This house stood between the place where the cavalry
had met, and that where the charge had been made on the party
of Wellmere.
To Katy Haynes it had been a day fruitful of incidents. The prudent
housekeeper had kept her political feelings in a state of rigid
neutrality; her own friends had espoused the cause of the country, but
the maiden herself never lost sight of that important moment, when, like
females of more illustrious hopes, she might be required to sacrifice
her love of country on the altar of domestic harmony. And yet,
notwithstanding all her sagacity, there were moments when the good woman
had grievous doubts into which scale she ought to throw the weight of
her eloquence, in order to be certain of supporting the cause favored by
the peddler. There was so much that was equivocal in his movements and
manner, that often, when, in the privacy of their household, she was
about to offer a philippic on Washington and his followers, discretion
sealed her mouth, and distrust beset her mind. In short, the whole
conduct of the mysterious being she studied was of a character to
distract the opinions of one who took a more enlarged view of men and
life than came within the competency of his housekeeper.
The battle of the Plains had taught the cautious Washington the
advantages his enemy possessed in organization, arms, and discipline.
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