"Executions are never postponed on account of the weather, my dear,"
replied her husband. "It would be rather cruel than otherwise thus to
delay them."

"I've heard of that Lovelace before," remarked old Harmar. "I judged
that he was a bold villain from some of his outrages, and I think he
deserved his death."

"For my part," said Higgins, "I hated the very name of a tory so much,
during the war, that I believe I could have killed any man who dared to
speak in their defence. All that I knew or heard of were blood-thirsty
scoundrels."

STORY OF THE MURDER OF MISS M'CREA.

"If you were at Saratoga, Mr. Morton, perhaps you know something about
the murder of Miss M'Crea," said Mrs. Harmar.

"Oh, yes! I know the real facts of the case," replied Morton. "I got
them from one who was acquainted with her family. The real story is
quite different from the one we find in the histories of the war, and
which General Gates received as true."

"Then set us right upon the matter," remarked young Harmar.

"Do," added Wilson. "I've heard the story through two or three
twistings, and I'm only satisfied that the lady was killed."

"Well," commenced Morton, "what I now tell you may depend on as the
truest account you can receive. No one but Heaven and the Indians
themselves witnessed the death of the young girl; and our only evidence
of a positive nature is the declaration of those who were supposed to be
her murderers. But to the story.

"Jane M'Crea, or Jenny M'Crea, as she is more generally known, was the
daughter of a Scotch clergyman, who resided in Jersey City, opposite
New York. While living with her father, an intimacy grew up between the
daughter of a Mrs. M'Niel and Jenny. Mrs. M'Niel's husband dying, she
went to live on an estate near Fort Edward. Soon after, Mr. M'Crea died,
and Jenny went to live with her brother near the same place. There the
intimacy of former years was renewed, and Jenny spent much of her time
at the house of Mrs. M'Niel and her daughter. Near the M'Niel's lived a
family named Jones, consisting of a widow and six sons. David Jones, one
of the sons, became acquainted with Jenny, and at length this friendship
deepened into love. When the war broke out, the Jones's took the royal
side of the question; and, in the fall of 1776, David and Jonathan Jones
went to Canada, raised a company, and joined the British garrison at
Crown Point. They both afterwards attached themselves to Burgoyne's
army; Davi