Peggy Owen and Liberty Read online

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  PEGGY OWEN AND LIBERTY

  _BY_ LUCY FOSTER MADISON

  AUTHOR OF

  "PEGGY OWEN"

  "PEGGY OWEN, PATRIOT"

  "PEGGY OWEN AT YORKTOWN"

  ETC.

  ILLUSTRATED BY H. J. PECK

  The Penn Publishing Company PHILADELPHIA MCMXIII

  COPYRIGHT 1912 BY THE PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY

  "WHY, IT'S FATHER!"]

  "The motto of our father-band Circled the world in its embrace: 'Twas Liberty throughout the land, And good to all their brother race. Long here--within the pilgrim's bell Had lingered--though it often pealed-- Those treasured tones, that eke should tell Where freedom's proudest scroll was sealed! Here the dawn of reason broke On the trampled rights of man; And a moral era woke Brightest since the world began."

  Introduction

  In "Peggy Owen," the first book of this series, is related the storyof a little Quaker maid who lived across from the State House inPhiladelphia, and who, neutral at first on account of her religion,became at length an active patriot. The vicissitudes and annoyances towhich she and her mother are subjected by one William Owen, an officerin the English army and a kinsman of her father's, are also given.

  "Peggy Owen, Patriot" tells of Peggy's winter at Middlebrook, innorthern New Jersey, where Washington's army is camped, her capture bythe British and enforced journey to the Carolinas, and final returnhome.

  "Peggy Owen at Yorktown" details how Peggy goes to Virginia to nurse acousin, who is wounded and a prisoner. The town is captured by theBritish under Benedict Arnold, the traitor, and Peggy is led tobelieve that he has induced the desertion of her friend, JohnDrayton. Drayton's rescue from execution as a spy and the siege ofYorktown follow.

  In the present volume Peggy's friends rally about her when her CousinClifford is in danger of capture. The exciting events of the storyshow the unsettled state of the country after the surrender ofCornwallis.

  Contents

  I. A SMALL DINNER BECOMES A PARTY 11

  II. PEGGY IS SURPRISED 26

  III. ON THE HORNS OF A DILEMMA 40

  IV. THE SEARCH 53

  V. FRIENDS IN NEED 69

  VI. APPEARANCES AGAINST HER 81

  VII. DAVID OWEN IS INFORMED OF THE FACTS 94

  VIII. BEFORE THE COUNCIL 108

  IX. OUT OF THE FRYING-PAN INTO THE FIRE 120

  X. A RACE FOR LIFE 134

  XI. THE CHOICE OF FAIRFAX 144

  XII. "THEY MUST GO HOME" 163

  XIII. A WOMAN'S WIT 176

  XIV. MARCHING ORDERS 194

  XV. THE ATTACK ON THE BLOCKHOUSE 215

  XVI. "OF WHAT WAS HE GUILTY?" 227

  XVII. A GLIMPSE OF HOME 244

  XVIII. HEROD OUT HERODED 256

  XIX. THE TURN OF THE WHEEL 272

  XX. A SLIGHT EMPHASIS OF "THAT" 285

  XXI. CHOSEN BY LOT 303

  XXII. WHAT CAN BE DONE? 318

  XXIII. A LITTLE HUMOR DESPITE A GRIM SITUATION 334

  XXIV. "THEE MAY TELL HIM AT THE LAST" 348

  XXV. AT HEADQUARTERS 363

  XXVI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE GLEN 376

  XXVII. THE SAFEGUARD OF HIS HONOR 392

  XXVIII. "HOW COULD SHE KNOW?" 407

  XXIX. IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH 424

  XXX. AND THEN THE END 437