er
my foot. So I pressed down hard, wishing I could squeeze the British
blood out of him. They do nothing but run about and have pleasure. But
if I were a hundred years old I would have none of them for lovers. I
want no one but my brother and my cousin, and sometimes I think thou art
dearer, because thou would fight for thy country. And I am ashamed when
I think it is his country as well."

"What preachment is the little maid making, Andrew?" said the older
voice as the ample figure entered the doorway. "I sometimes think I
shall have to keep her shut up in one room, people talk to her so much
and spoil her."

"Nay, she is not spoiled," protested Andrew.

"She is a wise little thing, and saucy, too, and often amuses the
company by bits of patriotism that are shrewd and wholesome. I think
people in this mad revel are forgetting they are Americans and have a
country to fight for. And, now, what is the news? There is much
dissatisfaction, I hear, with General Washington. It cannot be that they
will give up the rallying point, the wisest man of them all, and break
up into factions."

"They will not give him up, madam. It is a bitter winter, and the stores
at York are sadly depleted. They are watched on every hand. While the
town is dancing to British music, and giving aid and comfort to the
enemy, our men are living in rude huts that hardly shelter them from the
storms and are glad for crusts. But the men will stand by him to the
last. It is only idle talk about superseding him. And the men worship
Madam Washington and Madam Knox. If you could see them! They minister to
the sick, they patch the worn-out clothes and blankets. There is so much
need of these things, stockings, and shoes."

"My heart aches for them. I have been gathering a store----" She paused
and eyed Primrose.

"You need not be afraid," cried Primrose eagerly. "Is it not _my_
country? And, Cousin Andrew, I have saved some money that my brother
gave me to buy frippery and sweetmeats with. And I am knitting socks."

"Thou art a brave girl, and quite able to keep thy own counsel. I have
known that aforetime," and he smiled. "Indeed, madam, we could trust her
to the uttermost."

"There is quite a store of some things----"

"I will tell thee--there is a false bottom to the wagon that I can
raise up after the load is sold. That is my secret. And I can trust him
at the Pewter Platter. I have carried more than one lot."

"There is a bagful," pulling it