" Ruth asked, leading him, trembling and
tottering, to his chair.

"It has come," he gasped, resting his elbows on his knees and covering
his face with his hands.

"What has come?" Mrs. Newville inquired.

"The end of the king's authority in this town."

"What do you mean?"

"The army is going, and we have got to go."

"Go where?"

"I don't know; only we have got to leave this home, never to see it
again, and be aliens the rest of our lives," he said, groaning and
sobbing.

"Why must the army go?" Mrs. Newville exclaimed.

"Because General Howe cannot stay. The provincials are in a position
to sink his ships and set the town on fire with their bombs."

"Can't General Howe drive Mr. Washington from the hill just as he did
at Charlestown?"

"He was going to do it yesterday, but the sea wouldn't let him, and
now it is too late."

"He must do it, and I will go and tell him so. Leave our home and
become wanderers and vagabonds? Never!" she cried with flashing eyes.

"It is decided. Orders have been issued. The fear is that the
provincials may open fire upon the fleet and sink the ships before the
army can get away."

"Why didn't General Howe take possession of the hill, and prevent the
provincials from doing it?"

"The Lord knows, and perhaps General Howe does, but I don't. I have
seen for some time what might happen, and now we have it. We have got
to go, and God help us."

Mrs. Newville, overwhelmed, tottered to a chair.

"So this is what Sam Adams and John Hancock have done. I hate them.
But why must we go? Why not stay? We have as good a right to stay as
they. Give up our home? Never! Never!"

With flashing eyes, and teeth set firmly together, she rose, and took
a step or two as if ready to confront a foe.

"We cannot stay," said Mr. Newville. "We have given our allegiance to
the king; I have held office under the crown, and the Great and
General Court will confiscate my estate, and we shall be beggars. More
than that, I probably shall be seized and thrown into jail. There's no
knowing what they will do. Possibly my lifeless body may yet dangle
from the gallows, where murderers have paid the penalty of their
crimes."

Mrs. Newville wrung her hands, and gave way to sobs and moans. Ruth
had stood a silent spectator, but sat down now by her mother, put an
arm around her, and wiped away the tears coursing down her cheeks.

"I haven't told you all," said Mr. Newville. "General Howe threatens
to b