our officers to treat it somewhat disrespectfully."

"It was, indeed," answered the captain, thoughtfully--"and a silly
thing it was. They mistook the nature of a mild and pacific people,
totally without the glitter and habits of military life, for a timid
people; and I have often heard the new hands in the colonies speak of
their inhabitants with contempt on this very head. Braddock had that
failing to a great degree; and yet this very major Washington saved his
army from annihilation, when it came to truly desperate work. Mark the
words of a much older soldier than yourself, Bob; you may have more of
the bravery of apparel, and present a more military aspect; may even
gain advantages over them by means of higher discipline, better arms,
and more accurate combinations; but, when you meet them fairly, depend
on it you will meet dangerous foes, and men capable of being sooner
drilled into good soldiers than any nation I have met with. Their great
curse is, and probably will be, in selecting too many of their officers
from classes not embued with proper military pride, and altogether
without the collaterals of a good military education."

To all this the major had nothing very material to object, and
remembering that the silent but thoughtful Beulah had a husband in what
he called the rebel ranks, he changed the subject. Arrangements were
now made for the comfort and privacy of the unlooked-for guest.
Adjoining the library, a room with no direct communication with the
court by means of either door, or window, was a small and retired
apartment containing a cot-bed, to which the captain was accustomed to
retire in the cases of indisposition, when Mrs. Willoughby wished to
have either of her daughters with herself, on their account, or on her
own. This room was now given to the major, and in it he would be
perfectly free from every sort of intrusion. He might eat in the
library, if necessary; though, all the windows of that wing of the
house opening outward, there was little danger of being seen by any but
the regular domestics of the family, all of whom were to be let into
the secret of his presence, and all of whom were rightly judged to be
perfectly trustworthy.

As the evening promised to be dark, it was determined among the
gentlemen that the major should disguise himself still more than he was
already, and venture outside of the building, in company with his
father, and the chaplain, as soon as the people, who were n