I trust she will soon get over it. Since the battle she has
spent most of her time in her chamber and has pleaded indisposition
when gentlemen, especially officers, have called."

"Miss Ruth wants you to come up de stairs to her chamber," said
Pompey, when Berinthia called at the Newville home to show her the
letter Tom had written.

"So you have heard from Tom?"

"Yes, and he says that Robert Walden was killed at the very last of
the battle."

"It is as I said. I saw him go down and their feet trample him in the
dust!"

"Was it Robert you saw?"

"Yes. With the telescope I had seen him all through the battle,
walking unharmed where the bullets were flying thickest."

"You did not tell us you saw him."

"No. I did not want to alarm you."

"And you saw him when he was killed?"

"I saw his sword flashing in the sunlight as the men in scarlet closed
around him. A half dozen were thrusting with their bayonets, and yet
he kept them at bay till they shot him."

Tears had wet her pillow, but none glistened on her eyelids now.
Through the sleepless hours she had seen the stars go down beneath the
western horizon; in like manner something bright and shining had gone
out of her life. The stars would reappear; but that which had made it
beautiful to live never would return. The words "I love you" would
never be spoken by a voice forever silent.

Berinthia kissed the tremulous lips.

"I see it now, Ruth, dear; you loved him."

"Yes, I loved him. He was so noble and true, how could I help it? He
never said he loved me, and yet I think down deep in his heart he had
a place for me. I never have confessed it before, not even to myself.
I say it to you, because I should die if I could not have some one to
whom I could tell my sorrow. Let it be our secret, ours alone."

Through the sultry days of August the streets were silent, except the
beating of drums as other regiments arrived, or as soldiers dying from
wounds or disease were borne to their burial. The distress of the
people could but increase. The provincials wounded in the battle were
still held as felons in the jail. They were dying very fast. It was a
spirited letter which the British commander received from General
Washington, informing him that unless the prisoners were treated more
humanely, British prisoners would be dealt with accordingly.[74]

[Footnote 74: Reverend Andrew Eliot, minister of the New North Church,
remained in Boston. The following is fro