CHAPTER I.

THE CHASE.

At noon, on the first Saturday of March, 1796,

there was an unusual stir at the old Barton farmhouse, just across the creek to the eastward, as
you leave Kennett Square by the Philadelphia
stage-road. Any gathering of the people at
Barton's was a most rare occurrence; yet, on that
day and at that hour, whoever stood upon the
porch of the corner house, in the village, could
see horsemen approaching by all the four roads
which there met. Some five or six had already
dismounted at the Unicorn Tavern, and were
refreshing themselves with stout glasses of "Old
Rye," while their horses, tethered side by side to
the pegs in the long hitching-bar, pawed and
stamped impatiently. An eye familiar with the
ways of the neighborhood might have surmised
the nature of the occasion which called so many
together, from the appearance and equipment of
these horses. They were not heavy animals, with
the marks of plough-collars on their broad
shoulders, or the hair worn off their rumps by
huge breech-straps; but light and clean-limbed,
one or two of them showing signs of good blood,
and all more carefully groomed than usual.

6971


.






" "


.

.




.

Evidently, there was no "vendue" at the Barton

farmhouse; neither a funeral, nor a wedding, since
male guests seemed to have been exclusively
bidden. To be sure, Miss Betsy Lavender had
been observed to issue from Dr. Deane's door, on
the opposite side of the way, and turn into the
path beyond the blacksmith's, which led down
through the wood and over the creek to Barton's;
but then, Miss Lavender was known to be handy
at all times, and capable of doing all things, from
laying out a corpse to spicing a wedding-cake.
Often self-invited, but always welcome, very few

" "




) (


.
It was, therefore, a matter of course, whatever the
social or domestic events could occur in four
townships
(East
Marlborough,
Kennett,
Pennsbury, and New-Garden) without her
presence; while her knowledge of farms, families,
and genealogies extended up to Fallowfield on
one side, and over to Birmingham on the other.

present occasion might be, that Miss Lavender

put on her broad gray beaver hat, and brown stuff
cloak, and took the way to Barton's. The distance
could easily be walked in five minutes, and the
day was remarkably pleasant for the season. A
fortnight of warm, clear weather had extracted the
last fang of frost, and there was already green
grass in the damp hollows. Bluebirds picked the
last year's berries from the cedar-trees; buds were
bursting on the swamp-willows; the alders were
hung with tassels, and a powdery crimson bloom
began to dust the bare twigs of the maple- trees.
All these signs of an early spring Miss Lavender
noted as she picked her way down the wooded
bank. Once, indeed, she stopped, wet her
forefinger with her tongue, and held it pointed in
the air. There was very little breeze, but this
natural weathercock revealed from what direction
it came.

.




.

"Southwest!" she said, nodding her head-"Lucky!"

" :
Having crossed the creek on a flat log, secured
with stakes at either end, a few more paces
brought her to the warm, gentle knoll, upon which
stood the farm-house. Here, the wood ceased, and
the creek, sweeping around to the eastward,
embraced a quarter of a mile of rich bottomland,
before entering the rocky dell below. It was a
pleasant seat, and the age of the house denoted
that one of the earliest settlers had been quick to
perceive its advantages. A hundred years had
already elapsed since the masons had run up those
walls of rusty hornblende rock, and it was even

"!

said that the leaden window-sashes, with their

diamond-shaped panes of greenish glass, had
been brought over from England, in the days of
William Penn. In fact, the ancient aspect of the
place--the tall, massive chimney at the gable, the
heavy, projecting eaves, and the holly-bush in a
warm nook beside the front porch, had, nineteen
years before, so forcibly reminded one of Howe's
soldiers of his father's homestead in mid-England,
that he was numbered among the missing after the
Brandywine battle, and presently turned up as a
hired hand on the Barton farm, where he still
lived, year in and year out.
An open, grassy space, a hundred yards in
breadth, intervened between the house and the
barn, which was built against the slope of the
knoll, so that the bridge to the threshing-floor was
nearly level, and the stables below were sheltered
from the north winds, and open to the winter sun.
On the other side of the lane leading from the
high-road stood a wagon-house and corn-crib--the
latter empty, yet evidently, in spite of its
emptiness, the principal source of attraction to the
visitors. A score of men and boys peeped between
the upright laths, and a dozen dogs howled and
sprang around the smooth corner-posts upon
which the structure rested. At the door stood old
Giles, the military straggler already mentioned-now a grizzly, weather-beaten man of fifty--with
a jolly grin on his face, and a short leather whip in
his hand.

- }
{






.








.


.



.

" "
"Want to see him, Miss Betsy?" he asked,
.
touching his mink-skin cap, as Miss Lavender

crawled through the nearest panel of the lofty

picket fence.
" ":
"See him?" she repeated. "Don't care if I do, afore
"
goin' into th' house."

"Come up, then; out o' the way, Cato! Fan, take
that, you slut! Don't be afeard, Miss Betsy; if

folks kept 'em in the leash, as had ought to be !

done, I'd have less trouble. They're mortal eager,
and no wonder. There!--a'n't he a sly-lookin'

divel? If I'd a hoss, Miss Betsy, I'd foller with the
best of 'em, and maybe you wouldn't have the
"
brush?"

"Have the brush. Go along, Giles! He's an old "
one, and knows how to take care of it. Do keep
off the dreadful dogs, and let me git down!" cried
.
Miss Lavender, gathering her narrow petticoats
about her legs, and surveying the struggling
animals before her with some dismay.

Giles's whip only reached the nearest, and the
excited pack rushed forward again after every
repulse; but at this juncture a tall, smartly-dressed
.
man came across the lane, kicked the hounds out
of the way, and extended a helping hand to the
lady.
"