out of the fratricidal contest, into
which I only had entered because Honour and Duty seemed imperatively to
call me.

I own I felt an inexpressible relief when I had come to the resolution
to retire and betake myself to the peaceful shade of my own vines and
fig-trees at home. I longed, however, to see my brother ere I returned,
and asked, and easily obtained an errand to the camp of the American
General Clinton from our own chief. The headquarters of his division
were now some miles up the river, and a boat and a flag of truce quickly
brought me to the point where his out-pickets received me on the shore.
My brother was very soon with me. He had only lately joined General
Clinton's division with letters from headquarters at Philadelphia, and
he chanced to hear, after the attack on Fort Clinton, that I had been
present during the affair. We passed a brief delightful night together:
Mr. Sady, who always followed Hal to the war, cooking a feast in honour
of both his masters. There was but one bed of straw in the hut where we
had quarters, and Hal and I slept on it, side by side, as we had done
when we were boys. We had a hundred things to say regarding past times
and present. His kind heart gladdened when I told him of my resolve to
retire to my acres and to take off the red coat which I wore: he flung
his arms round it. "Praised be God!" said he. "Oh, heavens, George!
think what might have happened had we met in the affair two nights ago!"
And he turned quite pale at the thought. He eased my mind with respect
to our mother. She was a bitter Tory, to be sure, but the Chief had
given special injunctions regarding her safety. "And Fanny" (Hal's
wife) "watches over her, and she is as good as a company!" cried the
enthusiastic husband. "Isn't she clever? Isn't she handsome? Isn't
she good?" cries Hal, never, fortunately, waiting for a reply to these
ardent queries. "And to think that I was nearly marrying Maria once! Oh,
mercy, what an escape I had!" he added. "Hagan prays for the King, every
morning and night, at Castlewood, but they bolt the doors, and nobody
hears. Gracious powers! his wife is sixty if she is a day; and oh,
George! the quantity she drinks is..." But why tell the failings of our
good cousin? I am pleased to think she lived to drink the health of King
George long after his Old Dominion had passed for ever from his sceptre.

The morning came when my brief mission to the camp was ended, and the
truest of fri