Chapter 18: Solving a Problem

"I'm sending you to help a friend of mine," the old lady said looking very stern. "She has a young daughter, and you are not to touch her, you hear?"

I nodded.

"Her family is of divided loyalties, sadly," she said. "Something odd is going on, and I think she is in danger."

The Madam, as usual, was right. The woman had a company of British infantry camped in the stubble of her cornfield and their officers ensconced in her home. Her slaves were now their servants, and she and her nubile daughter were obviously the target of much unwanted attention.

At least, I assumed it was unwanted.

The woman was calm and lovely; her daughter sprightly and fair.

I left my horse in the woods as well as my musket and appeared on her back porch seeking work. I mentioned the Madam's name to the woman as one of my references and was ushered into the sitting room. She closed the door and leaned against it, listening I suppose. Then she gave me a wan smile and waved me to a chair.

"She sent you?" she asked.

I nodded, admiring her calm as well as her scrubbed and mature beauty.

She took a deep breath. "I think it may be getting worse. Patty seems to be enjoying all the flirting that is going on, and I am sure some of the young officers believe she is a tease. That is dangerous."

"Yes'm," I agreed, "indeed it is."

"Will you talk to her?"

"Me?" I asked, surprised. "Doubt I could do any good."

'She never knew her father. At least you are a man."

"I can try, but I've never been good at talking to girls."

The woman's name was Margaret, and she told me that her friends called her Peggy. Her daughter was Patricia. She opened the door to the hall and called her. I heard her hurrying down the stairs and was standing when she entered. She was a beauty, almost shocking in her demure softness and grace, barely five feet high. She gave me a smile and an offhand curtsey. I bowed to her as we exchanged names. Her mother introduced me as a friend of Madam Von R--, and we sat and looked at each other.

"Are these Redcoats a problem?" I asked her.

She looked at her mother, licked her lips, raised her chin and said, "Actually no, not really. We've gotten used to them."

"They are eating up our food, sleeping in our beds, bothering our servants," the woman said, looking sternly at her nearly full-grown child. The girl was probably fourteen or fifteen, and the mother about twice that. They really could have been sisters with their similar hairdos, voices and poise. The daughter was trying to look older than she was.

"I'll see about some food," her mother said. She left quietly, giving me a arched eyebrow before she closed the door.

"I suppose she wants you to lecture me," the girl said.

I smiled. "Something like that."

"Well," she said, "go on."

"Are you having fun with these young officers?" I asked.

She nodded and looked down.

"Are you smitten?" I asked and tried to look stern. "In love?"

"Oh no. My goodness. No, nothing like that."

"Kissed any?" I asked.

"A few, one or two."

"How many?"

"We played a game," she said. "I don't know. I wore a blindfold."

"Does you mother know?"

She shook her head.

Her mother returned with a tray. I wondered if she had been listening at the door. Before she could even offer me some ham, the door swung open and two British officers entered, hands on their swords' hilts.

"Who the hell is this?" demanded the larger of the two. "We discovered a horse and musket out in the woods."

"My cousin," said the woman, looking annoyed. "From upriver."

"Indeed," the man said. "Get up," he said to me.

I stood and evaluated the two. The blustering major was fat and soft, but his companion looked to be a hard man. His eyes swept over the woman, past me and rested on the girl. He looked at her with undisguised hunger.

"Take him out and question him," the fat major said. "Now, madam, this evening..."

I did not hear the rest of that as the captain clamped both his hand on my wrist, and I let him lead me outside. At the foot of the front steps, he whirled me about and faced me.

"Get out of here," he said. "You're not wanted."

I held his eyes and saw hate and distrust in his face.

"Go to hell," I hissed. "This is my country, not yours."

"You can have it," he replied calmly, "starting tomorrow. We'll be gone then, and those two in there with us."

"I think not," I told him, drawing my big blade.

He glanced and it and yelled, "Corporal of the guard!"

I grabbed his sword belt and pulled him to me, the point of my bayonet at his belly. "You can die right here," I told him as a Redcoat ran up, closely followed by two more. I was tempted to open him up, but instead stepped back and sheathed my weapon. I am not sure why.

"This man is under arrest," the captain said, adjusting his clothes. "Tie him up somewhere. I'll talk to him later."

The corporal took my belt and bayonet, and I followed the two soldiers out to the barn where I was tied hand and foot and left in an empty stall.

"Yer gonna miss all the fun," one of the Redcoats said after checking his knots.

"Tha's right," said the other. "They's gonna let us 'ave them two pretty women once they's done wif 'em."

"We's leavin' in the mornin'," said the first. "Suppose t'burn what we can't carry. That might include you."

The two went off, chuckling. I saw where they had hung my belt and began working on my bonds at once. I crawled around on my knees looking for a tool and settled on the tines of a hayrake. I sat on the handle and rubbed my wrists along a thin blade, abrading the flesh at the base of my thumbs but, within an hour or so, sawing my hands free. I was working on untying my feet when I saw the captain and two soldiers crossing toward the barn door. This was at about sunset as I recall; the long shadows warned me.

I barely reached my bayonet before they entered and went directly to my empty stall. I stepped out of the shadows and knifed the Redcoat with his back to me, withdrew my blade with a grating sound, slashed at the other man, cutting across his screeching face and then drove the captain back to the walls of the stall area.