ourteously extended to the English officer.

"You must excuse me; I have not yet acquired the habit," replied
Geoffrey. "A glass of wine with you, sir, instead, if you will do me the
honor."

"With great pleasure." And as they moved a step onward, Kitty passed
first with Yorke, thereby giving Betty time to whisper to Oliver what
she had overheard behind the screen.

"Your very good health, sir," said Geoffrey, as he took the glasses of
port wine from a servant standing near the lavishly filled table; "and
if you will not consider me intrusive, do you purpose stopping in New
York?"

"That is as may be," replied the other. "I am not, however, returning
to Albany immediately. Will you name a toast?"

"Aye," said Yorke quickly, raising his glass, with a searching look into
Oliver's eyes,--"To your _safe_ return to the Albany beverwyck; the
climate of New York is somewhat unhealthy at present."

"Yorke," said a young officer, coming hastily up behind the group,
"Colonel Tarleton desires speech with you for a moment; you will find
him and Sir Henry by the screen in the ballroom."

"You heard?" whispered Betty, as Geoffrey left them; "Captain Yorke has
recognized you--fly, fly, at once!"

"Is there another exit from this room, Kitty?" asked Oliver, finishing
his glass of wine as he spoke, and handing the empty glass to the
waiting servant.

"Only the window behind us," gasped Kitty; "quick! they are all too busy
eating and drinking to notice if you slip through the curtains, and the
balcony is but a few feet from the ground."

"Then I must run for it. Farewell," murmured Oliver, as the heavy damask
curtains dropped back over his vanishing figure. The two girls gazed
into each other's faces with dilated eyes and quivering lips. Would the
alarm be speedily given, and would they see him captured and carried to
certain death? For one breathless moment they listened, and then Kitty
turned sick and faint; her eyes closed as Betty flung an arm around her
waist.

"Some wine at once," she said aloud, and two gentlemen sprang forward to
assist her to place Kitty in a chair. "She is affected by the heat of
the room; it will pass in a moment," and she gave the reviving girl a
good hard pinch, which made her start in her chair. "Oh, Gulian, I am
glad you are here. Had you not better seek Madam Cruger?"

"No, no," cried Kitty, struggling to rise, and most heartily ashamed of
herself for her lack of self-control. "My mother is