lf rose to go to her.

"No, no! Let me alone!" she cried, escaping narrowly from that
surrender to her feelings which would have meant forfeiting the fruits
of her long planning.

His mood changed.

"I'll not endure this," he cried, rising and pacing the floor. "You'll
find I'm no such weakling, though I can weep for my wife when I lose
her love. _He_ shall find it so, too! I understand now what you meant
by 'to-night of all nights.' He was to meet you to-night. He's
quartered in the house, you say. He was to slink up, no doubt, when
all were out of the way--your father divines little of this, I'll
warrant. Well, he may come--but he shall find _me_ waiting at my
wife's door!"

"You'll wait in vain, then. He is very far from here to-night."

"I'll believe that when it's proven. I find 'tis well that I, 'of all
men,' came here to-night."

"Nay, you're mistaken. You had been more like to find him to-night
where you came from, than where you've come to."

How true it is that a woman may always be relied on to say a word too
much--whether for the sake of a taunt, or the mere necessity of giving
an apt answer, I presume not to decide.

"What can that mean?" said he, arrested by the peculiarity of her tone
and look. "Find him where I came from? Why, that's our camp. What does
he do there, 'to-night of all nights?' Explain yourself."

"Nothing at all. I spoke without thinking."

"The likelier to have spoken true, then! So your--acquaintance--might
be found in our camp to-night? Charles Falconer, a British officer. I
can't imagine--not as a spy, surely. Oho! is there some expedition?
Some attack, some midnight surprise? This requires looking into."

"I fear you will not find out much. And if you did, it would be too
late for you to carry a warning."

"The expedition has too great a start of me--is that what you mean?
That's to be seen. I might beat Mr. Falconer in this, as he has beaten
me--elsewhere. I know the Jersey roads better than I have known my
wife's heart, perchance. What is this expedition?"

"Do you think I would tell you--if there were one?"

"I'm satisfied there is some such thing. But I doubt no warning of
mine is needed, to defeat it. Our army is alert for these night
attempts. We've had too many of 'em. If there be one afoot to-night,
so much the worse for those engaged in it."

This irritated her; and she never used the skill to guard her speech,
at her calmest; so she answered quickly:

"N