"He will hae a sair heart when he sees his hame, specially his garden." "He will hae something in his heart to salve all losses and all wrongs; but I wonder Joanna doesna take better care o' her father's place." "She canna work miracles. I thought when I got her there as tenant o' the King, she would keep a' things as they were left; but Batavius has six or eight soldiers boarding there--low fellows, non-commissioned officers and the like o' them--and the beautiful house is naething but barricks in their sight; and as for the garden, what do they care for boxwood and roses? They dinna see a thing beyond their victuals, and liquor, and the cards and dominoes in their hands. Joanna has mair than she can manage." "Didn't Batavius sell his house on the East river?" "Of course he did--to the Government--made a good thing of it; then he got into his father-in-law's house as a tenant of the Government. I don't think he ever intends to move out of it. When the war is over he will buy it for a trifle, as confiscated property." "He'll do naething o' the kind! He'll never, never, never buy it. You may tak' my solemn word for that, Alexander Semple." "How do you ken so much, Janet?" "The things we ken best, are the things we were never told. I will not die till I have seen Joris Van Heemskirk smoking his pipe with you on his ain hearth, and in his ain summer-house. He can paint some new mottoes o'er it then." She was on the verge of crying, but she spoke with an irresistible faith, and in spite of his stubborn loyalty to King George, Semple could not put away the conviction that his wife's words were true. They had all the force of an intuition. He felt that the conversation could not be continued with Joris Van Heemskirk as its subject, and he said, "I wonder what is keeping Neil? He told me he would be hame early to-night." "Then you saw him to-day?" "He was in the King's Arms, when I went there to read my letter--he and Governor Robertson--and I had a few words wi' the Governor anent Dr. Rogers and the reopening of our kirk." "You did well and right to speak to them. It is a sin and a shame in a Christian country to be kept out o' Sabbath ordinances." "He told me we had the Church o' England to go to." "Aye; and we hae the King o' England to serve." "Here comes Neil, and I am glad o' it. Somehow, he makes things mair bearable." The young man entered with a grave cheerfulness; he bowed to his father, kissed his mother, and then drew a chair to the cold hearth. In a few minutes he rang the bell, and when it was answered, bid the negro bring hot coals and kindle the fire. "Neil, my dear lad," said the Elder, "are you remembering that wood is nearly ungetable--ten pounds or mair a cord? I hae but little left. I'm feared it won't see the war out." "If wood is getable at any price, I am not willing to see mother and you shivering. Burn your wood as you need it, and trust for the future."