But she gave no heed to this, and they joined the others outside.

The old family sleigh moved sedately along the hard, snow-packed road, the moon making a shadowy, grotesque ma.s.s of it along the high drifts, while Leet, enveloped in furs, sat soberly erect, full of the importance now attaching to him.

When they were well on their way, a body of mounted Britishers swept by, evidently bound for the town; and Joseph Devereux remarked to his son, as the two sat opposite one another, while Dorothy, riding backwards with her brother, seemed lost in the contemplation of the snowy fields they were pa.s.sing, "I trust, Jack, those fellows will stir up no trouble this night."

"They are most likely to do so," was the low-spoken reply; "for you know the mere sight of their red coats acts upon our men much as the like color affects an angry bull."

"I wish they might be ordered from the Neck," observed Aunt Lettice, who sat alongside her brother-in-law, and had caught enough to guess at the rest of the talk.

"They must wish so themselves, by this time," Jack said with a laugh.

"It must now be rarely cold quarters for them over there."

"Why did you not ask them to your wedding, Cousin Jack?"

The question came from small 'Bitha, who was sitting between Dorothy and her brother. "I wonder if the one Mary pushed over the rocks last summer would not like to see her married?"

"'Bitha!" Dorothy exclaimed sharply, seeming to awaken to what was being said. "Why will you always put it so? Mary did not push him over; he fell himself."

"Aye,--but, Cousin Dot, he fell over while he was stepping back from her," the child answered. "She looked so angry that I think he was sorely frightened."

Dorothy did not reply; but her brother said gayly, "Well, 'Bitha, I hope Mary will never look at me in a way to frighten me so much as that."

"She never would," 'Bitha a.s.serted with confidence, "for you are not a Britisher."

"What a stanch little rebel it is," Joseph Devereux said laughingly; and Jack went on in a teasing way to 'Bitha, "I expect we shall all go to see 'Bitha married to a redcoat as soon as she is big enough."

"You will see no such thing, Cousin Jack," the child replied angrily.

"I'd run away, so that no one could ever find me, before I'd do such a thing. Would not you, Cousin Dorothy?"

Dorothy did not answer, and 'Bitha repeated the question.

"Would I do what, 'Bitha?" Dorothy now asked, but indifferently, and as though with the object of quieting the child.

"Why, marry a redcoat?"

"Nonsense, 'Bitha,--don't let Jack tease you." And Dorothy turned away again to look off over the snow fields through which they were pa.s.sing.

But she wondered if the others noticed how oddly her voice sounded, and what a tremble there was in it.

The Horton house loomed up full of importance from amid its darker fellows, and warm lights twinkled out here and there where a parted curtain let them through to shine forth like welcoming smiles into the cold night.

Within there was much bustle and good-natured badinage, as the neighbors, bidden to the feast, a.s.sisted the people of the house,--playing the part of entertainer or caterer, hairdresser or maid, as the needs of the other guests demanded.

It was a simple, homely wedding, as was the custom of the day; and the festivities were enjoyed with all the more zest by reason of the relief they offered from the anxiety felt by all, on account of the disturbed condition of public affairs.

There were games--such as "Twirl the Trencher" and "Hunt the Slipper"--for those who liked them; and the elders endeavored to enter at least into the spirit of all that was going on, and not dampen the younger folks' pleasure by the exhibition of gloomy faces and constrained actions.

Later in the evening there was dancing. And it was a goodly sight to look at the handsome groom and his lovely bride go through the stately minuet, with his father and Aunt Lettice opposite them,--the slow, dignified step making the feat a no-wise difficult one for the old gentleman, who had in his day been accounted one of the most graceful of dancers.

Dorothy acted for a time as though she were made of quicksilver. She was leader in all the games and frolics, and seemed the very impersonation of happy, laughter-loving girlhood. Then, and without any apparent reason, another and different mood took possession of her, and she suddenly became very quiet, taking but little part in what was going on.

Her father's fond eyes were quick to notice this; but when he hastened to draw her to one side and ask for the cause, she made light of his anxiety, and gave him a smiling a.s.surance of her perfect well-being.

As a matter of fact, something had occurred to disturb the girl very seriously.

During one of the games she had been alone for a few minutes in a room facing upon the side yard,--a small orchard; and chancing to glance toward the window, she saw, as if pressed against the gla.s.s, the face of Cornet Southorn.

While she stood, silent and rigid, staring at it, the face disappeared; and some of the other guests now entering the room, she slipped away to recover her composure.

What, she asked herself, did he seek, and why was he here? She dismissed at once the thought of his meaning any harm, for surely he would not bring about any disturbance upon this, her brother's wedding night. And even should he seek to intrude himself upon them, there could be no just cause to warrant such an act, for although the King might expect to enforce the Acts of his Parliament, he had not as yet sought to control the marrying or giving in marriage of his American subjects.

But even so, she was startled, almost alarmed; and the matter filled her thoughts for the remainder of the evening.

It had been arranged that Aunt Lettice and 'Bitha were to remain with the Hortons for a time, while Joseph Devereux was to accept the invitation of his friend, Colonel Lee, to pa.s.s a few days at the latter's house, not far away.

This would make the bride and groom the only ones who would return with Leet to the farm, as Dorothy was going to the home of a girl friend, feeling that it would be a relief to be among new faces and in a strange house.

"Dorothy, are you going to let me be a good sister to you,--one of the sort you will come to with all your joys and troubles?"

The two girls were standing close to each other in one of the upper rooms, where Mary was donning a dark gray slip pelisse and hood, with warm fur linings peeping about the edges, while Mistress Horton was bustling about out of earshot, getting some last stray articles bundled for their conveyance to the sleigh waiting below.

The earnest blue eyes were bent searchingly upon Dorothy's face, as if the speaker had more than a pa.s.sing notion of the impulses stirring the heart lying beneath the laces of the dainty pink gown.

But Dorothy laughed, albeit a little constrainedly, and replied, "I thought you knew all about that long ago, Mary."

"Do you know, Dot,"--and Mary's white brows contracted into a puzzled frown--"somehow you are changed. What is it, dear?"

"Your imaginings, I should say," was the careless reply. "My hair is not turning gray, is it?" And she touched her dark curls.

"Well, never mind now," said Mary, diplomatically, and not caring to press the matter, "but you will tell me when we are together again, won't you, Dot?"

Dorothy only smiled, and said nothing.

Jack had spoken to Mary more than once of some change that had come over his sister. But his words were not needed, as she herself, not having seen much of the girl these last few months, would have observed it had he not spoken.

Dorothy was as impulsive and affectionate as of old, but to Mary's keen eyes there now seemed a new-born womanliness about her. She was sensible of the absence of that childish frankness and ingenuousness which had been so much a part of the girl's nature. She was now more like a woman, and one whose mind held a secret she herself tried to evade, as well as have others blind to its existence.

It was as if a new self had been born, dominating the old self, and sending her thoughts far from where her body might be.

"She must be in love with some one, and 't is sure to be Hugh Knollys,"

said Mary to herself, with a glow of happiness, as the two went downstairs, Mistress Horton and a servant following them, both laden with packages to be stowed away in the Devereux equipage, whereon Leet sat rigidly upright, the darkness hiding his black face and its unusual grin.

"Take good care of her, Strings," Joseph Devereux cautioned, as he took his place within the vehicle, and pointing to the open doorway, where a pink gown and dark curly head showed foremost amongst the guests crowded there to see the bride and groom on their way. The pedler--an humble onlooker at the wedding--had urged his protection for Dorothy's safer piloting through the town to her friend's house; and this her father and brother had been glad to accept.

"That I will, sir,--never fear," was the hearty response; and as Jack Devereux sprang into the sleigh, Leet turned the horses' heads to the street and drove off, followed by a shower of old shoes and peals of merry laughter from the doorway.

CHAPTER XXIII