of the domestics. John was the eldest of
Ramsay's children, and had just reached his paternal roof after an
absence of some months, during which he had been in service with
Sumpter. The gathering in of the members of a family around the domestic
board, in times of peril and distress, is one of the luxuries of the
heart that in peace we cannot know. The arrival of John Ramsay at the
present moment was a source of the liveliest happiness to his parents.
They needed a cheerful as well as a resolute comforter. John had, only
twenty-four hours previous, left Sumpter near Rocky Mount--immediately
after the battle with the British convoy was won. He was sent with
despatches to Colonel Williams, a Whig partisan of note, who was now
supposed to be in the neighborhood of the Saluda. These had some
reference to the military movements of the parties; and John Ramsay was
permitted by Sumpter to make a short halt at his father's house.

In the first hour after his arrival, he had given to the family the
history of his homeward ride. He had discovered that hostile forces--of
which, until his journey was nearly finished, he heard nothing--were
encamped in the neighborhood; that a court-martial had been sitting for
the trial of an American officer, as a spy, and had condemned him to be
shot. He had been apprised, moreover, that small parties were out,
riding into every corner of the country. He himself had nearly been
surprised by one of these, as he endeavored to make his way to the house
of Allen Musgrove, where he had proposed to himself a visit, even before
he came to his father's, but, fearing something wrong, he had fled from
them, and baffled their pursuit, although they had chased him more than
a mile; he had, in consequence, been deprived of the opportunity of
visiting the miller.

"Although it is four months since we have seen you, John," said the
dame, with a tone of affectionate chiding, "yet, you would turn aside to
get under Allen Musgrove's roof, before you thought of the arms of your
mother."

John's sun-burnt cheek blushed crimson red as he replied, "It was but a
step out of the way, mother, and I should not have stayed long. Mr.
Musgrove and his folks are safe and well, I hope, and Christopher?"

"Tut, boy! speak it out, and don't blush about it," interrupted the
father briskly: "she is a good girl, and you needn't be ashamed to name
her, as you ought to have done, first and before all the rest. Mary is
well, John