"Then I will find out all about them when he

comes to Williamsburg."

"Yes; but he is so devotedly attached to his new home, Mount Vernon on the Potomac, that he seldom leaves it," put in Rebecca.

Little

"Not more attached to it than to his brother George," answered Noah Stevens. "I remember well the day we mustered to go to Darien. George Washington came down to where the soldiers were parading, and I never saw such sparkling eyes and cheeks glowing with enthusiasm, when he grasped his brother's hand he said:

"Don't turn your back to the foe, brother.' "When Captain Washington and I were alone, the captain said:

"Brother George will one day make his mark as a general. Young as he is, he knows every evolution of the musket and every movement of the company. Zounds! he could manoeuvre the troops as well as I, for he never missed a training day."

A few days later, Captain Washington was in Williamsburg and called at the home of his friend. Stevens. As is usual with young men who have campaigned together, their conversation drifted at once to their war reminiscences.

Mr. Elmer Stevens, who knew something of warfare on the ocean, joined them in the conversation. He was a hale old man, whose snow-white hair was

the principal indication of age, for his eyes were bright and his frame vigorous. He was of a cheerful disposition and only became sad, when he referred to the strange, unknown fate of his brother George.

When the Captain and Noah were alone, young Stevens asked:

"Captain, do you know Mr. Saturfield, the man living in the old stone mansion?"

"I have met him."

“Is he an Englishman?"

"Yes he was born in England, so he told me; but he is as loyal to the interests of the colonies as any American."

Noah Stevens was ill at ease. His question was not yet asked, and he could not come to it at once, but rather shyly approached the subject.

"Do you know anything of the family?" he asked.

"But little. He with his wife and a daughter named Anne constitute the household; at least, such is my understanding."

"Have you ever met her?"

Captain Washington now opened his eyes and gave his young companion a stare while a smile played over his face.

"Zounds! Noah, I think I understand you now. Well, Anne is a sweet maid, whose brown eyes

are calculated to make mischief.

Her father is

wealthy and beyond doubt of good family. I am not sufficiently acquainted to hazard an introduction."

This was Noah's dearest wish, and he felt no little disappointment when he learned that it could not be gratified; but he said no more to his friend on the subject.

An event happened a few weeks later which brought about what Noah desired. Mrs. Wilberforce of Williamsburg gave a social party at her elegant home, to which there were invited all the best people of the village and surrounding country Social events like this were quite common, even in the early days of Virginia, and Mrs. Wilberforce took the lead in society. Her house was one of the most elegant in Virginia, and, on the evening in question, the spacious parlors and drawing-rooms were all aglow with light. Negro servants in livery were hastening hither and thither making everything ready. In the long dining-room were great tables groaning with good things.

From out the casement on the wintry air floated the softest strains of music. The night was clear and cold. The snow lay on the ground with a crust frozen on the top. Sleighs loaded with merry people were driven to the Wilberforce mansion, and a constant stream of gayly dressed gentlemen

and ladies were entering. An assembly of gentlemen and ladies in the old colonial days, before the decay of the picturesque, was a grand sight. It was in the age of periwigs, velvet coats, ruffled shirts, knee breeches and gaiters. It was an age when the coats were of any color one might choose, and there appeared under the lamplight or fluttered in the evening breeze all the varied colors and hues of the kaleidoscope. Negro slaves were kept busy heaping on great logs of wood, and roaring fires made the rooms comfortable.

Outside, the night air was cold, and from a hundred chimneys the soft blue smoke floated away in the darkness. Noah Stevens was an invited guest at Mrs. Wilberforce's ball, and when the evening came he found himself one of the many happy guests of the fashionable lady.

It was during the first waltz, that he chanced to cast his eyes into another apartment and met a pair of dark, gazelle-like eyes, which quickened the blood in his veins and caused him to start. Noah finished the waltz, and then Mrs. Wilberforce went to him with Miss Saturfield on her arm, to introduce him to the shy young maiden whom he had seen in the sleigh. To say Noah was delighted would be stating the matter mildly.

Half an hour later, he found himself with Miss Saturfield in an alcove talking on such subjects as

usually engross the minds of young people. The music and dancers were unheeded.

"You have not been long in Virginia, have you Miss Saturfield?"

"Only a few months."

"You came from England?"

"I did."

"I was in England once-went to enter Oxford, but came back to help found the colony of Georgia. It could not be that I ever met you there. Did you live in London?"

"Yes; but I was quite small then."

"Strange, when I talk with you, I seem sure that I have met you before."

Her soft brown eyes were on the carpeted floor, and her fingers played with the lace of her dress.

"Zounds! she is strange but lovely," thought Noah Stevens. "Have you relatives in England?"

"I presume I have; but I do not know them." Then, as if to change the subject, she remarked, "Mrs. Wilberforce is lovely to-night. Her costume is so becoming."

"Very; she is an agreeable lady, and loved by all who know her."

At this moment, a negro servant came hurrying toward Noah Stevens and said:

"Beg pardon, Massa Stevens, but dar am a boy heah to see ye.