As the buxom dame brought in the well-filled tray, a loud, aggressive voice came through the open door, evidently from the taproom, where a fire blazing on the hearth--although the night was barely cold--tempted the wayfarers to congregate. "An' I tell ye," said the unseen speaker, "that Boston is the heart an' mouth o' the colonies. The wind that blows from Boston will set every weathercock from New Hampshire to Georgia." A silence followed, suggestive of no one caring to dispute the assertion. Mistress Trask, noting Mary's expression of annoyance and her glance toward the door, made haste to close it. Then she explained, as she began setting the food upon the table: "That's only farmer Gilbert. He's a decent enough body when sober, but once he gets a bit o' liquor under his waistcoat, it seems to fly straight to his brains and addle 'em. And then he do seem fairly grieving for a fisticuff with all creation." "I surely trust he will make no such disturbance while we are in the house," Mary said uneasily. "Never ye have any fear, dearie," replied the good woman. She was an old acquaintance of Johnnie Strings, and he had duly impressed her as to the high standing of the guests he left in her charge. "Never ye fear," she repeated. "The sight of a real lady is sure to be a check on his tongue an' manners; an' I'll see to it that he knows who be in this room. 'T is true sorry I am to have to put ye on this lower floor; but ye see, we've strict orders to keep the whole o' the upper floor for some gentry who will be here by late evening." Then bending her head quickly, she whispered with great impressiveness, "Who, think ye, we expect?" "I have no idea," was Mary's indifferent answer. She had scarcely heard the question, for wondering what it might be that Dorothy was thinking about as she stood by the window, from which she had drawn away the curtain. Certain it was that the girl could distinguish nothing in the pitchy darkness outside, even if she could see through the rain-dashed panes, that looked as if encrusted with glass beads. Mistress Trask's information--whispered, like her question, as if she feared the furniture might hear her words--caused Mary to sit very erect, with kindling eyes and indrawn breath. "Hush-h," warned the landlady, with a broad smile of delight at the surprise she had aroused. "Hush-h; we was ordered on no account to let it get out." "Dot, did you hear what she said?" Mary asked, when the two, left to themselves, sat down to the tempting supper. Dorothy shook her head, wondering the while at Mary's agitation. "She said," and Mary lowered her own voice, "that the Commander-in-Chief is to arrive here soon, and that he will stop here all night, as there is to be a meeting of some sort with many of his principal officers." "General Washington!" A new light came to Dorothy's face, kindling a rush of color in her cheeks, and sending a glitter from her eyes that routed all their sad abstraction.