skating party waits for me, down stairs."
"When may I hope to see you again?"
"To-morrow, if you wish."
"At what hour, that I may count the minutes!"
"Eleven o'clock, shall we say? If I might read to you an hour each
morning, would that help you to pass less irksomely the tedious days of
your captivity?"
She called this back to me over her shoulder, her saucy face fairer for
its frame of soft plumes and rich fur.
"'Twould make me rejoice in the midst of my misfortunes, most merciful
jailer," I answered, striking an attitude with my hand upon my heart.
The hours crawled by like a slow procession of half torpid serpents till
I fell asleep, and the next morning passed in eager expectancy.
"Which of these shall I read from?" began Miss Nelly, entering the small
reception room with her arms full of books.
"I have chosen a variety, one of which will, I hope, suit both your
taste and your mood. Here is Ossian, if your literary appetite calls for
the mystic and lyric; or Pope if it demands the caustic and humorous; or
Lady Mary Montague if you have a weakness for gossip; or Shakespeare's
'Romeo and Juliet,' Ben Jonson's 'Mourning Bride,' should your mood be
tragic; or 'Evelina,' the most popular of the new novels, if you have a
fancy for fiction. Which shall it be this morning?"
"First, a few extracts from Ossian, then, a bit of Lady Mary, and
lastly, a chapter from the new novel," I answered with shameless greed.
But we did not get to the novel that morning, for the reading of Ossian
ended in an animated discussion of the claims of McPherson that his
poems were a genuine translation from the old Gaelic. I strongly
maintained, that the true spirit of the ancient Gaelic people was in
these poems, and that it would be well nigh impossible for a modern to
conceive or to reproduce the feelings and sentiments of these primitive
bards with such absolute truth of conception. Miss Nelly, however, held
stoutly to the views of the critics, as became her conservative habit of
mind.
Then came a few extracts from "Lady Mary" after which she seemed weary,
so that I picked up her volume of plays and read from it some of my
favorite quotations.
"Why, Captain McElroy," she exclaimed, "you read well. After this you
shall read to me, sir, while I finish hemstitching my ruffles."
"I have a favor to ask of you, Captain McElroy," said Miss Nelly one
morning when my hour of bliss was about to end. "I want you to take a
part in the play we are rehearsing,--'tis the latest comedy written by
the late great London playwright, Sheridan, and you could do the part of
Sir Peter Teazle to perfection."
"But I have never so much as seen a play, Miss Nelly," I answered in
consternation.
"Never mind that, you will be sure to say your lines with true
expression, and the rest I can teach you. Do consent, Sir Patriot, I
have told the girls and the British officers about you, and they all
desire greatly to meet you; even the belle and beauty, Miss Margaret
Shippen, said last evening to me, 'I hear, Miss Nelly, you have captured
a rebel captain, and hold him imprisoned in your castle--are not we to
have the pleasure of meeting him? 'Tis said he is a Goliath for size; a
David for skill, though with rifle instead of sling; and an Absalom for
beauty of person.' Now, Sir, can you resist a compliment like that from
the fairest Tory maiden in Philadelphia; will you not come in the
drawing room this evening, and be introduced to her?"
"And meet British officers, who might resent my impertinence!"
"All who come to this house are gentlemen, sir--nor would they show the
least disrespect to a friend of mine."
"I am not fit for polite society, Miss Nelly, and I wish not to play the
part of Samson--to make sport for my enemies."
"The suggestion is insulting, Captain McElroy, and I urge you no more,"
and Miss Nelly left the room, her head poised haughtily. Next morning
she did not join me in the library at the usual time, and after an
hour's waiting I sent to beg her presence.
"I apologize with deep humility of soul for my rudeness of yesterday," I
said, as soon as she came in. "I'll meet your friends gladly, and try
the part of Sir Peter if 'twill gratify you. Do not I owe my life to
you, and have you not made my very captivity a time of delight? Will you
not forgive me, since the speech was prompted by the stupidity of a
blunt soldier, and not by any doubt of you or your friends?"
"Only upon condition that you stop abusing yourself, will I forgive you,
sir, and moreover that you speak before these British, and Tory friends
of mine with the same bold spirit of independence you have ever used to
me. I like you for it, though, at times, it nettles me."
"You need have no fear of that," I laughed, "but I shall endeavor so to
act that you may not blush for having honored me with the name of
friend."
"You know well that I shall be proud of you, Captain McElroy, there's
not so handsome a man in the British army. I would give a great deal to
see you in a British captain's uniform, that I might show them such men
as this land, which they sometimes flaunt and laugh at, produces. Though
a Tory, Captain McElroy, I love America, and Americans, and allow no one
to slur either at our country, or our people."
O wily, bewitching Nelly; how was it possible to resist you. And yet I
cannot believe that you were from the first playing a part, nor that you
coldly schemed to entrap me. You were my true friend when much I needed
one, and if afterward you became a snare, it was greatly my own fault.
That evening I donned my best, having sent Hector out to purchase a
white silk vest embroidered with pink rosebuds, and a white silk, lace
trimmed stock, that I might be behind none of the macaronis, nor give
the foppish British officers cause to scoff at my provincial appearance.
A man of gentle blood and sound principles needs scant time for
acquiring society polish, and by saying little, and watching and
listening closely, I soon learned the approved ways of doing the little
things. They thought me shy, and kindly left me a good deal to myself,
at first. Miss Shippen--a stately, beautiful, and most gracious mannered
maiden--called me to her side the second evening, and entered into a
conversation in regard to the comedy. "Like you the part of Sir Peter?"
she asked.
"Rather better than any of the others, I think."
"Then I infer you do not find the other characters to your liking?" and
she smiled, and glanced sideways at the officer who sat on her other
hand.
"The comedy is doubtless a fine satire upon certain gay London circles,"
I replied, "but there are but two characters one can like. Maria, and
Sir Peter, and both are shamefully cozened. I must except too the old
uncle, he is quite likable."
"And you like not that fascinating rake, Charles Surface, nor delicious
Lady Teazle, with her boisterous snobbery, and her irrepressible good
nature? Are you of Quaker faith, Captain McElroy?"
"No, Miss Shippen, I'm a Scotch Irish Presbyterian."
"Then we shall shock you, I fear."
"But whatever may be your religious views, sir, you wish surely to know
something of life?" put in the British officer, a well made blonde man
with straight nose, and large mouth. "Would you take advantage of your
present opportunities, you shall learn things you have not dreamed of in
your mountain wilds."
"Adventure has ever appealed to me, sir, and lately my life has been
o'er tame," I answered, determined to be no milksop among these British.
"So you do not ask me to go a backbiting with Sir Benjamin, and the
rest, there's little you can offer me, promising excitement, that you
will not find me ready for."
"Glad am I to hear it, Mr. McElroy--
"Captain McElroy, an' you please; having won my humble title by hard
service, and not by court favor, I am very proud of it, sir."
"Beg your pardon," somewhat haughtily; "I was about to say I like not a
soldier, Captain McElroy, who cants and prays between battles, as did
the hypocritical Cromwellians. A gay life in barracks is proper reward
for arduous work during a campaign;--to-morrow, an' you will, I shall
call to take you to our quarters, where you may lunch with four as jolly
good fellows as are to be found in the British army."
I had just assented to this invitation of Captain Wheaton's, when Miss
Shippen introduced me to the latest comer, as Colonel Forbes; he was a
small, wiry, swarthy man who had been making the round of the room, and
now leaned over Miss Shippen's chair, whispering in her ear.
"One of Morgan's Riflemen, said you, Miss Margaret?" eyeing me with most
evident curiosity, as I rose to return his salutation; "a famous leader,
and brave troops; they did the work for us at Saratoga. To your colonel
and his men belongs the glory of that victory, Captain McElroy--yet I
hear it has been filched from you by that braggart Gates, and that
Colonel Morgan has not even been accorded a promotion. This so-called
Continental Congress knows naught of the art of warfare, nor can
recognize the qualities of a true leader, or else it has its favorites
whom it is determined to advance, regardless of merit."
Though all this was true, I burned inwardly to hear him say it;
determined, however, to repress the rash words which rose to my lips, I
set them firmly, folded my arms, and bowed in grave silence.
"Captain Morgan is devotedly loved by his men, I hear," put in Miss
Shippen. "Is he very genial with them, Captain McElroy?"
"He treats them as sons, or as brothers; there's not one but would
follow him cheerfully to certain death."
"But," said Miss Shippen, "I am much more interested in the comedy, than
in any talk of war, or comparison of leaders, for Captain McElroy it is
I who am to act Maria--do you not think I'll look and act the character
to the life?"
"To perfection, and now I wish I were to play Charles Surface."
"Hear him, Nelly," called Miss Shippen to that young lady, crossing the
room to the spinet, attended by half a dozen gallants. "He pretends to
wish that he were going to be Charles Surface in our comedy, didst ever
hear of such shameless deceit?"
"Or such base ingratitude, for I see he has already transferred his
allegiance--but why should we be surprised by any fresh evidence of
masculine perfidy--have we not long since learned that 'Men were
deceivers ever'?" and Nelly's manner and tone showed that she would be
no amateur upon the stage.
"And women were ever our innocent victims, I suppose. There's not a
coquette among you!" jeered Captain Buford, who had just joined our
circle, a brown haired Quakeress upon his arm, who was going to sing
duets with Miss Nelly.
"We but use nature's weapons for our just defense, Captain Buford,"
answered Miss Shippen. "The more skillful and wary one's enemy, the more
adroit one needs be. Women have learned to guard, to parry, and to
thrust by long practice in the art of self-defense."
* * * * *
The lunch in Captain Wheaton's quarters the next day was not the last of
the entertainments proffered me by my hospitable enemies, especially by
Buford's and Wheaton's mess. Not only did I lunch with them, dine with
them, and drink with them; I also diced and played with them, and was
invited to join their riding parties. Once Wheaton, who seemed to have
conceived a liking for me which I returned heartily, carelessly allowed
me to inspect with him the city's fortifications, and to see how
inadequate they were to resist attack from any strong, well equipped
force. Afterwards this incident, which was purely accidental, and seemed
of small importance as I thought at the time, counted heavily against
me, and proved to be the small silent hinge on which turned the door
opening to me the high road of my destiny. Far more important events
have turned upon still smaller hinges.
* * * * *
The British soldiers were most of them fine soldiers, and genial
comrades, and their treatment of me was all courtesy and kindness.
Through an odd streak of luck attending me, for surely skill had nothing
to do with my triumph, I won at nearly all the games of chance so
prevalent among them. Quinze, Piquet, Hazard, and other games, besides
all sorts of wild betting, were their chief diversions. They even bet at
whist, a slow, deep thinking game, well worth the playing without a
wager. Whatever the game, I won indifferently, and soon my depleted
pockets jingled merrily with English gold pieces.
"The Scotchman's luck" became a proverb in the captain's messes. But in
all the dissipation of that time I was watchful never to drink to
excess. I am not fanatical against strong drinks, and to this day can
find no harm in one's warming and cheering himself with a cup of good
sack, or a finger of rum, but it has ever filled me with disgust to see
a man's legs wabbling and tangling as he walked, and to hear maudlin
words mixing themselves in unintelligible gibberish upon a thick and
lolling tongue.
And all this time my infatuation for Nelly Buford took daily stronger
possession of me. I spent in her society every hour she would allow me,
and became the slave of each of her pretty, womanish caprices. Her
deference to me as her captive guest led me on as subtly as her
coquetry, and so little skill or wish had I to hide my infatuation, that
I must have seemed to all Miss Nelly's acquaintances to stand to her in
the attitude of an accepted lover. Once or twice I did venture to tell
her that I loved her, but was easily checked by a doubting word, or an
attempt to change the subject. Now, at any rate, I considered, I could
not ask her to marry me, and to avow my love for other purposes were
dishonorable. I yet had not the courage to resign hope, nor the will to
see less of her.
My habit to drink sparingly has more than once stood me in good stead,
but never more so than at a banquet given to General Howe by the
officers, about the first of February, to which I was most graciously
invited; and to which, being urged by Buford and Wheaton, I foolishly
consented to go. I did not realize the unpleasantness of the position in
which I had put myself until the time came for toasts and speeches.
First the health of the king was drunk with enthusiasm, all standing
with heads held proudly, and brimming glasses tossed high, while a lusty
cheer went up from many throats. I stood, also, not to make myself
conspicuous, but neither drank nor cheered. To General Howe's health, I
drank for courtesy's sake, but when "Success to British arms" was
proposed, I found my stock of politeness completely exhausted, and sat
down abruptly, to the amusement of Forbes on my left and the scorn of
the officer opposite.
And now began the serious business of the evening; brave soldiers, and
cultivated gentlemen set themselves valorously to the task of drinking
each other under the table; as gradually they waxed uproarious, free
talk was interchanged as to the supposed plans of the British
government, and its unswerving determination to subdue the revolting
colonies at whatever cost of men or money. Meantime Colonel Forbes and
the captain next to him diverted me from the general talk by asking
questions as to the part Morgan and his men had taken in the attack
against Quebec, and the battles which led to Saratoga; throwing in
frequent adroit compliments to the riflemen, and expressions of
admiration and sympathy for Colonel Morgan. Finding me noncommittal as
to the treatment Arnold and Morgan had received from the Continental
Congress, they branched off into an argument meant to convince me of the
hopelessness of our cause, and the uselessness of sacrificing life and
property by further resistance; declaring that Great Britain was willing
to yield all we asked and wanted, short of complete independence, and
that only a few fanatics believed that to be possible, or desirable.
To this I responded, with perfect calmness, that nothing less than
complete independence from autocratic will would satisfy the American
people and that since we could never be conquered at such distance it
would be wiser to grant us the independence we claimed and to make of us
loyal allies. That we were not warring against the British nation which
we honored and esteemed above all other souls, but against the
tyrannical notions of the King and his courtiers, themselves aliens to
the English blood. That our independence would but hasten theirs and
bring the sooner that freedom of the human race and that universal
democracy which was the dream of all true men and real patriots. Indeed,
I affirmed, waxing more and more enthusiastic for my most cherished
belief, "It would yet be the proud privilege of England and America to
stand side by side for the cause of liberty and self-government."
Colonel Forbes but laughed at my wild theories and as he got drunker and
drunker grew more and more friendly 'til, presently, he wished I were
his comrade, since I was too good a fellow for a rebel; and then, with
the effusive confidence of a man deep in his cups, began a jumble of
protestations and insinuations, hinting at the high honors, and rich
emoluments which awaited me if I would only consent to give up my
foolish devotion to rebellion and become once more a loyal British
subject.
I thought his talk but the foolish babble of a drunken man, and turned
it aside with jest and banter.
When presently the more sober arose to depart, the officer who had sat
next to Colonel Forbes, and who, since the latter had waxed so
confidential, had lapsed into silence, took me by the arm and asked me
to go with him to a small cloak room adjoining the banqueting hall.
"Captain McElroy," he said when we were seated and alone, "Colonel
Forbes has prematurely made you an offer we have been contemplating for
some days, and in regard to which I was authorized to sound you. We have
good reason to believe there is an officer in the rebel ranks well
affected to our cause; we need some one who can freely communicate with
him--if you will consent to help us, a captain's commission in the
British army, with promise of speedy promotion, and any sum of ready
money you may name is yours. Only sign this paper, and the compact is
closed."
I took the paper he handed me, opened and read it, then rose to my feet,
and slowly tore it into bits, throwing them, as I did so, into the fire.
[Illustration: "YOU HAVE EVIDENTLY MISTAKEN ME FOR A VILLAIN."]
"Captain Forsythe," I said, while my hand and my voice shook with the
strain I put upon myself to control my anger, "you and others have
evidently mistaken me for a villain of that low and despicable type
capable of treason to his country. For the present I condone the insult
for the sake of other British officers who have seemed to consider me a
man of honor. I bid you good night, sir," and reaching for cloak and
hat, I hastened into the street, where the freshness and purity of the
early morning air and the calming message of the steadfast
stars--shining on in their clear, soft beauty, whether men pray and
sleep like Christians, or dice and plot, and drink like devils, on the
changeful earth beneath them--cooled my fevered brow, and helped me to
restrain a seething desire to take violent vengeance upon my insulter.
But I realized clearly the foolhardiness of such course, and moreover
the ingratitude and disrespect to my friends it would seem to imply.