counting-house, and was absent on the Ohio,
and De Courval was left to brood; for now the French legation had gone
to the country, the cabinet fled to Germantown, and the President long
before to Mount Vernon for his summer rest.

The day after Josiah's visit, Schmidt left a letter on Mrs. Swanwick's
table, and rode away to town without other farewell.

"Look at that, my friend," said the widow to Rene, and burst into tears.
He read and re-read the letter:

DEAR MADAM: The city has no nurses, and help is needed, and
money. I have a note from Girard. He has what Wetherill once
described as the courage of the penny, not the cowardice of the
dollar. I go to help him, for how long I know not, and to do what
I can. My love to my friend Rene. I shall open your house. I have
taken the key. I shall write when I can. I leave in my desk
money. Use it. I owe what no money can ever repay.

I am, as always, your obedient, humble servant,

_J. S._

There was consternation in the home and at Merion, where he was a
favorite, and at the Hill, which Gainor had filled with guests; but day
after day went by without news. No one would carry letters. Few would
even open those from the city. The flying men and women told frightful
stories. And now it was September. Two weeks had gone by without a word
from Schmidt. The "National Gazette" was at an end, and the slanderer
Freneau gone. Only one newspaper still appeared, and the flight went on:
all fled who could.

At length De Courval could bear it no longer. He had no horse, and set
off afoot to see his mother at Merion, saying nothing of his intention
to Mrs. Swanwick. He learned that Wynne was still on the Ohio; ignorant
of the extent of the calamity at home.

"Mother," he said, "again I must go into danger. Mr. Schmidt has gone to
the city to care for the sick. For two weeks we have been without news
of him. I can bear it no longer. I must go and see what has become of
him."

"Well, and why, my son, should you risk your life for a man of whom you
know nothing? When before you said it was a call of duty I bade you go.
Now I will not."

"Mother, for a time we lived on that man's generous bounty."

"What!" she cried.

"Yes. It was made possible for me because I had the good fortune to save
him from drowning. I did not tell you."

"No, of course not."

He told briefly the story of his rescue of