ely as I fall into British hands!"

Peyton remembered the case of General Charles Lee, whose resignation
of half-pay had not been acknowledged; who was, when captured by the
British, long in danger of hanging, and who was finally rated as an
ordinary war prisoner only for Washington's threat to retaliate on
five Hessian field officers. If a major-general, whose desertion, even
if admitted, was from half-pay only, would have been hanged without
ceremony but for General Howe's fear of a "law scrape," and had been
saved from shipment to England for trial, only by the King's fear that
Washington's retaliation would disaffect the Hessian allies, for what
could a mere captain look, who had come over from the enemy in action,
and whose punishment would entail no official retaliation?

"And your mistress expects a troop of British soldiers here in an hour
to take me! Damn it, if I could only walk!" And he looked rapidly
around the room, in a kind of distraction, as if seeking some means of
escape. Realizing the futility of this, he sighed dismally, and drank
the remainder of the tea.

"You couldn't get away from the house, sir," said Molly. "Williams is
watching outside."

"I'd take a chance if I could only run!" Peyton muttered. He had no
fear that Molly would betray him. "If there were some hiding-place I
might crawl to! But the troops would search every cranny about the
house." He turned to Molly suddenly, seeing, in his desperate state
and his lack of time, but one hope. "I wonder, could Williams be
bribed to spirit me away?"

Molly's manner underwent a slight chill.

"Oh, no," said she. "He'd die before he'd disobey Miss Elizabeth. We
all would, sir. I'm very sorry, indeed, sir." Whereupon, taking up the
empty bowl and teacup, she hastened from the room.

Peyton sat listening to the clock-ticks. He moved his right leg so
that the foot rested on the floor, then tried to move the left one
after it, using his hand to guide it. With great pains and greater
pain, he finally got the left foot beside the right. He then undertook
to stand, but the effort cost him such physical agony as could not be
borne for any length of time. He fell back with a groan to the sofa,
convinced that the wounded leg was not only, for the time, useless
itself, but also an impediment to whatever service the other leg might
have rendered alone. But he remained sitting up, his right foot on the
floor.

Suddenly there was a raucous sound from ol