will take care of
you."

To the well-concealed satisfaction of the vicomtesse, it was settled
that Margaret's health required her to remain all summer at the Hill;
but when June was over, De Courval was able to ride, and why not to
Chestnut Hill? And although Gainor never left them alone, it was
impossible to refuse permission for him to ride with them.

They explored the country far and wide with Aunt Gainor on her great
stallion, a rash rider despite her years. Together they saw White Marsh
and the historic lines of Valley Forge, and heard of Hugh Wynne's ride,
and, by good luck, met General Wayne one day and were told the story of
that dismal winter when snow was both foe and friend. Aunt Gainor rode
in a riding-mask, and the Quaker bonnet was worn no longer, wherefore,
the code of lovers' signals being ingeniously good, there needed no
cupids old or young. The spring of love had come and the summer would
follow in nature's course. Yet always Rene felt that until his dark debt
was paid he could not speak.

Therefore, sometimes he refrained from turning his horse toward the Hill
and went to see his mother, now again, to her pleasure, with Darthea, or
else he rode with Schmidt through that bit of Holland on the Neck and
saw sails over the dikes and the flour windmills turning in the breeze.
Schmidt, too, kept him busy, and he visited Baltimore and New York, and
fished or shot.

"You are well enough now. Let us fence again," said Schmidt, and once
more he was made welcome by the _emigres_ late in the evening when no
others came.

He would rarely touch the foils, but "_Mon Dieu_, Schmidt," said de
Malerive, "he has with the pistol skill."

Du Vallon admitted it. But: "_Mon ami_, it is no weapon for gentlemen.
The Jacobins like it. There is no tierce or quarte against a bullet."

"Do they practise with the pistol here?"

"No. Carteaux, thy lucky friend, ah, very good,--of the best with the
foil,--but no shot." Rene smiled, and Schmidt understood.

"Can you hit that, Rene?" he said, taking from his pocket the ace of
clubs, for playing-cards were often used as visiting-cards, the backs
being white, and other material not always to be had.

Rene hit the edge of the ace with a ball, and then the center. The gay
crowd applauded, and Du Vallon pleased to make a little jest in English,
wished it were a Jacobin club, and, again merry, they liked the jest.

XIX

The only man known to me who remembered Schmi