Back to the windows again; yes, the great elm
of which Moppet had spoken stood like a tall sentinel guarding the
mansion, and Geoffrey felt confident that he could crawl from roof to
tree and thus reach the ground. To be sure, it was most hazardous; there
was the chance of some one sleeping in the chambers near who might hear
even so slight a noise; he might become wedged in the chimney,
or--pshaw! one must risk life, if need be, for liberty; and here
Geoffrey smiled, as it occurred to him that this was what these very
colonists were engaged in doing, and for a moment the British officer
felt a throb of sympathy hitherto unknown to him. He had landed at New
York but a month before, filled with insular prejudices and contempt for
these country lads and farmers, whom he imagined composed the
Continental army; but the fight at Fairfield, which was carried on by
the Hessians with a brutality that disgusted him, and the encounter with
such a family as this under whose roof he was, began to open his eyes,
and he acknowledged frankly to himself that young Oliver Wolcott was both
a soldier and a gentleman.
"The boy looked every inch a soldier," thought Geoffrey, "when he
refused his sister's pleading; faith, he is made of firm stuff to
withstand her.
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