es adjoin each other, an' I have heard there is distant kinship
between them, although if that be true all that was good in the strain
must have descended to the one branch, an' all the evil to the other. Day
and night could be no different. Colonel Mortimer is a genial, pleasant
gentleman, an' a loyal friend, although we are in arms against each
other. To tell the truth I half believe his heart is with the Colonies,
although he cast his fortunes with the King. He even has a son in the
Continental Army."

"On Lee's staff," I interrupted. "The daughter told me he was a twin
brother."

"Yes, an' as great a rogue as the girl, with the same laughing blue
eyes."

"And Mistress Claire," I questioned, "on which side is she?"

"Can you ask that after having met her as a Lady of the Blended Rose?
Pshaw, man, I could almost give you a list of the loyalist dames who make
sport for the British garrison, an' Mistress Claire is not least in rank
or beauty among them. What else could you expect of a young girl when her
father wears the green an' white, while her lover has made a reputation
hereabout with his hireling raiders?"

"You mean Grant?"

"Certainly; they have been engaged from childhood, though God pity the
poor girl if they ever marry. His work in the Jerseys has been almost as
merciless as that of 'Red' Fagin, an' 't is even whispered about they
ride together at times. I doubt if she knows the whole truth about him,
though she can scarcely deem him an angel even at that. Surely you never
supposed her on our side?"

"She helped me," I insisted, "knowing who I was, and even said she wished
my cause well."

"The inconsistency of a woman; perhaps the two had had some
misunderstanding, an' she was glad enough to outwit the fellow."

"No, 't was not that, I am sure; I could read truth in her eyes."

"In Claire's eyes!" he laughed outright. "Oh, I know the innocent blue of
them, and warn you not to trust such blindly. Other men have thought the
same, an' found out they read wrongly when the end came--ay! many of
them. When she was but a slip of a lass I found out her eyes played merry
tricks, an' yet I love her as though she were my own daughter. An' she's
a good girl in spite of all the mischief in her."

"And she is truly a loyalist?"

"If not, I know no better. The rebel blood is all in the boy so far as I
can learn, yet I will not answer for what Mistress Claire might do."

We fell silent, my memory with the gi