A week later, Mr. Meredith bade farewell to wife and daughter. "I wish you were n't going, dadda," Janice moaned. "'T is so akin to last summer that it frights me." "Nay, lass, be grateful that I have the job to do, and that with good winds I shall return within a fortnight. Clowes has passed his word that ye shall want for nothing. I'll be back ere ye know I've gone." There was a good cause, however, for the girl's fear of the future, for in less than a week from her father's sailing, on every street corner, in every tavern, and in every drawing-room of the town the news that Philadelphia was to be evacuated was being eagerly and anxiously discussed. XLVII THE EVACUATION Confirmation of the rumour, so far as Mrs. Meredith and Janice were concerned, was first received through the commissary. "Ay," he told them, when questioned; "'t was decided at a council of war the very day Howe left us, and that was why we at once began transferring our stores and the seized property to New York, one cargo of which your husband was put in charge. 'T will tax our shipping to the utmost to save it all." "But why didst thou not warn us, so that we might have embarked with him?" asked Mrs. Meredith. "'T was a military secret to be told to no one." "Can dadda return ere the evacuation begins?" "'T is scarce possible, even if his orders permit it." "Then what are we to do?" "Thou hadst best apply at once to the deputy quartermaster-general for transports." Mrs. Meredith acted on this advice the following day, but without success. "Think you the king's ships and transports have naught to do but act as packet-boats for you Americans?" the deputy asked. "Hundreds of applications have been filed already, and not another one will we receive. If you 'd for New York, hire a passage in a private ship." This was easier to recommend than to do, for such was the frantic demand for accommodation that the prices had been raised to exorbitant figures, quite beyond their means. So appeal was made once more to Clowes. "'T is something of a quandary," he remarked; "but there is a simple way out." "What?" "I'd have saved ye all worry over the matter but that I wished ye to learn the difficulties. I have never made pretence to doing favours out of mere kindness of heart, and ye know quite as well as I why I have given ye lodging and other aids. But for that very reason I am getting wearied of doing all and receiving nothing, and have come to the end. Give me Miss Janice, and my wife and mother shall have passage in the ship I sail in." "You take a poor way, Lord Clowes, to gain your wish," said Janice. "Generosity--" "Has had a six months' trial, and brought me no nearer to a consummation," interrupted the baron. "Small wonder I sicken of it and lose patience." "'T is not to be expected that I would let Janice wed thee when her father has given thee nay."