Page:Milady at Arms (1937).pdf/153

 tion. "Wilt see that these stockings reach headquarters?" continued Mistress Williams. "I mind that Uzal be in communication wi' His Excellency and ha' thought he might take charge o' them for us, as well as the shirts that are ready."

As Mistress Ball nodded, Sally thought explosively: "There, that erases Uzal's surmises that the stockings would ne'er reach our men. Indeed," the girl giggled to herself, "the joke be upon him, since he be the very one selected by Mistress Williams to prove himself wrong!"

Yet, the next instant, doubt returned with the thought that here was but a clever ruse upon Mistress Williams's part to turn suspicion away from her family and herself! And when, later, the simple refreshments of buttermilk and pound cake were served, Sally, during the confusion of changing groups and shifting of chairs, while half-knitted stockings were laid aside and "housewives" were returned to capacious petticoat bags—drawstring bags suspended from a belt and worn beneath the gowns next to the petticoats—Sally, I say, found an opportunity to whisper her suspicions to Mistress Ball, telling her what she had seen in the mirror.

The latter shook her head in troubled puzzlement. "Nay, I do not know!" she whispered back. "Keep ears and eyes open, Sally. Ye may ha' much to report to the Council o' Safety when it meets!"