each she proceeded up Wall Street to Broadway, and down that
thoroughfare toward Bowling Green. Before they had quite reached their
destination the sound of bugle and trumpet made them turn about, and
Peter suggested that they should mount a convenient pair of steps in
front of a large white house, which had apparently been closed by its
owners, for a number of bystanders were already posted there. They were
just in time, for around the corner of William Street came a group of
officers on horseback, their scarlet uniforms glittering in the sun. It
was Sir Guy Carleton and his staff, on their way to the Battery, where
they would take boats and be rowed over to a man-of-war which awaited
them in the bay. A murmur, then louder sounds of disapprobation, started
up from the street.

"There they go!" cried a voice, "and good riddance to Hessians and
Tories."

Betty's cheeks flushed. Oh, those hateful scarlet coats, symbols of what
had caused her so much misery. And yet--with another and deeper wave
of color--it was Geoffrey's uniform and these were his brother officers,
going where they would see him; oh, why, why, was fate so unkind, and
life so hard! Another moment and they were out of sight, but keen-eyed
Moppet caught a glimpse of Betty's downcast face and said to herself,
"Oh, I dare not tell her; I wish I did."

Out on Bowery Lane and away up in Harlem, over King's Bridge, with
measured step and triumphant hearts the Continentals were entering the
city. What a procession was that, with General Washington and Governor
Clinton at its head, and how all loyal New York spread its banners to
the wind and shouted loud and long to welcome it! There were the picked
men of the army, the heroes of an hundred fights, the men of
Massachusetts who had been at Lexington and Bunker Hill; General Knox in
command, and General Wolcott with his Connecticut Rangers, while Oliver
rode proudly at the head of his company. It was a slow march, down the
Bowery and through Chatham and Queen streets to Wall, thence up to
Broadway, where the column halted.

It would be vain to describe Betty's emotion as from the windows of the
Verplanck mansion she watched the troops and the civil concourse, and
realized that at last, after long years of heroic endurance, of gallant
fighting, of many privations, the freedom of the Colonies was an
accomplished fact. Miss Moppet and Peter flew from one window to another
and cheered and shouted to their hearts' c