ch, who were to depart with the honors of war and to
sail for France, were drawn up, as if on parade, to receive the
victorious army. The colonial volunteers looked at the battered
defences, which were still strong enough to have resisted them longer if
a combined attack had not been threatened, and they said to one
another:--

"It takes our General to capture a Gibraltar. We should all have been in
our graves if we had obeyed Governor Shirley, and begun by assault."

From the window of a house overlooking the square, Elizabeth and her
faithful attendant watched the whole ceremony of giving and taking
formal possession of the city, the exchange of salutations between the
French troops and their conquerors, and the departure of the former,
with drums beating and colors flying, to embark for France under a
twelve months' parole. When all was over, and she still sat there, her
eyes full of proud tears at the glory of her country, a voice behind her
said:--

"Do you remember the agreement we made?"

She turned, surprised, her lashes still wet.

"I didn't hear you coming," she answered. "You mean when I said I should
like to be invited to walk through Louisburg?"

"Yes."

"I should be glad, by and by, if you have leisure; although I suppose
that everybody will have that now."

He smiled. "If you saw Pepperell's tasks, you wouldn't think so."

"Then, I suppose that you are busy, too, and everybody else?"

"Yes. Shall I come for you at sunset?"

The words seemed to sound over and over again in Elizabeth's
ears,--words, in themselves, almost ungracious, but which his tone had
made to mean, "No business ranks your pleasure." Already they had
returned to the courtesies of peace. She could not answer in a different
spirit; she must abide by the idle words he had remembered, and go. Her
work here was over. Many of her patients had been sent home, and all
were well cared for now.

Sunset in the middle of June, and in that latitude, was only the
burnished gate-way to a beautiful twilight that lingered as if loath to
leave the land it loved. The city lay as tranquil as if no bombshell had
ever burst over it, or no alien force now held possession of it.
Soldiers were everywhere; but order reigned. Voices were heard, and
laughter; but not even rudeness assailed the inhabitants, who, while
waiting for transportation, had received a promise of protection in
their shattered homes. These ventured out now, in the new immunity