all over in a month, mark me."

Janice pulled a very serious face for a moment, and then
asked: "Didst notice Colonel Brereton, dadda?"

"Ay. And a polite man he is. He not merely had us released,
but I have in my pocket a protection from the general
he got for me."

"Didst not recognise him?"

"Recognise? Who? What?"

"Oh, nothing," replied Janice.


XXV
FREEDOM IN RETROGRADE

The departure of the Merediths for headquarters
under arrest had set Brunswick agog, and all
sorts of surmises as to their probable guilt and fate
had given the gossips much to talk of; their return,
three days later, not merely unpunished, but with a protection
from the commander-in-chief, set the village clacks still more
industriously at work.

Events were moving so rapidly, however, that local affairs
were quickly submerged. News of Washington's abandonment
of the island of New York and retreat into Westchester,