said something about being glad that I had come, if I had been of use.

She, poor young woman, was in a sad state of nervous excitement, what with
her delicate condition and the distressing circumstances of the past week.
She was, moreover, a very beautiful creature, naturally of soft and
refined manners, and this made me the readier to overlook the way in which
she met my kindly meant phrases.

"I marvel that you are not ashamed, Mr. Mauverensen," she said, heatedly,
"to belong to an army made up of such ruffians. Every rag of raiment that
man has on he stole from my husband's wardrobe at the Hall. To think of
calling such low fellows officers, or consorting with them!"

I answered as gently as I could that, unfortunately, there were many such
ill-conditioned men in every service, and pointed out that the man, by his
speech, was a New Englander.

"And who fetched them into this province, I should like to know!"

Nothing was further from my thoughts than to hold a political discussion
with this poor troubled wife, who saw her husband's peril, her own plight,
and the prospective birth of her first child in captivity constantly
before her eyes! So I strove to bring the talk upon other grounds, but not
with much success. She grew calmer, and with the returning calmness came a
fine, cool dignity of manner and tone which curiously reminded me of Lady
Berenicia Cross; but she could talk of nothing save her wrongs, or rather
those of her husband. She seemed not to have very clear notions of what
the trouble was all about, but ascribed it loosely, I gathered, to the
jealousy of Philip Livingston, who was vexed that the Scotch did not
settle upon his patent instead of on Sir John's land, and to the malice of