"Allow me to ask, Elder, what you would have done if you had been an officer in His Majesty's service and had been placed in the same circumstances?" "Done? Why, you villain, there was only _one_ _thing to do_, and an officer, if he was a gentleman, would have done it,--given the letter to Miss Bradley unopened. She was the mistress of the house, and entitled to see the letters coming to it. What had you to do wi' her letters? If you had kept your fingers frae picking and your e'en frae spying, you would not have put yoursel' in an utterly shamefu' dilemma." "In these times, sir----" "In this case the times are nae excuse. Mr. Bradley was believed by everybody to be a friend of His Majesty. You had nae reason whatever to suppose a treasonable note would come to his house. You did not suppose it. My God, sir! if our letters are to be examined by His Majesty's officers, wha is safe? An enemy might throw a note full o' treason through a window, and if _you_ happened to be calling there----" "Mr. Semple, you are insulting." "I mean to be insulting. What right had you to speak to me? You Judas! who could eat my bread, and borrow my siller, and pretend to love my granddaughter. You have smirched your colors and dishonored your sword, and you deserve to be drummed out o' your regiment; you do that, you eternal scoundrel, you!" By this time the Elder's voice filled the room, and he brought his cane down as if it were twenty. "Out o' my sight," he shouted, "or I'll lay it o'er your shoulders, you blackguard aboon ten thousand." "Your age, sir! your age!" screamed the enraged young fellow; but his words almost choked him, and de Geist and Cruger took him forcibly out of the room. Then DeLancey filled a glass with wine. "Sit down and drink it, Elder," he said. "Afterward I shall have the great honor and pleasure of driving you home." And the approval of every one present was too marked to be misunderstood. Semple felt it in every handclasp, and saw it in every face. Also, Semple had his own approval, and the result of it in his voice and manner troubled Janet. She was ignorant of its cause, and the Elder was not prepared to tell her. "The fool may think himself bound to challenge me," he thought, "and I'll e'en wait till he does it, or else till Clinton carries him awa' to fight rebels." But he was nearly betrayed by Neil, who entered the parlor in an almost buoyant manner for one so naturally grave. "Why, father," he said, "what is this I hear?" and then he suddenly stopped, having caught his father's warning glance. "You hae heard many things doubtless, Neil," answered the Elder, "and among them that I and DeLancey were driving together. We had a rather cheerful time at the King's Arms o'er a bit of transferring business. The government must hae clear titles, you ken, to the property it buys."