Do you
think my old friends will do anything to annoy me? Why should they,
when they know that I myself am a rebel? Mr. Sam Adams has always been
my good friend. Have I not sat in his lap in my girlhood? Are not Lucy
Flucker Knox, Dorothy Quincy, and Abigail Smith Adams my friends? Has
not Mr. John Hancock danced with me? Have I done anything that should
cause them to turn against me? Pompey and Phillis will be here to care
for me. And now, dear father, I have one or two requests to make. This
is your house, but I want you to give it to me,--make out a deed and
execute it in my name; and one thing more, I want you to give me a
bill of sale of Pompey and Phillis, so that I shall be absolute
mistress here. When the Colonies, by their valor and the righteousness
of their cause, have become independent of the king, when the last
cannon has been fired, in God's good time you will come back and find
me here in the old home."

Mr. Newville sat in silence a moment, then put his arm around her and
drew her to him.

"Oh Ruth, daughter, you are dearer to me this moment than ever before.
Your clear vision has seen what I have not been able to see,--till
now,--the possible end of this conflict. The provincials are stronger
than I supposed them to be, the disaffection wider, and the king is
weaker than I thought. It never seemed possible that an army of ten
thousand men could be forced to evacuate this town, but so it is, and
I must go. I will not be so selfish as to ask you to go. I know your
love has gone out to Robert Walden. I have no right to ask you to
thrust a sword into your own loving heart. I do not doubt he will
protect you with all the strength of a noble manhood. This house shall
be yours, together with Pompey and Phillis, who will be as dutiful to
you as they have been to your mother and me. You speak of our coming
back, but when we once leave this house we never shall behold it
again; nor shall we ever look again upon your face unless you come
where we may be. Where that will be, God only knows; we shall be
fugitives and wanderers without a home. Your mother and I will not
long need an earthly home. Such a wound as this goes down deep into
our souls, Ruth."

He could say no more, but hid his face in his hands to hide the agony
of a breaking heart.

"Father, have you forgotten who it is that feeds the ravens and cares
for the sparrows? Will He not care for you? Of one thing you may be
sure, so soon as it is possi