ternoon, and after stopping to see his
mother, had ridden on to Riverview.

Long before the recital ended, I was out of my chair and pacing up and
down the room, and Dorothy clapped her hands with joy when that perilous
passage of the Allegheny had been accomplished.

"So you think there will be war?" I asked. "But you do not know what M.
de Saint-Pierre has written to the governor."

"I can guess," he answered, with a smile. "Yes, there will be war."

"And if there is?" I cried, all my eagerness in my face.

"And if there is, Mr. Stewart," he said calmly, but with a deep light in
his eyes, "depend upon it, you shall go with me."

I wrung his hand madly. I could have embraced him. Dorothy laughed at my
enthusiasm, but with a trace of tears in her eyes, or so I fancied.

Well, we were finally abed, and up betimes in the morning. Our horses
were brought round from the stable, and our bags swung up behind the
saddles. I had tried in vain, all the morning, to corner Dorothy so
that I might say good-by with no one looking on, but the minx had
eluded me, and I had to be content with a mere handclasp on the steps
before the others. But as we rode away and I looked back for a last
sight of her, she waved her hands to me and blew me a kiss from her
fingers. So my heart was warm within me as we pushed on through the
dark aisles of the forest.

The roads were heavy with mud and melting snow, for the weather had
turned warm, and it was not until mid-afternoon that we reached
Fredericksburg. We stopped there an hour to feed and wind our horses, and
then pressed on to the country seat of Mr. Philip Clayton, below Port
Royal, on the Rappahannock. Major Washington had met Mr. Clayton at
Williamsburg, and he welcomed us most kindly. By the evening of the
second day we had reached King William Court House, where we found a very
good inn, and the next day, just as evening came, we clattered into
Williamsburg, very tired and very dirty. But without drawing rein, Major
Washington rode straight to the governor's house, threw his bridle to a
negro, and ordered a footman to announce him at once to his master.

"You are to come with me, Mr. Stewart," he said, seeing that I hesitated.
"'T will be a good time to present you to his Excellency," and we walked
together up the wide steps which led to the veranda.

Even as we reached the top, the door at the end of the hall was thrown
violently open, and Governor Dinwiddie stumbled toward us