horseman, spurred and leaped over her.  But he was blamed for taking the risk, for his horse might not have risen, so Colonel Harcourt told Nancy Bond.  ’T was Major Tarleton, I daresay you recollect; who was at our house when General Lee was captivated; and P. Hennion then told me he was considered the most reckless and dare-devil officer in the cavalry, but a cruel man.  ’Mr. Lee,’ as they all term him, here,—­for they will not give the Whigs any titles,—­has just been brought to Philadelphia and is at large on parole, pending an exchange, which has been delayed because ’t is feared by the British that any convention may be taken as a recognition of the rebels, and be so considered by France and Spain.

“So much has happened,” the letter-writer continued a week later, “I scarce know where to begin, Tibbie, nor how to convey to you the wondrous occurrences.  Oh, Tibbie, Tibbie, plays are the most amazing and marvellous things in the world!  Not a one of the officers could I recognise, so changed they were, and they did us females to the life.  ’T was so enchanting that at times I found myself gasping through very forgetfulness to breathe, and I was dreadfully rallied and quizzed because I burst into tears when the poor minor seemed to have lost both his love and his property.  But how can I touch off my feelings, when, in the fourth act; the villain was detected; and all ended as it should!  And, oh!  Tibbie, mommy enjoyed it nearly as much as I, though the farce at the end vastly shocked her—­and, indeed, Tibbie, ’t was most indelicate, and made me blush a scarlet, and all the more that Sir William whispered that he enjoyed the broad parts through my cheeks—­and she says if dadda insists, we’ll go again, though not to stay to the farce.  We had to sit in Lord Clowes’ box—­which sadly affronted Captain Andre —­and Sir William, who has hitherto kept himself muck secluded; made his first appearance in public, and, as you wilt have inferred, visited our box during a part of the performance, drawing all eyes upon us, which agitated me greatly.  Dadda told him I was learning to sketch, and nothing would do but I must give him an example, so on the back of the play-bill I made a caricature of General Lee, which was extravagantly praised, and was passed from hand to hand all over the house, and excited a titter wherever it went, for the general was in attendance; but judge of my feelings, Tibbie, when an officer passed it to Lee himself!  He fell into a mighty rage, and demanded aloud to know who had thus insulted him, and but for Lord Clowes and Sir William preventing me, I’d have fled from the place, I was in such a panic.  Pray Heaven he never learn!  I dare not repeat to thee half the civil things which were said of this ‘sweet creature,’ as they styled me, for fear thou’lt think me vain.  ‘As thee is, I doubt not,’ I hear thee say.  Saucy Tibbie Drinker!”

At the very time that this account was being penned, some twenty miles away, a man was also writing, and a paragraph in his letter read:—­