Chapter 20

Flatter and praise, commend, extol their graces,
Though ne'er so black, say they have angels' faces,
That man who hath a tongue I say is no man,
If with that tongue he cannot win a woman.
--_Two Gentlemen of Verona_.

In making the arrangements by which Captain Lawton had been left, with
Sergeant Hollister and twelve men, as a guard over the wounded, and
heavy baggage of the corps, Dunwoodie had consulted not only the
information which had been conveyed in the letter of Colonel Singleton,
but the bruises of his comrade's body. In vain Lawton declared himself
fit for any duty that man could perform, or plainly intimated that his
men would never follow Tom Mason to a charge with the alacrity and
confidence with which they followed himself; his commander was firm, and
the reluctant captain was compelled to comply with as good a grace as he
could assume. Before parting, Dunwoodie repeated his caution to keep a
watchful eye on the inmates of the cottage; and especially enjoined him,
if any movements of a particularly suspicious nature were seen in the
neighborhood, to break up from his present quarters, and to move down
with his party, and take possession of the domains of Mr. Wharton. A
vague suspicion of danger to the family had been awakened in the breast
of the major, by the language of the peddler, although he was unable to
refer it to any particular source, or to understand why it was to be
apprehended.

For some time after the departure of the troops, the captain was walking
before the door of the "Hotel," inwardly cursing his fate, that
condemned him to an inglorious idleness, at a moment when a meeting with
the enemy might be expected, and replying to the occasional queries of
Betty, who, from the interior of the building, ever and anon demanded,
in a high tone of voice, an explanation of various passages in the
peddler's escape, which as yet she could not comprehend. At this instant
he was joined by the surgeon, who had hitherto been engaged among his
patients in a distant building, and was profoundly ignorant of
everything that had occurred, even to the departure of the troops.

"Where are all the sentinels, John?" he inquired, as he gazed around
with a look of curiosity, "and why are you here alone?"

"Off--all off, with Dunwoodie, to the river. You and I are left here to
take care of a few sick men and some women."

"I am glad, however," said the surgeon, "that Major Dunwoodie had
consideration enough not to move the wounded. Here, you Mrs. Elizabeth
Flanagan, hasten with some food, that I may appease my appetite. I have
a dead body to dissect and am in haste."

"And here, you Mister Doctor Archibald