Have a glass of wine, and think of it."
Tom and I had already thought of it. We had been longer in New York
than the captain had, and we knew how the embarrassment to which he
alluded could be provided against.
"'Tis very simple," said I, letting him drink alone, which it was not
easy to do, he was still so likeable a man. "We can go from
Kingsbridge as if we meant to join Captain De Lancey in another of his
raids. And we can find some spot outside the lines; and if any one is
hurt, we can give it out as the work of rebel irregulars who attacked
us."
He regarded me silently a moment, and then said the plan seemed a good
one, and that he would name a second with whom I could arrange
details. Whereupon, dismissing the subject with a civil expression of
regret that Tom should think himself affronted, he went on to speak of
the weather, as if a gentleman ought not to treat a mere duel as a
matter of deep concern.
I came away wishing it were not so hard to hate him. The second with
whom I at length conferred--for our duties permitted not a prompt
despatching of the affair, and moreover Captain Falconer's disposition
was to conduct it with the gentlemanly leisure its pretended
unimportance allowed--was Lieutenant Hugh Campbell, one of several
officers of that name who served in the Highland regiment that had
been stationed earlier at Valentine's Hill; he therefore knew the
debatable country beyond Kingsbridge as well as I.
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