"
"Not from me!" said Margaret, with a resolution that gave a new,
unfamiliar aspect to so charmingly feminine a creature.
"Oh, let her alone, father," put in Ned, ludicrously ready for the
faintest opportunity either to put his father under obligation or to
bring down Margaret. "I'll be frank with you. I've no reason to hide
what's past and gone. She and Captain Falconer had a plan to make
Washington a prisoner, by a night expedition from New York, and some
help in our camp--"
"Which you were to give, I see, you treacherous scoundrel!" said his
father, with contempt.
"Oh, now, no hard names, sir. You see, several of us--some good
patriots, too, with the country's best interests at heart--couldn't
swallow this French alliance; we saw that if we ever did win by it, we
should only be exchanging tyrants of our own blood for tyrants of
frog-eaters. We began to think England would take us back on good
terms if the war could be ended; and we considered the state of the
country, the interests of trade--indeed, 'twas chiefly the thought of
_your_ business, the hope of seeing it what it once was, that drove
_me_ into the thing."
"You wretched hypocrite!" interposed Mr. Faringfield.
"Oh, well; misunderstand me, as usual. Call me names, if you like. I'm
only telling the truth, and what you wished to know--what _she_
wouldn't tell you. I'm not as bad as some; I can up and confess, when
all's over.
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