Page:Milady at Arms (1937).pdf/286

 "That oath to save my property?" he asked scornfully.

Mistress Williams looked up in sudden spirit. "To save your life!" she retorted bitterly. "To keep ye at home! Your brother Benjamin did swear!"

Her husband maintained silence, and in his silence Mistress Williams read contemptuous disapproval of his brother's hypocrisy. She bowed her head and wept silently for a while. But, presently, she dried her eyes, and when her husband, seating himself upon the settle, pulled her tenderly over beside him, she went obediently and leaned her head upon his shoulder.

"Mary," he said, "ye have been a true wife to me for twenty-two years. I mind ye as a bride i' your walking-out gown!" He sighed and Mistress Mary's eyes filled with tears. "But now," he went on abruptly, "ha' we come to the parting o' our ways, for I—for I—" his voice faltered,—"I am going to New York Town to join His Majesty's army," he finished huskily.

As Sally stared in incredulous surprise, wondering if she could have heard aright, she saw Mistress Williams slowly raise her head, slowly glance down at the toil-worn hands lying limply clasped in her lap.

"And I shall stay here wi' the children," she said, in a low voice. "For I believe right to be on our