Finally, a call from her mother put an end to this frittering and hurried the girl downstairs.  Washington gave his hand to Mrs. Meredith, and there was a contest of words among the numerous officers for the privilege of the girl’s, till Lord Sterling asserted his prerogative of rank and carried her off.  Her presence was indeed a boon to the twenty men who sat down at the table, and, accustomed as Janice was by this time to the attention of officers, she could not but be flattered by the homage and deference paid her, all the more, perhaps, that it was witnessed by Brereton.  Nor did this cease with the withdrawal of the ladies, for a number of the younger blades elected for her society rather than for that of the bottle, and made themselves her escort in the tour of inspection which Janice insisted on making about the place; and had she needed to be helped or lifted over every fence, or even stone, they encountered, there would have been willing hands to do it.  It is true she was teased not a little for her supposed British sympathies, but it was not done ill-naturedly, and the girl was now quick-witted and quick-tongued enough to protect herself.

This plurality of swains did not lessen as the afternoon advanced, for not one of the diners departed, and when tea-time had come, their ranks were swelled by a dozen new arrivals, giving both Mrs. Meredith and Janice all they could do to keep the assembly supplied with “dishes” of the cheerful but uninebriating beverage which had been so material a cause in the very embodying of this army.  Then the officers idled about the lawn, each perhaps hoping for an invitation to stay on to the supper which so quickly followed the tea-drinking; and those who were fortunate enough to attain their wish did not hurry away once the meal was concluded.  Only when Mrs. Meredith excused herself and her daughter on the ground of fatigue, did the youngsters recollect that there were camp duties which called them away.

“I fear me, Miss Janice,” said the commander-in-chief, as the good-nights were being said, “that discipline would be maintained with difficulty were we long to remain encamped here.  Personally, I cannot but regret that we move northward to-morrow; but for the good of the service I think ’t is fortunate.”

Drum beat and bugle call, sounding reveille, brought Janice back to consciousness the next morning; and it is to be suspected that she took some pains with her morning toilet, for by the time she descended tents were already levelled and regiments and artillery were filing past on the road.

“We have reason to believe that Sir Henry meditates a move up the Hudson against our post of West Point,” Washington explained to Janice; “and so it is our duty to put ourselves within protecting distance, though I myself think he will scarce venture a blow, the more that he is strengthening his lines about New York.  ’T is not a little pleasing to us that, after two years’ fighting and manoeuvring, both armies are brought back to the very point they set out from, and that from being the attacking party, the British are now reduced to the use of spade and pick-axe for defence.”