"Gentlemen," said the old colonel, slowly and impressively, "the colonies were the most loyal and devoted portion of the king's dominion at one time. I have been up and down the length and breadth of them, I know the feeling. I was for years a soldier of the king myself,--with your fathers, young sirs,--and I can bear witness that no part of the kingdom responded with such alacrity to every legitimate demand upon it by the home government. Never did men so readily and willingly offer themselves and their goods for the service of the king. But it is all changed now. The change came slowly, but it came inevitably and surely, and you could no more change the present conditions than you could turn back the sun in its course. England has lost her colonies--" "Her late colonies," corrected Katharine, softly. "Yes, yes, of course, her late colonies, that is, beyond possibility of recovery. We will not be taxed without representation." "But suppose that we gave you the representation for which you asked, colonel. How then? Would not there be a general return to allegiance in that event?" queried the captain. "Sir," replied the colonel, proudly, "the child who has once learned to walk alone does not afterward go back to creeping and crawling, or stumbling along by the aid of his mother's hand. We have tasted our independence, enjoyed it, and now we mean to keep it." "Splendid, sir! splendid, father!" cried the delighted Katharine. "There speaks the spirit of Runnymede, and Naseby, too, gentlemen!" "Hush, hush, my child!" chided the colonel, half amusedly; "it is only the spirit of a plain man who has learned to love liberty by studying the history of his ancestry and his people." "Ah, but, colonel, how are you going to get that liberty without fighting for it?" asked Beauchamp, with rash temerity. "Howe and Cornwallis, for instance, have been pursuing Washington for six months, and could never get near enough to fire a shot at him, so they say." "Fight, sir, fight!" exclaimed the colonel, in astonished wrath; "why, God bless me, sir, I am willing to stand out now and show you how they can fight!" But Miss Katharine sprang to her feet: "And Bunker Hill, Mr. Beauchamp, and Long Island!" she cried impetuously. Beauchamp backed away precipitately from before her in great confusion, which invoked much mocking comment from the laughing officers round about him. "Here is one time the English forces are routed by a rebel!" said Hollins. "Yes," added Desborough, "but then Beauchamp is no worse off than the rest of us would be, if Miss Wilton were opposed to us." "Well," continued another, coming to the rescue, "we won both of those engagements, you know, Miss Wilton, after all." "Won! Who said anything about winning, sir? Anybody can win, if they have men enough or strength enough and money enough--we were talking about fighting, sir."