e we should
take the boats for New York. The day was well forward, but its gray
sunless light held little cheer for such a silent, dejected crew as we
were.

The captain was too much the self-controlled gentleman to show great
disappointment on his own account, though he had probably set store
upon this venture, as an opportunity that he lacked in his regular
duties on General Clinton's staff, where he served pending the delayed
enlistment of the loyalist cavalry troop he had been sent over to
command. But though he might hide his own regrets, now that we were
nearing Margaret, it was proper to consider our failure with reference
to her.

"Doubtless," he went on, "there was treachery against us somewhere;
for we cannot suppose such vigilance and preparation to be usual with
the rebels. But we must not hint as much to her. The leak may have
been, you see, through one of the instruments of her choosing--the man
Meadows, perhaps, or--" (He stopped short of mentioning Ned
Faringfield, whose trustworthiness on either side he was warranted, by
much that he had heard, in doubting.) "In any case," he resumed,
"'twould be indelicate to imply that her judgment of men, her
confidence in any one, could have been mistaken. We'd best merely tell
her, then, that the rebels were on the alert, and fell upon us before
we could meet her brother."

We thought to find her with face all alive, expectant of the best
news, or at least in a fever of impatience, and that therefore 'twould
be the more painful to tell her the truth. But when the captain's
servant let the three of us in at the front door (Tom and I had waited
while Falconer briefly reported our fiasco to General Clinton) and we
found her waiting for us upon the stairs, her face was pale with a set
and tragic wofulness, as if tidings of our failure had preceded us.
There was, perhaps, an instant's last flutter of hope against hope, a
momentary remnant of inquiry, in her eyes; but this yielded to
despairing certainty at her first clear sight of our crestfallen
faces.

"'Twas all for nothing, then?" she said, with a quiet weariness which
showed that her battle with disappointment had been fought and had
left her tired out if not resigned.

"Yes," said the captain, apparently relieved to discover that no storm
of disappointment or reproach was to be undergone. "They are too
watchful. We hadn't yet come upon your brother, when a heavy fire
broke out upon us. We were lucky to esc