lit her pale face, "you did not say that before. If it were only
possible"--

"Why not?" said Kitty encouragingly.

"But, Gulian, you said in the letter that you would await my sister at
King's Bridge Inn. Surely you cannot go there and stop, waiting at the
Inn for days?"

"I can ride out to-morrow, and, in fact, I hastened through some
business at the wharf to-day which enabled me to have the day free. I
can easily go to King's Bridge and inquire at the Inn for dispatches;
you will not mind my being absent all day? Perhaps Kitty will come and
bear you company while I am gone?"

"Right gladly," replied Kitty; "will you ride alone, Gulian?"

"I might, easily," said Gulian; "but when I procured a pass from Sir
Henry Clinton yesterday (it is an eight days' pass, Clarissa) I found
that Captain Yorke goes to-morrow to the neutral ground to inspect
troops, and I think I shall take advantage of his company."

"I am glad of that," said Clarissa, putting her slender hand in Gulian's
and looking with grateful eyes up at him, as he stood beside her chair.
"Is he the aide-de-camp you told me of, Gulian, for whom you had taken a
liking?"

"The same; a fine, manly fellow, the second son of Lord Herbert Yorke,
one of my father's old friends in England. You were dancing with him at
the De Lanceys' 'small and early,' were you not, Kitty, last week?"