He removed his finely powdered periwig and ran his heavy fingers through his dark hair. "I treat such aspersions with the contempt their pettiness deserves. I am still Military Governor of Philadelphia and as such am beholden to no one save Washington. The people have given me nothing and I have nothing to return save bitter memories." "I wish we were away from here!" she sighed. "Margaret!" He never called her Peggy. He disliked it. "Are you not happy in this home which I have provided for you?" His eyes opened full. "It isn't that," she replied, "I am afraid of Reed." "Reed? He is powerless. He is president of the City Council which under English law is, in time of peace, the superior governing body of the people. But this is war, and he must take second place. I despise him." Peggy looked up inquiringly. "Suppose that the worst should happen?" she said. "But--how--what can happen?" he repeated. "Some great calamity." "How--what do you mean?" he asked. "If you should be removed, say, or transferred to some less important post?" A thought flashed into his mind. "Further humiliated?" "Yes. What then?" "Why,--I don't know. I had thought of no possible contingency. I wished for a command in the Navy and wrote to Washington to that effect; but nothing came of it. I suppose my increasing interest in domestic affairs in the city, as well as my attentions to you, caused me to discontinue the application. Then again, I thought I was fitted for the kind of life led by my friend Schuyler in New York and had hoped to obtain a grant of land in the West where I might lead a retired life as a good citizen." "I would die in such a place. The Indians would massacre us. Imagine me hunting buffalo in Ohio!" Her face wore a sardonic smile. It was plain to be seen that she was in a flippant mood. "Have you given the matter a thought? Tell me," he questioned. "No! I could not begin to think." "Are you not happy?" "Happiness springs not from a large fortune, and is often obtained when often unexpected. It is neither within us nor without us and only evident to us by the deliverance from evil." He glanced sharply. There was fire in his eye. "I know of what you are thinking. You are disturbed by these persistent rumors about me." She gave a little laugh, a chuckle, in a hopeless manner. "Yes, I am. Go on." She answered mechanically and fell back in her chair. "You need not be disturbed. They are groundless, I tell you. Simply engendered by spite. And I blame partly the Papist Whigs. Damn 'em." "It isn't that alone."