And
Margaret too--there was more and other meaning in her looks than in
her light, ironical speeches.
He led her through two minuets that night, and was her partner in the
Virginia reel (the name the Americans give the Sir Roger de Coverly);
and his was the last face we saw at our coach window as we started
homeward.
"You've made the rest of the army quite jealous of this new captain,"
growled Tom, as we rolled Southward over the stony Harlem road. "The
way Major Tarleton glared at him, would have set another man
trembling."
"Captain Falconer doesn't tremble so easily, I fancy," said Margaret.
"And yet he's no marvel of a man, as I can see."
Tom gave a sarcastic grunt. His manifestations regarding Margaret's
behaviour were the only exception to the kind, cheerful conduct of his
whole life. A younger brother is not ordinarily so watchful of a
sister's demeanour; he has the doings of other young ladies to concern
himself with. Tom did not lack these, but he was none the less keenly
sensitive upon the point of Margaret's propriety and good name. 'Twas
the extraordinary love and pride he had centred upon her, that made
him so observant and so touchy in the case. He brooded upon her
actions, worried himself with conjectures, underwent such torments as
jealous lovers know, such pangs as Hamlet felt in his uncertainty
regarding the integrity of his mother.
Within a week after the Morris ball, it came to pass that Captain
Falconer was quartered, by regular orders, in the house of Mr.
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