"I wrote the letter a short time ago. I precluded their designs."
He sat in his great chair, and, reaching for his stool, placed his foot upon it.
"I do perfectly. I shall be tried by court-martial, of course; they have moved already to suspend me pending the course of my trial. I want to anticipate any such possibility, that is all."
"And what about us, our home, our life here," she asked with a marked concern.
"Oh! That will go on. This is your house, remember, if it comes to the worst; you are mistress here. This is your home."
"Well, if I should be found guilty ... and ... sentenced."
"I should not stay here a minute," she cried, stamping her foot. "Not one minute after the trial! In this town? With that element? Not for an hour!"
"Well!" he exclaimed, making a gesture with both hands, together with a slight shrug of the shoulders.
"In New York, I presume, ere this. I have not seen him."
"The only proper thing. It's a great wonder to me that he escaped at all. I should have expected him torn to pieces by that mob."
"A bungled piece of business. I imagined that he was assured of success. A sorry spectacle to allow them to slip from his grasp so easily."
"Margaret, you do not understand a mob. They are as fickle as a weather-cock. The least attraction sways them."
"No. A bedraggled loafer, gifted with more talk than occupation. He was acquainted with the whole scheme from beginning to end, and worked upon their feelings with evidences of treason. The sudden mention of my name in connection with the plot threw cold water on the whole business. They were on their feet in an instant."
"Evidently. The pass inspired them. It would defeat any purpose, and Anderson must have sensed it and taken his hurried departure. No one has since heard or seen aught of him."
"He was a fool to drag you into this, and you were as great a fool to allow it."
"Margaret, don't chide me in that manner. I did what I thought best. But I'm through now with these cursed Catholics and with France."
"I mean that this court-martial relieves you of any further obligation to the colonies," was the answer.
She paused to regard him. Did he continue to cherish ambitions of this nature; or was he attempting to jest with her?