"You will never know, mother, unless you trust me absolutely. Mind! not
a word to Tom, Nancy or the Marquis."

"Very well, Danny. You know I am as safe with a secret as though it had
been breathed into the grave."

Dan did not quite share his mother's confidence in her own discretion,
but he knew he could count on her devotion to him to keep her silent even
where curiosity and the love of talk would render her indiscreet. He also
knew, and had often deplored it, that fond as she was of Nancy she was
not inclined to take the girl into her confidence.

Having said all he dared to his mother, Dan went to his room and
carefully locked up the mysterious paper. He returned to the first
floor just as the Marquis and Jesse drove up in the sleigh to the door
of the inn.

Monsieur de Boisdhyver was enthusiastic about all that he had seen--the
headquarters of General Washington, the house in which the Marquis de
Lafayette had slept, the old mill in the parade, the fort at the Narrows,
the shipping, the quaint old streets.... "But, O Monsieur Frost," he
exclaimed, "the weariness that is now so delightful! How soundly shall I
sleep to-night!"

Dan smiled grimly as he assured his guest of his sympathy for a good
night and a sound sleep; thinking to himself, however, that if the
Marquis walked, he would not walk unattended. He had no intention of
trusting too implicitly to that loudly proclaimed fatigue.