"I wish you a pleasant journey back to Boston, sir."

"Will you not shake hands with me before I go?"

"I can feed the enemy of my country, but shake hands with him,
NEVER!"

For the first time that day, the little woman's love of country
seemed to rise triumphant within her, and drown every impulse to
selfishness; or was it the nearness to safety that she felt?
Human conduct is the result of so many motives that it is
sometimes impossible to name the compound, although on that
occasion Martha Moulton labelled it "Patriotism."

"And yet I put out the fire for you," he said.

"For your mother's sake, in old England, it was, you remember,
sir."

"I remember," said Major Pitcairn, with a sigh, as he turned
away.

"And for HER sake I will shake hands with you," said Martha
Moulton.

So he turned back, and across the threshold, in presence of the
waiting troops, the commander of the expedition to Concord, and
the only woman in the town, shook hands at parting.

Martha Moulton saw Major Pitcairn mount his horse; heard the