ton.

"Think of it!" exclaimed Parson Kendall, at the table at noon; "the
messenger who rode into town this morning saith that seven of our
minutemen were killed, and four others wounded, at Lexington, not far
from Boston. And at Concord also, close by, there soon followed more
fighting.

"Thinketh any one that we will lay down our arms after that? Not so! not
so!" cried the parson. "The British rushed forward and destroyed our
stores, making sad havoc for a time, but at what a cost! They very soon
were to know with what manner of rebels they had to deal.

"The whole body of Continental soldiers sprang to their guns, the news
spread from mouth to mouth, and from town to town. Out poured the people
from farm, hamlet, and shop. Boys who had ever handled a gun rushed to
the scene, and from behind trees, rocks, and buildings came a steady
fire into the British ranks, and had not help come to them from Boston,
none of those British soldiers would have escaped alive. Three hundred
of them were beaten down as it was.

"Glory to God! Such men as ours cannot be beaten. But the town is on
fire. Young Reginald Bromfeld, who hath of kith and kin in Boston, is
about to start with a company of youths for Boston, and declareth that
he can scarcely wait to perform the journey, so anxious is he to
shoulder a musket, aye, and use it too. I can but wish the lad Godspeed!

"Sir Percival Grandison, whom I cannot but hold as a good man, hath
forbidden his son--most unwisely, I fear--to take part with the
colonists either here or elsewhere. And Sir Percival is a man of iron
will. Beshrew me! but I have it in my heart to believe that he would
keep the lad from Boston by force, could he do it in no other way.

"And it hath also been told that the proud maid, Rosamond Earlscourt,
hath said all in her power to make him feel that he is acting both
unjustly and unkindly in taking a different side from that of parents
and sweetheart--for such she seemeth to hold herself to be. No Southern
gentleman would like such words.

"And report hath it that Sir Percival meaneth to go to England for a
time, as soon as business matters can be settled here and permit. Ah,
but he must act swiftly!"

Sally had listened with ears that tingled.

But all this time there was in her heart a puzzling question, and it had
to do with the soldier's card. By the light of a candle, the night she
received it, she had seen a name that made her start. For she saw at
o