the attentions of Burr, with such acknowledgements as any well-bred young lady would have felt warranted in returning to a meritorious officer who resided in the family of her protector, while her conversation remained as lively and piquant as ever, and she took her full share in the general topic of remark, whenever it was one with which she was acquainted.
This state of things remained several days, and Burr had began to believe that Miss Moncrieffe would be careful not to meet him again in the passage, when, one day, that he chanced to be standing near her, he heard a low sigh. At the same moment, he turned, his eyes fell on the young lady, and she colored deeply.
The next time that Miss Moncrieffe went to the top of the house, Burr followed her. He pretended to be taken by surprise when he saw her at the telescope; but approached her with these words:
"Miss Moncrieffe is surveying her good friends at Staten Island. I fear that we colonists are but dull companions for one who has been accustomed to European habits, and to the various amusements which are so rife in her native land. Perhaps that she sighs for scenes far away, and would gladly return to them."
"On the contrary, sir, I love America dearly; and its people, struggling for freedom, are certainly, at this moment, the most interesting of any on the face of the globe."
"You do us honor, and from the lips of beauty, what so cordial to the soldier's heart as such commendation."
Burr then proceeded to draw Miss Moncrieffe's attention to several interesting views, both seeming pleased with each other.
"See yon green slope," said Burr, "on the far side of the Hudson, where lately the Indian gamboled, ignorant of the very existence of civilization, till our fathers came and robbed him of his home. How happy might two loving hearts be in that bosky solitude, roving among the sunny glades, and listening to the music of ten thousand birds, their couch the heather and their canopy the green leaves of the forest!"
Burr fixed his eyes boldly on those of the English girl, as he uttered these words, and his soul beaming through them, seemed to indicate that if she were his companion, he could happily spend his life amid the wild flowers and the purling brook of that charming landscape.
Miss Moncrieffe was silent, but she looked at Burr, and then cast down her eyes, as if inviting him to go on.
As Burr waited for a reply, she murmured:
"Yes, it would be a perfect paradise."
Burr then took her hand, which was not withdrawn, and said:
"With such a one as yourself, for instance."
Miss Moncrieffe interrupted him by a light laugh, and said:
"Me!" cried she, "why Mrs. Putnam considers me a mere child!"
