He was a
native of the same colony with herself; and although his early military
services, and her frequent visits to the family of her sister, and
subsequent establishment at its head, had prevented their ever meeting,
still she was familiar with his domestic virtues, and well knew that the
rigid inflexibility for which his public acts were distinguished formed
no part of his reputation in private life. He was known in Virginia as a
consistent but just and lenient master; and she felt a kind of pride in
associating in her mind her countryman with the man who led the armies,
and in a great measure controlled the destinies, of America. She knew
that Henry was innocent of the crime for which he was condemned to
suffer, and, with that kind of simple faith that is ever to be found in
the most ingenuous characters, could not conceive of those constructions
and interpretations of law that inflicted punishment without the actual
existence of crime. But even her confiding hopes were doomed to meet
with a speedy termination. Towards noon, a regiment of militia, that
were quartered on the banks of the river, moved to the ground in front
of the house that held our heroine and her family, and deliberately
pitched their tents, with the avowed intention of remaining until the
following morning, to give solemnity and effect to the execution of a
British spy.
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