row, when I will return home. Shall I say anything to Seth ?"

Yes; say that I knew and felt that he would prove true and honest, and I am proud of him; and of you, ,” he added, looking earnestly at her, but not with such an expression of affection as she had been wont to receive from him.

too,"

"Thank you, Aaron; I must go now," she said, half mournfully; "you will find me at Aunt Crosby's in Crown street. You will see General Washington ?"

"Immediately," he replied, earnestly; for in the presence of the pure, true-hearted, patriotic girl, he felt his high enthusiasm for his country rekindled, and for an instant Margaret was forgotten; though it was but for an instant, for almost ere he had ceased speaking, her image rose before him, radiant in glorious beauty, her brown eyes beaming upon him with love and passion, and with a kind, friendly farewell, but not one word of heartfelt greeting, he suffered Patsy to leave the office.

As soon as he was alone, he threw himself into a chair, and leaning his head upon the table, gave way to the thoughts which this interview had called up, and to conjectures as to the consequences which it must entail on himself, if he permitted still the sway which Margaret had obtained over him and his actions. His reflections, whatever they were, were interrupted by a gentle pressure on the shoulder, and looking up, he saw

Margaret before him, her eyes fixed on him with an expression of the most intense anxiety. She had watched until she saw Patsy leave the house, and hurried down to the office to learn the nature of the important business which had induced a young girl to walk alone and unprotected, a distance of sixteen miles, in order to communicate it to him.

Major Burr raised his head languidly at first, for he was fairly bowed down by the weight of his thoughts, and as he met the eyes of her for whom he had promised to barter honor, name, and all a man could hold dear, fixed on him, his whole nature seemed on the moment changed; for there was a magic in her presence, a fascination in her look, which subdued him, and rendered him powerless.

For an instant he gazed in her lustrous eyes; he read there the deep love she had avowed for him; he read there the only happiness he coveted on earth, and sinking his head upon the table, he gave way to the feelings which he could not repress; and though he shed no tear, his heart was nearly bursting with the conflict of emotions which Patsy's communication and Margaret's presence had aroused.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE TEMPTRESS TRIES HER ARTS AGAIN.

"WHAT does all this mean?" asked Margaret, approaching the table at which he was seated, and laying her hand gently on the young aid's shoulder. "What has happened?"

Major Burr raised his head as he heard the wellknown and ever welcome tones, and looked at the fair speaker with a sad, mournful expression. His countenance wore a deathly pallor; his lips were quivering with emotion, and his whole frame seemed convulsed with some terrible excitement, such as she had never before witnessed in him. He shook his head sorrowfully, and pointed to the slip of paper lying before him, and on which he had made a memorandum of the information communicated to him by Patsy.

Margaret glanced over the writing, and as she observed the names of Blanchard, Matthews, Hickey, and the other well-known Royalists, intuitively she divined the purpose of Patsy's visit, and judged rightly that her business was, as she had said, of the utmost importance. As the last words on the memorandum

caught her eye, in which he had noted down the fact that there was 66 a woman "connected with the matter, whatever it might be, her own countenance paled, and she bit her lip to repress the exclamation she was about to utter, and which might have betrayed the emotion she did not care to acknowledge even to Major Burr.

"Well," she said, with well-assumed calmness, "I do not see even now what it means. Am I to infer from that," and she pointed to the paper, "that some one has betrayed us? Tell me all, Aaron, and you will see, if occasion should present, how well prepared I am to act, and how much a girl can accomplish, when her heart is interested."

66

Simply this, Margaret," said Major Burr, speaking in low, deep, earnest tones; "young Adams, as I predicted he would, has proved true to his duty. He was seized at Corbie's on the night he went there by my orders, and was forcibly taken on board the Duchess of Gordon. From what he heard at Corbie's, and from what he managed to learn during his confinement on board the ship, he has gathered enough to satisfy me that a deep-laid plot has been in progress for some time. You, of course, know its purpose; but until communicated to me by Patsy, I never dreamed of such a thing. It passes my comprehension how, in the conduct of civilized warfare, such an atrocious scheme should have been conceived."

"It was not necessary that you should know, Aaron," said Margaret, laying her hand upon his arm, and looking earnestly at him. "I only asked that you would promise to act with us when the proper time should arrive for action, and that promise you gave me."

"Seth has, somehow, found out those names,” and he nodded to the paper, "and having escaped from the ship by swimming ashore, made his way to his aunt's, where I first saw you, whence he dispatched Patsy to communicate the information which he had gathered to me, for he was too much enfeebled, by his efforts to escape, to come himself. That Patsy is a noble, glorious girl," and as he spoke, Margaret fastened her eyes on him with a singular expression, but she only said:

"It was fortunate she came to you first. If she had gone directly to head-quarters-ugh! I dread to think of it,” and she fairly shuddered. "Now what does he mean by a woman ?" "

"He did not know himself—at least so Patsy said. He had only heard that some woman was concerned in the plot, for he heard that mentioned as well at Corbie's as on board the ship."

"It is impossible that I should be suspected, for my name has never been mentioned in the city, save to the Captains Blanchard and Corbie, and I am sure Governor Tryon would never suffer my name to pass his lips, circumstanced as I am at present."