heir great kindness to me! And now I
shall never see them again."

"Why not?" asked Sir George. "My aunt Livingston would welcome you."

"I cannot abandon my own kin, Sir George," she said, raising her
distressed eyes to his.

"There are moments when it is best to sever such ties," I observed.

"Perhaps," she said, quickly; "but this is not the moment, Mr. Ormond.
My kinsmen are exiled fugitives, deprived of their own lands by those
who have risen in rebellion against our King. How can I, whom they loved
in their prosperity, leave them in their adversity?"

"You speak of Guy Johnson and Sir John?" I asked.

"Yes; and of those brave people whose blood flows in my veins," she
said, quietly. "Where is the Mohawk nation now, Sir George? This is
their country, secured to them by solemn oath and covenant, inviolate
for all time. Their belts lie with the King of England; his belts lie
still with my people, the Mohawks. Where are they?"

"Fled to Oswego with Sir John," I said.

"And homeless!" she added, in a low, tense voice--"homeless, without
clothing, without food, save what Guy Johnson gives them; their women
and children utterly helpless, the graves of their fathers abandoned,
their fireplace at Onondaga cold, and the brands scattered for the first
time in a thousand years I This have you Boston people done--done
already, without striking a blow."

She turned her head proudly and looked straight at Sir George.

"Is it not the truth?" she asked.

"Only in part," he said, gently. Then, with infinite pains and delicacy,
he told her of our government's desire that the Iroquois should not
engage in the struggle; that if they had consented to neutrality they
might have remained in possession of their lands and all their ancient
rights, guaranteed by our Congress.

He pointed out the fatal consequences of Guy Johnson's councils, the
effect of Butler's lying promises, the dreadful results of such a
struggle between Indians, maddened by the loss of their own homes, and
settlers desperately clinging to theirs.

"It is not the Mohawks I blame," he said, "it is those to whom
opportunity has given wider education and knowledge--the Tories, who are
attempting to use the Six Nations for their own selfish and terrible
ends!... If in your veins run a few drops of Mohawk blood, my child,
English blood runs there, too. Be true to your bright Mohawk blood; be
true to the generous English blood. It were cowardly to deny
either