Page:Milady at Arms (1937).pdf/151

 "And," she turned smilingly to Mistress Williams, who, watching her with anxious eyes, now returned the girl's smile happily, "I shall be glad to stay awhile wi' ye! Until Mistress Ball's return from Morris Town! Or"—a shade passed over Sally's face—"at least until Mistress Todd's return from the Town by the River, an she returns before!"

As the girl moved away. Mistress Williams turned to her friend. "Someone should speak to Parson Chapman about Sally," she said in a low tone, but decisively. "She did not look happy at mention o' her mistress's name! And I, for one, think Mistress Todd the wrong person to be in charge o' the poor little maid!"

"I think Parson Chapman knows the situation," returned the other lady. "I' fact, I feel sure he does, for he was much concerned and went straight from my house one day last May to Mistress Todd. I never heard what decision was reached, for much happened immediately thereafter. Through Uzal, whom Master Todd told, I learned that Parson Chapman barely escaped capture by a band of red-coats that day, that he got away only by a ruse—that is, daring to stop upon a hilltop and cheer for freedom i' the faces o' the oncoming red-coats, so that they, thinking from his daring that, concealed from them beyond the hilltop, were a troop o' Continentals, did gi' o'er the chase." Mistress Ball laughed. "Sally said that they turned and fled