ath by a dark look.

"I beg your pardon," said she. "That part of the house which Philip
has paid, or will pay, for my living in, is my own, for the time
being. I shall go there--"

"You shall not leave this room," cried her father, stalking toward the
door. "You fall back upon Philip's name. Very well, he has delegated
the care of you to me in his absence. 'Tis time I should represent his
authority over you, when I hear of your plotting against his country."

"I have a right to be loyal to the king, above the authority of a
husband."

"If your loyalty extends to plotting against your husband's cause, you
have not the right under my roof--or under Philip Winwood's part of
it. I will know what this scheme is, that you have been engaged in."

"Not from me!" said Margaret, with a resolution that gave a new,
unfamiliar aspect to so charmingly feminine a creature.

"Oh, let her alone, father," put in Ned, ludicrously ready for the
faintest opportunity either to put his father under obligation or to
bring down Margaret. "I'll be frank with you. I've no reason to hide
what's past and gone. She and Captain Falconer had a plan to make
Washington a prisoner, by a night expedition from New York, and some
help in our camp--"

"Which you were to give, I see, you treacherous scoundrel!" said his
father, with contempt.

"Oh, now, no hard names, sir. You see, several of us--some good
patriots, too, with the country's best interests at heart--couldn't
swallow this French alliance; we saw that if we ever did win by it, we
should only be exchanging tyrants of our own blood for tyrants of
frog-eaters. We began to think England would take us back on good
terms if the war could be ended; and we considered the state of the
country, the interests of trade--indeed, 'twas chiefly the thought of
_your_ business, the hope of seeing it what it once was, that drove
_me_ into the thing."

"You wretched hypocrite!" interposed Mr. Faringfield.

"Oh, well; misunderstand me, as usual. Call me names, if you like. I'm
only telling the truth, and what you wished to know--what _she_
wouldn't tell you. I'm not as bad as some; I can up and confess, when
all's over. Well, as I was about to say, we had everything ready, and
the night was set; and then, all of a sudden, Phil Winwood swoops down
on me; treats me in a most unbrotherly fashion, I must say" (Ned cast
an oblique look at his embarrassed shoulder); "and alarmed the camp.
And when the Britis