features of Gen. Washington.

In her consternation Thankful could only drop an embarrassed courtesy,
and hang out two lovely signals of distress in her cheeks. The face of
the pseudo ghost alone remained unmoved.

"You are wandering late, Mistress Thankful," he said at last, with a
paternal gravity; "and I fear that the formal restraint of a military
household has already given you some embarrassment. Yonder sentry, for
instance, might have stopped you."

"Oh, he did!" said Thankful quickly; "but it's all right, please your
Excellency. He asked me 'Who went there,' and I told him; and he was
vastly polite, I assure you."

The grave features of the commander-in-chief relaxed in a smile. "You
are more happy than most of your sex in turning a verbal compliment to
practical account. For know then, dear young lady, that in honor of
your visit to the headquarters, the password to-night through this
encampment was none other than your own pretty patronymic,--'Thankful
Blossom.'"

The tears glittered in the girl's eyes, and her lip trembled; but, with
all her readiness of speech, she could only say, "Oh, your Excellency."

"Then you DID pass the sentry?" continued Washington, looking at her
intently with a certain grave watchfulness in his gray eyes. "And
doubtless you wandered at the river-bank. Although I myself, tempted
by the night, sometimes extend my walk as far as yonder shed, it were a
hazardous act for a young lady to pass beyond the protection of the
line."

"Oh! I met no one, your Excellency," said the usually truthful Thankful
hastily, rushing to her first lie with grateful impetuosity.

"And saw no one?" asked Washington quietly.

"No one," said Thankful, raising her brown eyes to the general's.

They both looked at each other,--the naturally most veracious young
woman in the colonies, and the subsequent allegorical impersonation of
truth in America,--and knew each other lied, and, I imagine, respected
each other for it.

"I am glad to hear you say so, Mistress Thankful," said Washington
quietly; "for 'twould have been natural for you to have sought an
interview with your recreant lover in yonder camp, though the attempt
would have been unwise and impossible."

"I had no such thought, your Excellency," said Thankful, who had really
quite forgotten her late intention; "yet, if with your permission I
could hold a few moments' converse with Capt. Brewster, it would
greatly ease my mind."

"'Twould