think and feel
which we could hardly have expected to find beneath the snows of
fourscore winters. His feelings, indeed, appeared to me more excitable
than those of a younger man--or, at least, the same degree of feeling
manifested itself by more visible effects than if his judgment and
will had possessed the potency of meridian life. At the pathetic
passages of his narrative he readily melted into tears. When a breath
of indignation swept across his spirit, the blood flushed his withered
visage even to the roots of his white hair, and he shook his clinched
fist at the trio of peaceful auditors, seeming to fancy enemies in
those who felt very kindly toward the desolate old soul. But ever and
anon, sometimes in the midst of his most earnest talk, this ancient
person's intellect would wander vaguely, losing its hold of the matter
in hand and groping for it amid misty shadows. Then would he cackle
forth a feeble laugh and express a doubt whether his wits--for by that
phrase it pleased our ancient friend to signify his mental
powers--were not getting a little the worse for wear.

Under these disadvantages, the old loyalist's story required more
revision to render it fit for the public eye than those of the series
which have preceded it; nor should it be concealed that the sentiment
and tone of the affair may have undergone some slight--or perchance
more than slight--metamorphosis in its transmission to the reader
through the medium of a thoroughgoing democrat. The tale itself is a
mere sketch with no involution of plot nor any great interest of
events, yet possessing, if I have rehearsed it aright, that pensive
influence over the mind which the shadow of the old Province House
flings upon the loiterer in its court-yard.

* * * * *

The hour had come--the hour of defeat and humiliation--when Sir
William Howe was to pass over the threshold of the province-house and
embark, with no such triumphal ceremonies as he once promised himself,
on board the British fleet. He bade his servants and military
attendants go before him, and lingered a moment in the loneliness of
the mansion to quell the fierce emotions that struggled in his bosom
as with a death-throb. Preferable then would he have deemed his fate
had a warrior's death left him a claim to the narrow territory of a
grave within the soil which the king had given him to defend. With an
ominous perception that as his departing footsteps echoed a