Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-06-01
CHAPTER XVII

r IL was q gloomy Virginia to
which Anne returned that anx-
ious fall--a Virginia whose
~ heart beat with the north,
where Howe was weaving his famous
cord to encircle the throat of the mon
ster rebellion. Pastoral life had ended
abruptly; the golden age had become
one of iron. "And all the women that
were wise hearted did spin with their
hands,"
Gladden Hall suffered with the rest.
Colonel Tillotson was much away on
affairs Of the committee of safety or at
Williamsburg comforting with his ex-
cellency Governor Henry, and the
looms which wove at all turned out
cloth for Continental uniforms. Across
the plant rows, where the negroes hoed,
Groam, the .overseer, with cowhide un-
der his arm and his old Fontenoy bell
mouth tower musket strapped on his
6eks,T still = 'fiksa Ills horse, witt ftf
ret eyes under his broad brimmed hat.
But there was little leaf raised, and the
wharfs at the foot Of the lawn were
overgrown with weeds.
Inside the great house there were the
same candle lighted dining room, the
high backed chairs, the tall, cumbrous
clock, the portraits, the polished side
board rejecting the slender stemmed
glasses. But the meals We're silent.
Anne's trouble hung over the house
hold In shadow that was not tighten
ed by the presence Of, vaster ones near
at hind. She had sorrowed with that
fostering sorrow that is self accusatory.
And to know that never SO few, aware
Of her part in that Philadelphia scene,
believed her to have done q heroic
thing was like an added death to her.
For time she had fed for refuge to
her old passion for the cause But the
effort failed.
One day early in the new year, when
the world was busted with delicate
frost like seed pearl, Colonel Tillotson
brought to GLADDEN. Hall the news of
how "the old fox of Mount Vernon" by
willy double across the icy Delaware,
had taken the Hessians at Trenton.
Anne heard 1t alphabetically. 10 her
despair, victory and defeat spelled the
same.
When the door closed upon her, the
colonel looked at his wife silently.
"And she still believes in himv'
"As she believes in u.s." renlied the
lady softly. Colonel" she said keenly,
"you have heard news"
AYE" he answered after n pause,
II have. A reply came to Mr.. Henry's
confidential inquiries today. There is
no doubt that Armand is the same
prisoner who escaped from the Ouch
ess of Gorden off Amboy last August"
'"rhank God! breathed Mrs. Tillot-
son feryently. II am glad. can't help
it."
"Anne had better not know. Twill
do her no possible good"
Colonel" said the lady decisively,
sin this must have my way. am
going to tell her just as fast as can"
She rose. laid aside her knitting, took
up candle and left him standing dubi-
ously before the fire.
The light came back to Anne like the
spring sun. The great horror was gone,
and In spite of the wars gloom Glad
den Hall grew more cheerful again.
She devoured the columns of the Ga
zettes and read eagerly letters which
came to Henry from abroad.
These told her how the Reprlsal,
lodging the British sloops of war, had
landed Benjamin Franklin safely at
Nantes, of his meeting there with Beau
marchais and Of his reception in Paris
Mt the little hotel in the Rue Vieille du
Temple, where a mercantile sign of
"Roderique Hortalez & Co." hid pleas.
ant conspiracy whose object was the
furnishing of war supplies to the Amer
lean colonists, and whose silent part
ners were prime minister and king.
Somewhere, she thought, there in his
own land perhaps Armand was safe,
not believing in her, but free and I'M
condemned.
The sound of war came nearer when
Howe's fleet sailed into the Chesapeake
and when Henry, summoned In haste
from Hanover, called out the militia.
She watched them march through VIII
liamsburg, sixty-four companies strong,
but the fleet and the army it carried
sailed on to beat back Washington at
Brandywine. to enter Philadelphia and
turn the grave town into an orgy of
Tory rejoicing
So the months passed In alternate
hope and despair. Spring unfurled,
summer dropped its blooms, autumn
singed glebe and copse, snow fell and
purified the earth stains. And at last
Virginia knew that Burgoyne had been
entrappcd i'll the northern forests; that
Philadelphia had been evacuated; that