I now knew what had broken the friendship between Fanny and her worthless brother.  I feared a catastrophe when Mr. Faringfield should learn of the occurrence at the tavern.  But, thanks to the silence of us who were concerned, and to the character of the few gentlemen with whom he deigned to converse, it never came to his ears.  Ned, restored to his senses, and fearing for his maintenance, made no attempt to retaliate my blow; and resumed his weary pretence of reformation.  But years afterward we were to recall his story of the Irishman’s sister.

CHAPTER VII.

Enemies in War.

As this is not a history of the wars I shall not dwell upon the talk and preparations that went on during the weeks ensuing upon our eventful Sunday:  which talk was common to both parties, but which preparations were mainly on the part of the rebels, we loyalists awaiting events and biding the return from England of Governor Tryon.  There were looks of suspicion exchanged, and among the more violent and uncouth there were open boasts bandied, open taunts reciprocated, and open threats hurled back and forth.  Most of the quality of the town were on the loyal side; but yet there were some excellent families—­such as the Livingstones—­who stood first and last among the so-called Whigs.  This was the case in great part of the country, the wealth and culture, with distinguished exceptions, being for the king and parliament; though, I must own, a great quantity of the brains being on the other side:  but in Virginia and her Southerly neighbours, strange to say, the aristocracy largely, though not entirely, leaned toward revolt; for what reason I never knew, unless it was that many of them, descended from younger sons of good English stock who had been exiled as black sheep or ne’er-do-wells, inherited feelings similar to Mr. Faringfield’s.  Or perhaps ’twas indeed a pride, which made them resentful of the superiority assumed by native Englishmen over them as colonists.  Or they may have felt that they should actually become slaves in submitting to be taxed by a parliament in which they were not represented.  In any case, they (like Philip Winwood and Mr. Faringfield, the Adamses of Boston, and thousands of others) had motives that outweighed in them the sentiment of loyalty, the passion of attachment to the land whence we had drawn our race and still drew our culture and all our refinements and graces.  This sentiment, and this passion, made it impossible for Tom Faringfield and me to see any other course for us than undeviating fidelity to the king and the mother-country.  There were of course some loyalists (or Tories, if you prefer that name) who took higher views than arose from their mere affections, and who saw harm for America in any revolt from English government; and there were others, doubtless, whose motives were entirely low and selfish, such as holders of office under the crown, and men who had powers and privileges of which any change of system, any disturbance of the royal authority, might deprive them.  It was Philip who called my attention to this last class, and to the effect its existence must have on the common people in the crisis then present.