othy."

"Pray, why dost thou smile so, Tom?" she asked, her eyes agleam. "Is it
that there is a pair of bright eyes here in Williamsburg which you are
dying to talk about? Well, I will be your confidante."

"Oh, Dorothy!" I stammered, but my tongue refused to utter the thought
which was in my heart,--that there was only one pair of eyes in the whole
world I cared for, and that I was looking into them at this very moment.

"Ah, you blush, you stammer!" cried my tormentor. "Come, I'll wager
there's a pretty maid. Tell me her name, Tom."

I looked at her and gripped my hands at my side. If only this crowd
was not about us--if only we were alone together somewhere--I would be
bold enough.

"And why do you look so savage, Tom?" she asked, and I could have sworn
she had read my thought. "You are not angry with me already! Why, you
have known me scarce an hour!"

I could endure no more, and I reached out after her, heedless of the time
and of the place. Doubtless there would have been great scandal among
the stately dames who surrounded us, but that she sprang away from me
with a little laugh and ran plump into a man who had been hastening
toward her. The sight of her in the arms of a stranger brought me to my
senses, and I stopped dead where I was.

"'Tis Mr. Washington!" she cried, looking up into his face, and as he set
her gently on her feet, she held out her hand to him. He raised it to his
lips with a courtly grace I greatly envied. "Mr. Washington, this is my
cousin, Thomas Stewart."

"I am very happy to meet Mr. Stewart," he said, and he grasped my
hand with a heartiness which warmed my heart. I had to look up to
meet his eyes, for he must have been an inch or two better than six
feet in height, and of a most commanding presence. His eyes were
blue-gray, penetrating, and overhung by a heavy brow, his face long
rather than broad, with high, round cheekbones and a large mouth,
which could smile most agreeably, or--as I was afterward to
learn--close in a firm, straight line with dogged resolution. At this
moment his face was luminous with joy, and he was plainly laboring
under some intense emotion.

"Where is my mother, Dolly?" he asked. "I have news for her."

"She is in the reception hall with the governor's wife," she answered.
"But may we not have your news, Mr. Washington?"

He paused and looked back at her a moment.

"'T is all settled," he said, "and I am to start at once."

"I was right, then!" she