Captain Wildfoot raised his hat to us with all the courtesy of a European nobleman and rode away with his men, while we turned our horses towards Philadelphia, and were soon far from the hill on which we had stood and witnessed the battle's flare. Miss Desmond knew the way much better than I did, and I followed her guidance, though we rode side by side. "You do not ask me to keep this matter a secret," I said, at length, when we had ridden a mile or more in silence. "Is not your own safety as much concerned as mine?" she asked, looking with much meaning at my gay British uniform. "Is that the only reason you do not ask me to speak of it?" I said, still bent upon going deeper into the matter. "Will you speak of it when I ask you not to do so?" she said. I did not expect such a question, but I replied in the negative with much haste. But presently I said, thinking to compliment her, that, however my own sympathies might be placed, I must admit that she had done a very brave deed, and that I could not withhold my admiration. But she replied with some curtness that Captain Wildfoot had said that first,--which was true enough, though I had thought it as early as he. Had it been any other woman, I would have inferred from her reply that her vanity was offended. But it was not possible to think such a thing of Mary Desmond on that night. "Have you any heart for this task?" she asked me, with much suddenness, a few minutes later. "What task?" I replied, surprised. "The task that the king has set for his army,--the attempt to crush the Colonies," she replied. There was much embarrassment in the question for me, and I sought to take refuge in compliment. "That you are enlisted upon the other side, Miss Desmond," I replied, "is enough to weaken the attachment of any one to the king's service." "This is not a drawing-room," she replied, looking at me with clear eyes, "nor has the business which we have been about to-night any savor of the drawing-room. Let us then drop such manner of speech." She was holding me at arm's length, but I made some rambling, ambiguous reply, to the effect that a soldier should have no opinions, but should do what he is told to do,--which, though a very good argument, does not always appease one's conscience. But she did not press the question further,--which was a relief to me. When we became silent again, my thoughts turned back to our successful ride. On the whole, I had cause for lightness of feeling. Aided by chance or luck, I had come out of difficulties wondrous well. Within a very short space I had seen our people twice triumph over the British, and I exulted much because of it.