Part 47 (1/2)
”I am extremely sorry, Miss Brandon, to be obliged to execute an order of this kind, but I am directed by Colonel Hardman to take possession of these premises, as you will see by this order,” he said, handing her a paper.
”By what right does Colonel Hardman seize these premises?”
”Well, really--I suppose--because you are a--a rebel, you know,” the lieutenant replied.
”How does he know that I am a rebel?”
”I don't mean exactly that. Of course, you are not in arms personally against his majesty, King George, but then, the people are, you know.”
”You mean, that because the king's troops began a war, firing upon the people at Lexington and Concord, your colonel proposes to turn me, my invalid father and mother, out of our home, that he may take possession and live in comfort.”
”It is awfully bad business, Miss Brandon, but I can't help it, you know.”
”I do not doubt, sir, that it is mortifying to you, personally, to be compelled to execute an order of this sort. Please say to Colonel Hardman that this is our home, and we shall not leave it voluntarily.
If he desires to occupy it, he will do so only by force of arms.”
The lieutenant took his hat, not knowing what to make of a young lady so calm and self-possessed, who did not cry or wring her hands.
”Oh, Ruth, you are just the one I want to see,” said Berinthia, as Miss Newville entered a few minutes later. ”Just look at this! Colonel Hardman proposes to turn us out of doors, that he may take possession of our home.”
”Aren't you going to protest?”
”I have protested.”
”Aren't you going to do something?”
”What can I do?”
”We will see. General Howe is to dine with us this afternoon, and I have come to get you to help me entertain him and the others. We will ask him what he thinks of such arbitrary action on the part of his subordinate officer.”
”I will be there to hear what he has to say,” Berinthia said.
The hard times and the want of fresh provisions ruffled the temper of Phillis in the Newville kitchen. No longer could she baste a fat turkey roasting by the fire, or a joint of juicy beef, and yet the dinner she was preparing for his excellency General Howe, and Mr.
Newville's other guests, was very appetizing,--oysters raw and fried, clam soup, broiled halibut, fresh mackerel, corned beef and pork, plum-pudding and pie.
Lord William Howe, commander-in-chief of his majesty's forces in America, was a gentleman, polite, affable, who delighted to make himself agreeable to beautiful ladies. At Bunker Hill he had shown the army that he could be brave on the battlefield. The other guests were Brigadier-General Timothy Ruggles, appointed commander of the militia, loyal to the king, and Captain John Coffin of his staff. General Howe solicited the honor of escorting Miss Newville to the dinner-table; Captain Coffin, possibly preferring the society of the girl with whom he often had romped to that of the mother, offered his arm to Berinthia, leaving to General Ruggles the honor of escorting the hostess.
”The state of the times,” said Mr. Newville, ”does not enable me to provide an elaborate repast, but Phillis has done her best with what she had.”
”I am sure your dinner will be far more elaborate than anything I have upon my own table,” said General Howe. ”There being no fresh provisions in the market, I have to put up with salt junk.”
”Do you think the present scarcity of food will continue long?” Ruth inquired.
”I trust not. It will be some time before the government supplies reach me from England, but I have dispatched vessels to Halifax and the West Indies, which, with fair winds, ought to be here in the course of a week.”
”It is tantalizing to know there are abundant supplies of vegetables in the farmers' cellars, not twenty miles away, that droves of cattle and sheep come to Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton, and we cannot get a joint of mutton or a cabbage,” said Mr. Newville.
”If the provincial pirates do not intercept the vessels, we shall have fresh provisions soon; but they are a daring set of rebels who live down towards Cape Ann. A schooner darted out the other day from Marblehead, and captured the brig Nancy and a rich cargo which I could ill afford to lose,--two thousand muskets, one hundred thousand flints, thirty thousand cannon-b.a.l.l.s, and thirty tons of musket-b.a.l.l.s, and a thirteen-inch mortar. I understand Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton is greatly elated by the capture, as well he may be.”
”Cannot Admiral Graves protect the transports?” Mr. Newville asked.