United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Fiction; War stories
reach the eyes of such fugitives if they ventured into any of the Devon
towns near by; but they might well have starved to death by this time in
the deserts of Dartmoor. One sailor beside the lieutenant had succeeded
in making his escape.
Mary Hamilton had left her lady pale and in tears that morning, and all
her affectionate solicitude had been in vain.
There was some relief in finding herself afoot in the fresh air. For
the first time she wondered if they must yield all their hopes and think
of going home. It must be so if they should come to know that Roger was
really dead, and her heart stopped as if with a sudden shock. Alas,
next moment she remembered that for poor Madam Wallingford there was no
safe return; her son was not yet disproven of Tory crimes. If there were
any chance of sailing, the poor lady was far too ill and feeble in these
last days. The summer, the little that was left of it, looked long and
dreary; the days were already growing short. There had not come a word
from home since they sailed.
There was no longer much use in riding abroad on futile quests, and in
these last days most persons had ceased to ask if there were any news of
the lieutenant. Week after week had gone by, and his mother’s proud
courage was gone, while her bodily strength was fast failing. Lord
Newburgh and Mr. Fairfax, even Lord Mount Edgecumbe himself, had shown
very great kindness in so difficult a matter, and Mary never let them go
away unthanked for any favors which it could only be a happiness for any
man to bestow. The gift and spell of beauty were always hers, and a
heart that was always ready to show both gratitude and affection. She
might not speak these things, but she was instant in giving the sweetest
recognition to the smallest service that she might discover.
The abbey church of St. Augustine was cool and dim as Mary Hamilton went
in, with a drooping head and a heavy heart. Her courage had never
before seemed so utterly to fail. She had passed two forlorn Royalists
at the gatehouse who were talking of their pensions, and heard one of
them say, "If I were safe home again I’d never leave it, principles or
no principles!" and the words rang dull and heavy in her ears. She sat
down on an old stone bench in the side aisle; the light came sifting
down to the worn stone pavement, but she was in shadow, behind a great
pillar that stood like a monstrous tree to hold the lofty roof. There
was no one in sight. The lonely girl looked up at a familiar old
Jacobean monument on the wall, with the primly ruffed father and mother
kneeling side by side with clasped hands, and their children kneeling in
a row behind them down to the very least, in a pious little succession.
They were all together there in comfortable safety, and many ancient
tablets covered the walls about them with the names and virtues of
soldiers and sailors, priests and noblemen, and gallant gentlemen of Old
England with their children and their good wives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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