there has been aroused a hornet's nest."

"Wherein lay the fault?" asked Marjorie.

"In this. It appears from a letter which I have already received from
the father of the sergeant (Matlack is his name, to be exact) that the
boy was hurt by the order itself and the manner of it, and as a freeman
would not submit to such an indignity as to summon a barber for the aide
of a commanding officer. We have a proud, stubborn people to rule, who
are no more fitted for self-government than the Irish----"

He stopped short.

Marjorie bit her lip. "I wish, General, you would withdraw your
comparison. It is painful to me."

"I am sorry, Mistress Allison. As a matter of fact I hardly knew what I
had said. I do withdraw it."

"Thank you so much."

Then he went on.

"These Americans are not only ungrateful, but stupidly arrogant. What
comparison can be drawn between this dullard, Matlack, whose feelings as
a citizen were hurt by an order of an aide-de-camp, and I, when I was
obliged to serve a whole campaign under the command of a gentleman who
was not known as a soldier until I had been some time a brigadier. My
feelings had to be sacrificed to the interest of my country. Does not
the fool know that I became a soldier and bear the marks upon me, to
vindicate the rights of citizens?"

He talked rapidly, yet impassionately. It was plain, however, that he
was seriously annoyed over the turn of events, on which subject he
conversed with his whole being. He made gestures with violence. His face
became livid. His attitude was menacing.

"On my arrival here, my very first act was condemned. It became my duty,
because of sealed orders from the Commander-in-chief, who enclosed a
resolution adopted by Congress, to close the shops. From the day,
censure was directed against me. I was not the instigator of it. Yet I
was all to blame."

He sat up with his hands on his knees, looking fiercely into the next
room.

"I would not feel so bitter, your Excellency," volunteered Anderson.
"Military orders, however necessary, always seem oppressive to civilians
and shopkeepers."

"I have labored well for the cause, and my reward has been this. I took
Ticonderoga, although Allen got the credit for it. I would have taken
Canada, if Congress had not blundered. I saved Lake Champlain with my
flotilla,--a fleet that lived to no better purpose nor died more
gloriously,--and for this I got no promotion, nor did I expect one. I
won at Ridgefield a