inations. She was a Quaker, while he belonged
to the religion of His Majesty, the King; nevertheless, both agreed in
this, that the miserable Papists were an ambitious and crafty lot, who
were bent on obtaining an early and complete mastery over this country.
The pair were well mated in many respects, thought Marjorie, the
disparity in their ages was all that would render the match at all
irregular, although Peggy's more resolute will and intense ambition
would make her the dominant member of the alliance. Little as the
General suspected it, Marjorie thought, he was slowly, though surely,
being encircled in the web which Peggy and her artful mother were
industriously spinning about him.

III

Marjorie and Anderson sat conversing long and earnestly. Several dances
were announced and engaged in, with little or no manifest attention on
their part, so engrossed were they in the matter of more serious import.
At length they deserted their vantage ground for the more open and
crowded room, pausing before Peggy and the General, who were sheltered
near the entrance.

"Heigho, John!" exclaimed His Excellency upon their approach, "what
strange absconding is this? Have a care, my boy, lest you have to answer
to Captain Meagher."

Marjorie felt the gaze of the group full upon her. She flushed a little.

"Little or no danger, nor cause alleged," she laughed.

"Captain Meagher!" recollected Anderson, "does he excel?"

"I scarce know," replied Marjorie. "I have met him not over thrice in my
life."

"Once is quite sufficient," said the General. "First impressions often
endure. But stay. Draw your chairs. I was only saying that I may be
required to leave here shortly."

"You have been transferred?" asked Marjorie.

"No! But I have written to Washington begging for a command in the navy.
My wounds are in a fair way and less painful than usual, though there is
little prospect of my being able to be in the field for a considerable
time."

They sat down as requested, opposite Peggy and the General.

"But, General, have you not taken us into your consideration?" asked
Anderson.

"I have, yet the criticism is becoming unendurable. Of course you have
heard that matters have already become strained between the civil
government and myself. Only last week my head aide-de-camp sent for a
barber who was attached to a neighboring regiment, using as a messenger
the orderly whom I had stationed at the door. For this trifling order