methinks, rode down the south." Again our laughter rang
through the woods.

"Come," he cried, "which is it to be? So fair a maid deserves two
cavaliers, but we would be at sword points within a week, and I do not
wish to lose the friendship of Mr. James Frisby of Fairlee."

"A chance has brought us here, so let chance decide."

"Agreed," said Dick, pulling out a sovereign, and with a twitch of the
thumb, he sent it high in the air. "Heads, you win. Tails, I win."
Then catching it as it fell: "By Jove, you have it. Present my
compliments to Mistress Jean," he cried, with a grandiloquent bow,
"and tell her how near she came to being Mrs. Dick Ringgold of Hunting
Field."

"That I will, Sir Richard." But Dick was gone, and I was left to ride
on to the Braes.

A long, rambling house it was, standing white amid the trees, a wide
lawn around it stretching down to the creek at its foot; while beyond
could be seen the sunlight gleaming on the bay. A quaint,
old-fashioned place, the low roof already growing dark with age; the
quiet air of ease and comfort brooding over all, making a fitting
setting for the quaint, slender little lady that ruled its destinies.

A negro took my horse; another showed me across the broad hall, with
its hunting whips and trophies on the wall, to the parlour, and there
I awaited the coming of the Tory maid. And as I sat there, gently
stroking the toe of my boot with my whip, and thinking of that night
at the inn, of that soft "Thank you" on the old south road, I heard
the soft swish of her skirts, and, looking up, saw Mistress Jean
standing in the doorway. A beautiful picture it was, like some old
portrait of Lely's, the maid standing there framed in the old oak. And
I, though I had been to the balls at the Governor's house the winter
before, and was therefore a man of the world, sat staring for a
moment. But she advanced, and I was on my feet with a low and sweeping
bow.

"Father is away," said she, "but in his name I wish to thank you for
defending us at the inn that night."

So she knew.

"It was to save the honour of Maryland gentlemen," I replied modestly.
"Heretofore they have not fought in mobs. But will you not thank me
for yourself?"

"When you turn loyalist, yes," said she.

"Almost thou persuadest me to become a traitor."

"You are that already," she said with spirit.

"Yes, that is the way they have written 'Patriot' since Tyranny first
stalked across the world. But patrio