Whether Bagby had purposely magnified the danger with the object of frightening the squire into yielding to his wishes, or whether he and Hennion were outvoted by Parson McClave and the other members of the Committee, Mr. Meredith never learned.  Of what was resolved he was not left long in doubt, for the morning following, the whole Committee, with a contingent of the Invincibles, invaded the privacy of Greenwood, and required of him that he surrender to them such arms as he was possessed of, and sign a parol that he would in no way give aid or comfort to the invaders.  To these two requirements the squire yielded, at heart not a little comforted that the proceedings against him were no worse, though vocally he protested at such “robbery and coercion.”

“Ye lord it high-handedly now,” he told the party, “but ye’ll sing another song ere long.”

“Yer’ve been predictin’ thet fer some time,” chuckled Hennion, aggravatingly.

“’T will come all the surer that it comes tardily.  ’Slow and sure doth make secure,’ as ye’ll dearly learn.  We’ll soon see how debtors who won’t pay either principal or interest like the law!”

Hennion chuckled again.  “Yer see, squire,” he said, “it don’t seem ter me ter be my interest ter pay principal, nor my principle ter pay interest.  Ef I wuz yer, I would n’t het myself over them mogiges; I ain’t sweatin’.”

“I’ll sweat ye yet, ye old rascal,” predicted the creditor.

“When’ll thet be?” asked Hennion.

“When we are no longer tyrannised over by a pack of debtors, scoundrels, and Scotch Presbyterians,” with which remark the squire stamped away.

It must be confessed, however, that bad as the master of Greenwood deemed the political situation, he gave far more thought to his private affairs.  Every day conditions were becoming more unsettled.  His overseer had left his employ to enlist, throwing all care of the farm on the squire’s shoulders; a second bondsman, emboldened by Charles’ successful levanting, had done the same, making labourers short-handed; while those who remained were more eager to find excuses taking them to Brunswick, that they might hear the latest news, and talk it over, than they were to give their undivided attention to reaping and hoeing.  Finally, more and more tenants failed to appear at Greenwood on rent day, and so the landlord was called upon to ride the county over, dunning, none too successfully, the delinquent.

Engrossing as all this might be, Mr. Meredith was still too much concerned in public events not to occasionally find an excuse for riding into Brunswick and learning of their progress; and one evening as he approached the village, his eyes and ears both informed him that something unusual was in hand, for muskets were being discharged, great fires were blazing on the green, and camped upon it was a regiment of troops.

Riding up to the tavern, where a rushing business was being done, the squire halted the publican as he was hurrying past with a handful of mugs, by asking, “What does all this mean?”