Leave
him with us; there is no reward, no sum, which I will not
cheerfully pay."
"Sir, your anxiety for your friend excuses your language," said Lawton,
haughtily; "but you forget I am a Virginian, and a gentleman." Turning
to the young man, he continued, "Were you ignorant, Captain Wharton,
that our pickets have been below you for several days?"
"I did not know it until I reached them, and it was then too late to
retreat," said Wharton sullenly. "I came out, as my father has
mentioned, to see my friends, understanding your parties to be at
Peekskill, and near the Highlands, or surely I would not have ventured."
"All this may be very true; but the affair of Andre has made us on the
alert. When treason reaches the grade of general officers, Captain
Wharton, it behooves the friends of liberty to be vigilant."
Henry bowed to this remark in distant silence, but Sarah ventured to
urge something in behalf of her brother. The dragoon heard her politely,
and apparently with commiseration; but willing to avoid useless and
embarrassing petitions, he answered mildly,--
"I am not the commander of the party, madam; Major Dunwoodie will decide
what must be done with your brother; at all events he will receive
nothing but kind and gentle treatment."
"Dunwoodie!" exclaimed Frances, with a face in which the roses contended
for the mastery with the paleness of apprehension.
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