Chapter 10

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eye requires,
E'en from the tomb the voice of nature cries,
E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires.
--GRAY.

The possessions of Mr. Wharton extended to some distance on each side of
the house in which he dwelt, and most of his land was unoccupied. A few
scattered dwellings were to be seen in different parts of his domains,
but they were fast falling to decay, and were untenanted. The proximity
of the country to the contending armies had nearly banished the pursuits
of agriculture from the land. It was useless for the husbandman to
devote his time and the labor of his hands, to obtain overflowing
garners, that the first foraging party would empty. None tilled the
earth with any other view than to provide the scanty means of
subsistence, except those who were placed so near to one of the adverse
parties as to be safe from the inroads of the light troops of the other.
To these the war offered a golden harvest, more especially to such as
enjoyed the benefits of an access to the royal army. Mr. Wharton did not
require the use of his lands for the purposes of subsistence; and he
willingly adopted the guarded practice of the day, limiting his
attention to such articles as were soon to be consumed within his own
walls, or could be easily secreted from the prying eyes of the
foragers. In consequence, the ground on which the action was fought had
not a single inhabited building, besides the one belonging to the father
of Harvey Birch. This house stood between the place where the cavalry
had met, and that where the charge had been made on the party
of Wellmere.

To Katy Haynes it had been a day fruitful of incidents. The prudent
housekeeper had kept her political feelings in a state of rigid
neutrality; her own friends had espoused the cause of the country, but
the maiden herself never lost sight of that important moment, when, like
females of more illustrious hopes, she might be required to sacrifice
her love of country on the altar of domestic harmony. And yet,
notwithstanding all her sagacity, there were moments when the good woman
had grievous doubts into which scale she ought to throw the weight of
her eloquence, in order to be certain of supporting the cause favored by
the peddler. There was so much that was equivocal in his movements and
manner, that often, when, in the privacy of their household, she was
about to offer a philippic on Washington and his followers, discretion
sealed her mouth, and distrust beset her mind. In short, the whole
conduct of the mysterious being she studied was of a character to
distract the opinions of one who took a more enlarged view of men and
life than came within the competency of his