" was one of the landlady's comments, as
she handed to Mildred the eighth or ninth epistle that had fallen into
her hands since Butler's departure; "there scarcely comes trotting by a
soiled traveller with his head set northwards, but it is--'Good woman,
is this Mistress Dimock's?' and when I say, 'aye,' then 'here's a
letter, madam, for you, that comes from the army:' and so, there's
Arthur's own hand-writing to a great pacquet, 'for Mistress Dimock of
the Rockfish inn, of Amherst,' and not even, after all, one poor line
for me, but just a cover, and the inside for Miss Mildred Lindsay of the
Dove Cote. Ha, ha! we old bodies are only stalking-horses in this world.
But God bless him!--he is a fine and noble gentleman." And Mildred would
take the pacquet and impatiently break the seal; and as she perused the
close-written contents the color waxed and waned upon her cheek, and her
eye would one instant sparkle with mirth, and in the next grow dim with
a tear. And when she had finished reading, she would secretly press the
paper to her lips, and then bestow it away in her bosom, evincing the
earnest fondness of a devoted and enthusiastic nature.

Mildred and Henry were inseparable; and, in proportion as his sister's
zeal and attachment to the cause of independence became more active, did
Henry's inclination to become a partisan grow apace. Hers was a
character to kindle the spirit of brave adventure. There was in it a
quiet and unostentatious but unvarying current of resolution, that
shrank before no perils. Her feelings, acute and earnest, had given all
their warmth to her principles; and what she once believed her duty
commanded, was pursued with the devout self-dedication of a religious
obligation. To this temper, which, by some secret of its constitution,
has a spell to sway the minds of mankind, there was added the grace of
an exquisitely feminine address. The union of these two attributes
rendered Mildred Lindsay an object of conspicuous interest in such a
time as that of the revolutionary struggle. Her youth, her ready
genius, her knowledge and her habits of reflection, much in advance of
her years, enhanced the impression her character was adapted to produce,
and brought upon her, even in her secluded position, a considerable
share of public observation. It was not wonderful that a mind so
organized and accomplished should have acquired an unlimited dominion
over the frank, open-hearted, and brave temper of her brot