The next moment she was out in the night, followed by a line of
supperless redcoats.
The moon, grown round and full, smiled on the procession. Sally and
André headed the company splashing through the wet road. So intent
were they on their errand that scarcely any one spoke.
They were nearing the lights of the cottage when Sally paused. Placing
her finger to her mouth to enjoin silence, she said, "You must turn
back, friends. The sight of you all might kill his mother. 'Twas
thoughtless in asking you to come with me. André," she whispered, "you
must stay to bring me home."
"Brave little Sally!" a youth's lusty voice rang out. The men
surrounded her. One by one they asked to kiss her hand, then crept
off through the dripping foliage. All the while she was gazing at the
house. Rain-drops glistened in her hair and her garments hung limp
about her knees. André stood by her side seemingly lost in thought. He
was dreaming of days that were dead. Softly she touched his shoulder.
"André," she said, "I am afraid to go in."
The crashing of twigs under foot died away in the distance; the clouds
were all swept out of the heavens and the night seemed one vast ambient
plain of loneliness. The girl and the man in the middle of the roadway
drew closer to each other. Tenderly he caught her trembling hands in
his. "Do not be afraid, Sally," he said; "you will find happiness." His
voice was breaking. "Two hearts will always beat for you--one belongs
to the man in yonder cot and the other to John André." Softly she crept
from him to the door which opened into her earthly Paradise.
[Illustration]
PINDERINA SCRIBBLERUS,
AN AMERICAN MONTAGU
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
PINDERINA SCRIBBLERUS, AN AMERICAN MONTAGU
When the great Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu was receiving the _bas-bleus_ of
London in her Hill Street drawing-room there arose across the water
a little American salon which reflected in a degree the spirit of
the famous gatherings Admiral Boscawen named after the slovenly Dr.
Stillingfleet's gray stockings. It is only recently that historians
have taken a marked interest in the literature which followed in
the wake of the Revolutionary War and the world has learned that in
the newly-formed States there were a few bright spirits whose lives
and aspirations reflected the culture of Europe. One of the most
interesting of these was Elizabeth Kearny, _née_ Lawrence, a daughter
of Judge Lawrence, of Burlington, and a half-sister of Captain James
Lawrence of "Don't give up the ship" fame. She formed a literary circle
which flourished for a few years in old Perth Amboy, Jersey's fallen
capital.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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