But--but--you're agitated, dear; what's wrong?
I see our unasked visitors were here.
Was that--?

_Mrs. Secord_. Not that; yet that. Oh, James, I scarce can bear
The stormy swell that surges o'er my heart,
Awaked by what they have revealed this night.

_Mr. Secord_. Dear wife, what is't?

_Mrs. Secord_. Oh, sit you down and rest, for you will need
All strength you may command to hear me tell.

[_Mr. Secord sits down, his wife by him_.

That saucy fellow, Winter, and a guard
Came and demanded supper; and, of course,
They had to get it. Pete and Flos I left
To wait on them, but soon they sent them off,
Their jugs supplied,--and fell a-talking, loud,
As in defiance, of some private plan
To make the British wince. Word followed word,
Till I, who could not help but hear their gibes,
Suspected mischief, and, listening, learned the whole.
To-morrow night a large detachment leaves
Fort George for Beaver Dam. Five hundred men,
With some dragoons, artillery, and a train
Of baggage-waggons, under Boerstler, go
To fall upon Fitzgibbon by surprise,
Capture the stores, and pay for Stony Creek.