Janice Meredith: A Story of the American RevolutionFord, Paul Leicester
History
Janice Meredith: A Story of the American Revolution
Ford, Paul Leicester
United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Fiction
"Oh, indeed, sir," explained Janice, growing yet redder, "it is
mine, I assure you, given me by--that is, he said I might keep it."
"'Tain't for me to say it ain't yourn," responded the shop-keeper;
"but the times is bad times and there 's roguery of
all sorts going on in the city." He looked it over again,
and demanded, "Who does 'W. H. J. B.' mean?"
"I don't--I never knew," faltered Janice.
"Then where 's the picture that was in it?"
"I--I took it out," explained the girl, "not wishing to
part with that."
"That's just what ye would have done if ye'd not come by
it by rights, "replied the man.
"Then I'll put it back," hastily offered Janice, very much
alarmed and flustered. "I--I never dreamed that--that
the picture would make it worth any more."
"'T would have made it look more regular. How much
d' ye want for it?"
"I thought--Would five pounds be too much?"
The shop-keeper laid the frame down on the counter and
shoved it toward Janice. "No, I don't want it," he said.
"Would three pounds--?"
"I don't want it at no such price," interrupted the man.
"Oh," bewailed the girl, "what am I to do? The doctor
said she was to have nourishing food; and I have nothing but
a little corn meal left. Would you give me one pound for it?"
"I tell ye, I won't buy it at any price. And I don't even
want it in the shop, so take it away. And if you want to keep
out of jail, I would n't be offering it about; I've most a
mind to call the watch myself, as 't is."
The threat was enough to make Janice catch up the bijou
and leave the shop almost at a run; nor did her pace lessen
as she hurried homeward, and, safely there, she fast bolted the
door. This done, with hands which trembled not a little, she
replaced her portrait in the frame, hoping dimly from what
the shopkeeper had said, that this would help to prove her
ownership. Yet all that day and the succeeding one she
stayed within doors, dreading what might come; and any
unusual noise outside set her heart beating with fear that it might
portend the approach of a danger all the more terrible that
it was indefinite. As if her suffering were not great enough,
an added horror was the army vans loaded with groaning
wounded, which rumbled by her door during the sleepless
night she spent.
As time lessened her fright, her necessities grew more
pressing, and finally became so desperate, that, braving everything,
she went boldly to headquarters, and asked for Lord
Cornwallis.
She was referred by the sentry at the stoop to a room on
the ground floor, her entrance being accompanied by the man
shouting down the hallway: "Here 's wan more av thim
townsfolks, sir." Entering, Janice discovered two men seated
at a table, each with a little pile of money at his elbow, passing
the time with cards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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