Page:Dorothy's spy; a story of the first "fovrth of Jvly" celebration, New York, 1776.djvu/101

90 the fact, we will hope to be free from further outrage. This way, if you please," and he opened the door leading into the hall that they might depart.

One of the men hesitated as if about to make some apology, but the expression on the ladies' faces was not calculated to encourage anything of the kind, and he followed his comrade, being greeted with a loud shout as of disappointment by the waiting throng when the outer door was opened.

Perhaps it would have been as well if Master Dean had allowed the mob to disperse without more disagreeable words from him; but his anger was so great that he could not resist the temptation to berate the people because of what he considered a base outrage. He used the sharpest and most bitter epithets at his command, and when the harangue was come to an end the men, unable to make any adequate retort, left the square shamefacedly.

The silversmith shut the outer door with a bang, locked it noisily, and entered the living room where Master Lamb was waiting to take his departure, it being high time that he and his family were at home.

"It has been a most trying evening for you, friend Jacob," Anthony Lamb said when his host appeared. "One cannot give you much blame