Page:Milady at Arms (1937).pdf/294



HE day of the vendue dawned bright and clear—a beautiful one in early autumn. For weeks, now, the question had been discussed throughout the Mountain settlement and on the adjoining plantations: Should not Mistress Williams, patriot though she declared herself to be and patriot though all knew her to be—should she not be forced to give up her fine farm, her mills, her co-opering business, and be forced to flee with her husband and sons? Should not all this property go to enrich the State, whose coffers were empty, as had all the possessions left by other loyalists who, like Master WillliamsWilliams [sic], refused to take the oath and had been banished? Early and late had this matter been topic for conversation, most of the people, to do them justice, declaring that, under the circumstances, it was only fair to allow Mistress Williams to retain what had been left her by her husband at his flight.

Mistress Williams, herself, had maintained an air of placid confidence in public, as though there was