traint. But at
last the calmness and the strength of a life greater than its trials
fell upon her. And when in the hush of these she went to her bed and
fell asleep, it was a face like a child's that the stars shining in at
her window looked down upon, a face fallen into lines of peace while the
tears were yet undried upon the pale cheeks. But only in its simplicity
was it a child's heart that met the next day's sunshine, for the courage
of a strong woman looked from Elizabeth Royal's eyes.

CHAPTER XVI

THE DINNER PARTY.

Colonel Archdale with his hands behind him walked up and down his
drawing-room in pleasant anticipation, with, it may be, a touch of the
feeling which once animated an Eastern monarch over the great city that
he had builded for the honor of his name. The Colonel had been like the
monarch in one thing, that he had been born in wealth, not obliged to
start at the very beginning of the race; he was like him in this also
that he had made the very best of material opportunities; he had builded
about himself, if not a great city, at least a great and profitable
business, so that he had a reasonable expectation of leaving his son and
his two surviving daughters--the latter still children--wealthier than
his father had left him. The only drawback, and he had not yet found it
a serious one, was that it was difficult to take as much money out of
his profits as he would have liked to live upon, for his increasing
business demanded always increasing capital. Also, he had done a great
deal for Stephen, so that it required all his efforts to maintain the
splendor in which he lived, outdoing his associates. All things
considered, therefore, it was not so very strange that he should have
resembled Nebuchadnezzar in the other respect of satisfaction in his own
achievements. That day the cream of the society of Portsmouth and its
neighborhood were to be at his house; most of them, without doubt,
pleased to be invited. Peace and plenty were here. The war three
thousand miles away, in which the brave young queen Maria Theresa was
struggling for her inheritance, had just rolled a tidal wave across the
Atlantic, and the news of the garrison taken from the English fort of
Canso and carried prisoners to Louisburg had just reached Boston. This
capture had been made before the Colonies had learned that war had been
declared by France against Great Britain. Already there were signs of
hostility among the Indians, and a m