[Illustration: “This is a great pleasure to see you again.”] ARNOLD’S TEMPTER _By_ Benjamin F. Comfort [Illustration] THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 1908 COPYRIGHT, 1908 BY THE C. M. CLARK PUBLISHING CO. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS U. S. A. All Rights Reserved _Dedicated to My Wife A. C. C._ ILLUSTRATIONS _Frontispiece_, “This is a great pleasure to see you again” _Page_ Mollie Greydon 34 Two girls were seeking wild strawberries on the banks of the Wingohocking 148 “Have we the pleasure of the gentleman’s name and occupation?” quizzed the old man 178 Barclugh simply sat back and laughed till he was tired out 222 Captain Risk engaged two seamen, cutlass in one hand and pistol in the other 275 She noticed how longingly he watched her depart 333 Mollie put down her needle-work and ran to meet her 360 ARNOLD’S TEMPTER CHAPTER I Roderick Barclugh was invited to dine with the FitzMaurices and Benedict Arnold was to meet him. The arrival in Philadelphia of a gentleman with credentials from Dr. Franklin to the Secretary of Congress, who had much influence with the French Court, and who had bills of exchange for twenty thousand pounds sterling created stirring comment among the fashionables. He was to meet without delay the choice spirits on the inside of Philadelphia’s aristocratical party. Robert FitzMaurice’s mansion, to which had been made great additions, to suit the tastes of the new proprietor, was an old Colonial landmark. The ambition of this merchant prince and financier had ever been to establish his family and his fortunes under the English system of aristocracy, upon such a grand scale of magnificence that he could claim all the blandishments of a crest and a title which, of course, belong to a person of substance. His entertainments were numerous, and there gathered all the intriguers in and out of Congress,--those who sanctioned the Revolution on political grounds but who shuddered at the utterance of the word ‘democracy.’ The clergy, the judiciary, the lawyers, the knights-errant and the financiers, found congenial atmosphere and hospitality in this house; for schemes were there laid to win independence, but, once won, the English Constitution and its institutions of aristocracy and finance were the only safeguards of prosperity and liberty which the common people should consider.