This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

side—on the patriot side. Parson Chapman said it, and I do believe it! Go, if you must, Nathaniel—Til stay here!"

"I shall not urge ye to come wi' me," said Nathaniel Williams in a troubled tone. "But how will ye manage, Mary?"

"Wi' Amos's help—he be a grown man, ye forget, Nathaniel—and wi' James's help," began his wife. But Amos shook his head.

"Nay, Mother, I believe as doth my father, that 'tis disloyal to go against the King," he said quietly. "So must I go wi' him to New York Town to enlist also i' the King's army."

Sally, watching silently from the corner whither she had retreated, saw Mistress Williams's lips tighten, saw her gather together her courage. "Then, wi' James's help," she commenced again.

This time it was James who interrupted. "Nay," he cried quickly, impetuously, "the patriots be fools! I would not stay and fight a losing fight, as it must be. I, too, am going wi' our father!"

"He thinks the fun will be wi' his father and the work wi' his mother!" thought Sally contemptuously, and, glancing across the kitchen, she read the same thought in Zenas's eyes.

Mistress Williams's chin went up. "Then wi' Zenas's help," she said steadily, "and the help o' my brother Dr. Mathias, and o' your cousin Tom, who both be good Whigs, I shall manage some way.