CHAPTER XI O wo! O woful, woful, woful day! SHAKESPEARE. THE family at the Locusts had slept, or watched, through all the disturbances at the cottage of Birch, in perfect ignorance of their occurrence. The attacks of the Skinners were always made with so much privacy as to exclude the sufferers, not only from succor, but frequently, through a dread of future depredations, from the commiseration of their neighbors also. Additional duties had drawn the ladies from their pillows at an hour somewhat earlier than usual; and Captain Lawton, notwithstanding the sufferings of his body, had risen in compliance with a rule from which he never departed, of sleeping but six hours at a time. This was one of the few points, in which the care of the human frame was involved, on which the trooper and the surgeon of horse. were ever known to agree. The doctor had watched, during the night, by the side of the bed of Captain Singleton, without once closing his eyes. Occasionally he would pay a visit to the wounded Englishman, who, being more hurt in the spirit than in the flesh, tolerated the interruptions with a very ill grace; and once, for an instant, he ventured to steal softly to the bed of his obstinate comrade, and was near succeeding in obtaining a touch of his pulse, when a terrible oath, sworn by the trooper in a dream, startled the prudent surgeon, and warned him of a trite saying in the corps, "that Captain Lawton always slept with one eye open.' This group had assembled in one of the parlors as the sun made its appearance over the eastern hill, dispersing the columns of fog which had enveloped the low land. Miss Peyton was looking from a window in the direction of the tenement of the pedler, and was expressing a kind anxiety after the welfare of the sick man, when the person of Katy suddenly emerged from the dense covering of an earthly cloud, whose mists were scattering before the cheering rays of the sun, and was seen making hasty steps towards the Locusts. There was that in the air of the housekeeper which bespoke distress of an unusual nature, and the kind-hearted mistress of the Locusts opened the door of the room, with the benevolent intention of soothing a grief that seemed so overwhelming. A nearer view of the disturbed features of the visitor confirmed Miss Peyton in her belief; and, with the shock that gentle feelings ever experience at a sudden and endless separation from even the meanest of their associates, she said hastily, "Katy, is he gone?" 66 "No, ma'am," replied the disturbed damsel, with great bitterness, he is not yet gone, but he may go as soon as he pleases now, for the worst is done. I do verily believe, Miss Peyton, they have n't so much as left him money enough to buy him another suit of clothes to cover his nakedness, and those he has on are none of the best, I can tell you." "How!" exclaimed the other, astonished, " could any one have the heart to plunder a man in such distress?" 66 men "Hearts!" repeated Katy, catching her breath; like them have no bowels at all. Plunder and distress, indeed! Why, ma'am, there were in the iron pot, in plain sight, fifty-four guineas of gold, besides what lay underneath, which I could n't count without handling; and I did n't like to touch it, for they say that another's gold is apt to stick so, judging from that in sight, there was n't less than two hundred guineas, besides what might have been in the deer-skin purse. But Harvey is little better now than a beggar; and a beggar, Miss Jeanette, is the most awfully despisable of all earthly creatures." "Poverty is to be pitied, and not despised," said the lady, still unable to comprehend the extent of the misfortune that had befallen her neighbor during the night. "But how is the old man? and does this loss affect him much?" The countenance of Katy changed, from the natural ex pression of concern, to the set form of melancholy, as she answered, "He is happily removed from the cares of the world; the chinking of the money made him get out of his bed, and the poor soul found the shock too great for him. He died about two hours and ten minutes before the cock crowed, as near as we can say;" she was interrupted by the physician, who, approaching, inquired, with much interest, the nature of the disorder. Glancing her eye over the figure of this new acquaintance, Katy, instinctively adjusting her dress, replied, 66 ""T was the troubles of the times, and the loss of property, that brought him down; he wasted from day to day, and all my care and anxiety were lost; for now Harvey is no better than a beggar, and who is there to pay me for what I have done? "God will reward you for all the good you have done,” said Miss Peyton, mildly. "Yes," interrupted the spinster hastily, and with an air of reverence that was instantly succeeded by an expression that denoted more of worldly care; "but then I have left my wages for three years past in the hands of Harvey, and how am I to get them? My brothers told me, again and again, to ask for my money; but I always thought accounts between relations were easily settled." "Were you related, then, to Birch?" asked Miss Peyton, observing her to pause. "Why," returned the housekeeper, hesitating a little, thought we were as good as so. I wonder if I have no claim on the house and garden; though they say, now it is Harvey's, it will surely be confisticated;" turning to Lawton, who had been sitting in one posture, with his piercing eyes lowering at her through his thick brows, in silence, perhaps this gentleman knows he seems to take an interest in my story." 66 "Madam," said the trooper, bowing very low, "both you and the tale are extremely interesting" - Katy smiled involuntarily "but my humble knowledge is limited to the setting of a squadron in the field, and using it when there. I beg leave to refer you to Dr. Archibald Sitgreaves, a gentleman of universal attainments and unbounded phil anthropy; the very milk of human sympathies, and a mortal foe to all indiscriminate cutting." The surgeon drew up, and employed himself in whistling a low air, as he looked over some phials on a table; but the housekeeper, turning to him with an inclination of the head, continued, "I suppose, sir, a woman has no dower in her husband's property, unless they be actually married?" It was a maxim with Dr. Sitgreaves, that no species of knowledge was to be despised; and, consequently, he was an empiric in everything but his profession. At first, indignation at the irony of his comrade kept him silent; but, suddenly changing his purpose, he answered the applicant with a good-natured smile, "I judge not. If death has anticipated your nuptials, I am fearful you have no remedy against his stern decrees." To Katy this sounded well, although she understood nothing of its meaning, but "death" and "nuptials." To this part of his speech, then, she directed her reply. "I did think he only waited the death of the old gentleman before he married," said the housekeeper, looking on the carpet; "but now he is nothing more than despisable, or, what's the same thing, a pedler without house, pack, or money. It might be hard for a man to get a wife at all in such a predicary - don't you think it would, Miss Peyton?" 66 I seldom trouble myself with such things," said the lady gravely. During this dialogue Captain Lawton had been studying the countenance and manner of the housekeeper, with a most ludicrous gravity; and, fearful the conversation would cease, he inquired, with an appearance of great interest, “You think it was age and debility that removed the old gentleman at last?" "And the troublesome times. Trouble is a heavy pulldown to a sick-bed; but I suppose his time had come, and when that happens, it matters but little what doctor's stuff we take." "Let me set you right in that particular," interrupted the surgeon; "we must all die, it is true, but it is permitted us to use the lights of science, in arresting dangers as they occur, until 66 "We can die secundum artem,” cried the trooper. To this observation the physician did not deign to reply; but, deeming it necessary to his professional dignity that the conversation should continue, he added, 66 Perhaps, in this instance, judicious treatment might have prolonged the life of the patient. Who administered to the case?" "No one yet," said the housekeeper, with quickness ; "I expect he has made his last will in the testament." The surgeon disregarded the smile of the ladies, and pursued his inquiries. "It is doubtless wise to be prepared for death. But under whose care was the sick man during his indisposition? "Under mine," answered Katy, with an air of a little importance;" and care thrown away I may well call it; for Harvey is quite too despisable to be any sort of compensation at present. The mutual ignorance of each other's meaning made very little interruption to the dialogue, for both took a good deal for granted, and Sitgreaves pursued the subject. "And how did you treat him? وو "Kindly, you may be certain," said Katy, rather tartly. "The doctor means medically, madam," observed Captain Lawton, with a face that would have honored the funeral of the deceased. "I doctored him mostly with yarbs," said the housekeeper, smiling, as if conscious of error. With simples," returned the surgeon; "they are safer in the hands of the unlettered than more powerful remedies: but why had you no regular attendant?" "I'm sure Harvey has suffered enough already from having so much concerns with the rig'lars," replied the housekeeper; "he has lost his all, and made himself a vagabond through the land; and I have reason to rue the day I ever crossed the threshold of his house." "Dr. Sitgreaves does not mean a rig'lar soldier, but a regular physician, madam," said the trooper. "Oh!" cried the maiden, again correcting herself, "for the best of all reasons; there was none to be had, so I took care of him myself. If there had been a doctor at hand, I am sure we would gladly have had him; for my part, I |