Joscelyn Cheshire: A Story of Revolutionary Days in the Carolinas Read online

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  JOSCELYN CHESHIRE

  A STORY OF REVOLUTIONARY DAYS IN THE CAROLINAS

  BY SARA BEAUMONT KENNEDY

  NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. 1901

  COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.

  "SHE SWEPT HIM A COURTESY FULL OF OPEN DEFIANCE ANDRIDICULE."]

  To my Husband WALKER KENNEDY THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED

  CONTENTS.

  CHAPTER PAGE

  I. Cupid and Mars 1 II. The March of the Continentals 10 III. Onward to Valley Forge 20 IV. The Company on the Veranda 25 V. Winding the Skein 35 VI. The Fete at Philadelphia 43 VII. A Dare-devil Deed 56 VIII. A Maid's Dream and the Devil's Wooing 65 IX. On Monmouth Plain 73 X. In Clinton's Tents 81 XI. From Camp to Prison 93 XII. A Message out of the North 104 XIII. Dreams 120 XIV. News of Love and War 128 XV. An Awakening and a Mutiny 141 XVI. Into the Jaws of Death 151 XVII. Out of the Shadow and into the Sun 163 XVIII. "Kiss me quick, and let me go" 181 XIX. The Wearing of a Red Rose 192 XX. Joscelyn's Peril 204 XXI. Trapped 217 XXII. "Search my Lady's Wardrobe" 227 XXIII. In Tarleton's Toils 242 XXIV. Thwarted 263 XXV. Good-by, Sweetheart 278 XXVI. By the Beleaguered City 293 XXVII. Homecomings 305 XXVIII. An Unanswered Question 320 XXIX. The End of the Thread 331

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

  FACING PAGE

  Frontispiece. "She swept him a courtesy full of open defiance and ridicule."

  "Thus they passed, with small parley, the picket-posts." 48

  "Richard was dragged along with the British until their position was regained." 81

  "... The Prisoners lined up and answered to their names." 149

  "For a long minute he stood there, trembling, horror-stricken." 164

  "'My God, Joscelyn, you will not give me up like that!'" 226

  "'I have seen no human being save our party of three.'" 262

  "'My Heart's prisoner for time and eternity.'" 331

  JOSCELYN CHESHIRE.

  CHAPTER I.

  CUPID AND MARS.

  "Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat." --SHAKESPEARE.

  He threw the door wide open and, with one foot advanced and his weighton the other hip, stood at pose with uplifted arm and sword; as gallanta figure as ever melted a maiden's heart or stormed a foeman's citadel.There was great suggestion of power in the straight limbs, a marvellouspromise of strength in the upward sweep of the arm, which, for a moment,held the inmates of the room in silence of admiration. Then an avalancheof exclamations broke loose.

  "Richard, Richard!"

  "Master Clevering!"

  "A health to the young Continental!"

  "Oh, the new uniform, how bravely it doth become him!"

  "The buff and blue forever!"

  "What an air the coat gives him."

  "And the breeches have never a wrinkle in them. I have ever said, myson, that you were not over fair of feature, but that the Lord made itup to you in the shape o' your legs." The last speaker was his mother,who, passing behind him, ran her fingers caressingly along the seams ofhis military outfit.

  The young man lowered his sword and answered with a boyish laugh: "Andtruly did the Lord owe me a debt in that He gave me not your beauty,mother."

  "He balanced His account," was the complacent answer, "for you are a fitfigure to please even a king."

  "Nay, I care not to please the king--but the assembled queens!" Hedoffed his hat, and bowed with courtly grace to the group of young womenin the centre of the room.

  Full of laughter and chaffing they crowded about him--his sister Betty,her friend Patience Ruffin, Mistress Dorothy Graham, who had come in tolearn a new knitting stitch of Betty, and pretty Janet Cameron, who hadfollowed Dorothy to hear the gossip which must necessarily flow freelywhere so many women were assembled. Immediately they surrounded theyoung soldier, and there was much laughter and talking as they relievedhim of his sword and gun.

  "Only a private in the ranks, and yet here am I attended like acommander-in-chief," he said, laughing. "Methinks no hero of oldenromance had ever such charming squirage. Are you going to give me yourgloves and fasten your colours on my helmet, that I may go forth tobattle as did the knights of yore?"

  "Yes; kill me a Redcoat for this," and Janet tossed him her glove, whileDorothy tied a strand of the bright wool from her knitting ball upon hissleeve. "An you win not a battle for each of us, you are no knight ofours."

  But the fifth girl of the group, after one glance at him upon hisentrance, had turned abruptly to the window and stood gazing into thestreet, tapping the air to "King George, Our Royal Ruler" upon thepanes. No part of her face was visible, but her attitude was spirited,and the poise of her head bespoke defiance. Richard Clevering's eyestravelled every few minutes to that straight, lithe figure, and anon hecalled out banteringly:--

  "Hey, you, there at the window, are King George and his army passing bythat you have no eyes for other folk?"

  "I would that they were," was the short answer, and the fingers went onwith their strumming.

  "Come, Joscelyn, leave off sulking and see how brave Richard's uniformdoth make him," said Betty, coaxingly, eager that her brother's unspokenwish should be gratified.

  "And truly doth he need somewhat to make him brave, seeing he is in armsagainst his king," Joscelyn retorted, but turned not her head.

  "In arms against the king? Aye, truly am I; and yours be not the onlyRoyalist back I shall see 'twixt this and the end of the campaign,Mistress Joscelyn Cheshire."

  "Then, forsooth, will they be in luck--not having you to look at."

  But the others had caught his meaning, and her retort was half lost inthe shout of laughter that greeted him.

  "Aye, I warrant me when the fighting comes you will see the backs of somany Redcoats that you can e'en cut their pattern in the dark," declaredDorothy.

  "Then will his head be twisted forever awry with looking so much overhis shoulder behind him."

  "My Lady Royalist's ears are in the room though her eyes be elsewhere,"laughed Janet.

  "And neither is her tongue paralyzed. Turn about, Joscelyn, and let ussee you have also other power of motion."

  "Not quite so much as some folk who turn like a weather-cock in everygust of a partisan wind."

  Thus the sparring went on until the visitors took their departure,followed to the gate by Mistress Clevering and her daughter for that onelast word which women so love. Richard bowed them out and closed thedoor upon their backs; then, marching straight to the window, he placedhimself by Joscelyn, who immediately turned her face in the oppositedirection. He spoke to her, but only a shrug of the shoulders answeredhim.

  "You
_shall_ look at me," he cried, with sudden determination; and,seizing her by the shoulders, he twisted her about until she faced him;but even then he did not accomplish his purpose, for she covered herface with her hands, declaring vehemently she would rather see him inhis shroud than in the uniform of a traitor.

  "Traitor, forsooth! You know not whereof you speak. In what button orseam see you aught that is traitorous?" He dragged her hands from herface, and held them in his strong grip; but still he was foiled, for hereyes were tightly closed. "An you open not your eyes immediately, I willkiss them soundly upon either lid."

  Which threat had the desired effect, for instantly the lashes parted anda pair of sea-blue eyes looked angrily into his.

  "So--I have brought you to terms. Well, and what think you of myuniform?"

  "Methinks," and her voice was not pleasant to hear, "that 'tis mostfitting apparel for one who refuses allegiance to his king and--uses hisgreater strength against a woman."

  He flung her hands away with what, for him, was near to roughness. "Bythe eternal stars, Joscelyn, your tongue has a double edge!"

  "A woman has need of a sharp tongue since Providence gave her butindifferent fists."

  "In sooth, it is the truth with you," he cried, his good-humour restoredas he again caught one of her slender hands and held it up forinspection. "Nature wasted not much material here; methinks it wouldscarce fill a fly with apprehension."

  But she wrung it out of his grasp, and, with an exclamation ofannoyance, turned once more to the window. His expression changed, andhe stood some moments regarding her in silence. At last he said:--

  "Joscelyn, 'tis now more than two years since you came to liveneighbours with us, and for the last half of that time you and I havedone little else than quarrel. But on my part this disagreement has notgone below the surface; rather has it been a covering for a tendererfeeling. I have heard it said that a woman knows instinctively when aman loves her. Have you spelled out my heart under this show ofdispute?"

  She shrugged her shoulders mockingly. "I am but an indifferent speller,Master Clevering."

  "Right well do I know that, having seen some of your letters to Betty,"he answered with ready acquiescence. Whereat she flashed upon him aglance of indignant protest; but he went on calmly, as though he notednot the look: "But you are a fair reader, and mayhap I used a wrongterm. Have you not read my heart all these months?"

  "It is not given even unto the wise to read so absolute a blank."

  It was his time to wince, but the minutes were flying, the women mightreturn from the gate at any moment, and this would be his last chancefor a quiet word with her. "Let us have done with this child's play,Joscelyn. To-morrow I march with my company; 'twill be months, perhapsyears, before we meet again. I love you! Will you not give me somegentle word, some sweet promise, to fill with hope the time that is tocome?"

  "What manner of promise can you wish?" she asked, her back still towardhim.

  "A promise which shall mean our betrothal."

  "Betrothal?--and we always quarrelling?"

  "Quarrels cease where love doth rule," he answered softly.

  "But I have no love for you."

  "You might have if you would cease dwelling so much on the king'saffairs and think somewhat of me. I would give you love unqualified ifso you would but lean ever so little my way."

  "And think you, Master Clevering, that I would turn traitor for yourlove? Nay, sir; I am a loyal subject to King George, and can enter intono compact with his enemies."

  "Then will I be forced to conquer you along with the other adherents ofthe tyrant, for have you I will," he cried impetuously. "An you yieldnot to persuasion, you shall yield to force. From this day I hold you asa part of the English enemy who needs must be subdued; and I do herebyproclaim war against your prejudice for your heart."

  "And I do accept the challenge, foreseeing your failure in bothcauses." She swept him a courtesy full of open defiance and ridicule,and again turned her back upon him as Betty entered the room.

  But Master Clevering was neither dismayed nor discouraged by the turnhis wooing had taken. He had never thought to win her lightly, and hiscombative disposition recognized in the prospect before him the elementsof a struggle, so that he was filled with the keen joy of a warrior atthe onset of the fray. The possibility of final defeat did not occur tohim.

  Bidding Betty an affectionate good-by, Joscelyn quitted the house,declining his proffered escort, nor did he speak with her again for aspace of many hours; for when the company, bidden that night to afarewell feast with him, assembled about the board, the chair set forher was vacant. Betty and Janet glanced meaningly at each other, forthey had seen her at dusk in company with Eustace and Mary Singleton,and the Singletons were among the most pronounced Tories in the county.But at the other end of the table Richard only laughed as he thrust hisknife into the fowl before him and felt for the joint.

  "Tell her, Aunt Cheshire, that our loss does not equal hers, since shegets none of this bird, which is browned to the taste of Epicurushimself."

  His tone was careless, and in truth he was not surprised at herdefection, for he, too, had seen the Singletons at her gate; and lateron, as he stood at his own door, had seen her, through her lightedparlour window opposite, take off, for the entertainment of her guests,his own theatrical entrance in his uniform that afternoon. She was anexcellent mimic, and her sense of humour enabled her to give a ludicrousside to the scene, which drew forth peals of laughter from her auditors.The vanity, the swagger, the monumental pose, were so exactly reproducedthat Richard felt a quick tingle of irritation flush his veins. And thatpicture was still in his mind as he sat at table among his guests.

  It is questionable whether it would have been an added nettlement or arelief had he known that she had been aware of his presence across theway, seeing him distinctly against the hall light behind him, and thatthe scene enacted was more for him than for her visitors.