waiting until the sound of their horses' feet had died
away in the distance, Betty, with outward composure but much inward
dismay, tripped softly downstairs and knocked at the door of the
library.

"Pray Heaven he be alone," she sighed as she heard her father's voice
bid her enter, and then she crossed the threshold and confronted him.

"Father," she said, steadying herself by one small hand pressed downward
on the table behind which he sat, "I--that is--I have something to tell
you."

General Wolcott raised his head from the paper which he had been
carefully reading and looked kindly at her.

"What is it, my child?" he asked reassuringly, motioning her to a chair.
"I thought at breakfast that you had the air of being in distress."

"Nay, I am hardly that," replied Betty, clinging to the table, "except
so far as I may have incurred your censure, though I hope not your
displeasure. Father, Oliver has told you of the escape of Captain Yorke,
which causes him much chagrin and anger. Blame no one but me, for I
myself released him."

"You!" exclaimed General Wolcott.

"Yes, I," said Betty, growing paler. "If you had but been here or I
known that you were so near us, there had been no such need for haste,
and I would have been spared this confession."

"How did you arrange the escape?" said her father quietly.

"It was this way," faltered Betty, but gaining courage as she proceeded.
"Oliver would not listen, though I begged and plead with him to delay
until your arrival. He was so eager to deliver his captive to General
Putnam that I made no impression. Father, the Englishman had saved our
Moppet's life at the risk of his own; _he_ did not pause to ask whether
she was friend or foe when he rushed to her rescue--could we he less
humane? I do not know what they do to prisoners,"--and Betty strangled a
swift sob,--"but I could not bear to think of a gallant gentleman, be he
British or American, confined in a prison, and so I resolved I would
assist his escape. I waited until midnight, and then I spoke to him
through the aperture in the great chimney and instructed him how to
climb up through it by the pegs Reuben had left there, and I stole to
the garret and waited until he came. Ruben did not see me pass the door
of the north chamber, for he was asleep (do not tell this to Oliver, as
it might bring reproof upon poor Reuben, who was too weary to be of much
service as a sentinel), and I brought Captain Yorke safely down