Barclugh, however, though the main actor in the plot to hold America within the sphere of kingly and aristocratical government, was, by his actual experience among the Americans of all classes, convinced that their position was invincible on the principles of free and representative government. He could see that even though the British were to get the seaports along the Atlantic and hold them, the sturdy pioneers would retire into the mountains and fight until exterminated. Then the French Coalition gave England an enemy in the front and rear. He could see the end. He thought best to conclude the war, and, at least, save the Canadas to the mother country. Convinced with these conclusions he went to Mr. Prince, the Governor of the Bank of England, and made his report. The principal arguments were: “In the eight years of the war the population increased nearly one million souls. “The British and Hessian soldiery desert to take up free homes on the new lands of America. “The land is productive of every necessity in abundance. “The Americans leave their plows to fight one day and then return to them, to provide subsistence the next. “Money appeals to very few of them. None except a few merchants in the seaports care for money. Merchandise receipts issued by the government pass as legal tender. “Their depreciated currency does not affect them. They have no banks. They all have faith in their cause and in their ability to redeem their obligations when the war ends. Therefore, each one stands ready to sacrifice his life and his substance for his principles.” When Mr. Prince received these tidings he knew that they were reliable and he merely concluded: “The war must stop before we lose all. But,” he prophesied, “in less than one hundred years hence, England will subdue the Americans with her system of finance and her system of aristocratic society. An Englishman’s title will not then go begging in America.” When Lord George Germaine received the report from the Governor of the Bank of England and Lord North received it, and, at last, the King--the inner circles of government were astounded. Following closely upon these events came the news of Cornwallis’s surrender, and Lord North made his famous exclamation: “O God! It is all over!” CHAPTER XLI Mollie Greydon could not arise on the morning after the interview between her father and Roderick Barclugh. She sank into a low fever and for two months she lingered between life and death while being nursed by her faithful friend, Segwuna. In her delirium she talked about the Assembly at the French Ministers and oft repeated: “The dance is the language of love.” Then she would see the horses galloping down the road beside the Delaware where she outdistanced Roderick Barclugh on her thoroughbred, “Prince.” She would pass her hand over the bed-covering and pat it with such a loving and gentle touch as she said: