A Little Maid of Old Philadelphia

								

André had lifted her to a seat beside the General; with a friendly word
he untied the bonnet-strings and put the bonnet on a side table; and
Ruth began to think that it was all a dream from which she would soon
awaken to find herself safely at home. She wondered if it really were
Ruth Pernell who was answering the General's questions about the missing
Hero.
"I can do no less than try to find your dog, little maid," he said, "for
when my own dog wandered away to General Washington's camp, in the
Germantown fray, the General sent him back to me under the protection of
a flag of truce; so, as you tell me your father is with Washington, I
must see to it that Hero is found. That is, if one of my soldiers has so
far forgotten orders as to have taken him," for the English General
took every care that his soldiers should do no harm to the residents of
the city.
Ruth was sure that she knew the very house where she had heard Hero's
bark; and now that General Howe had promised that a search should be
made she was eager to go home, and slid out of the chair just as a
servant set a plate before her.
"I must go home. I--I--ran away," she said a little falteringly, looking
up at the tall General. "Will you please find Hero the first thing
to-morrow?"
"Here, André! the young lady wishes to return home," said the General,
"and see to it that you take her there safely, and that you find the
lost Hero. And find a better plot for your next comedy," the General
added, as the young officer came forward.
Ruth wondered what "comedy" meant. She did not know that Major André,
whose gay good humor and charming manner made him a favorite with all,
was depended upon to furnish amusement for his brother officers; or that
they had at first believed that Ruth, stumbling into the dining-room
dressed as a woman, was the first act of some amusing play of André's
contriving.
Now that it proved she was only a runaway little girl looking for a lost
dog they found it amusing that the young officer should have the trouble
of taking her home.
Ruth could never quite remember the manner in which the General bade her
good-bye, or if she make her curtsy, or even thanked him for promising
that Hero should be found.
Major André tied on her bonnet, and opening a door that led to a side
entrance, led her to the street.
"Now tell me the way, and I'll have you home in a jiffy," he said
pleasantly.
But it was no easy matter for Ruth to walk as rapidly as her companion;
she stumbled over the skirt; the strings of her bonnet had slipped so
that it kept bobbing over her eyes and had to be pushed back; and she
was now so frightened at the thought of what Aunt Deborah would say that
she hardly knew in what direction they were going until the young
officer stopped at her own door and lifted the knocker whose rap was
sure to bring Aunt Deborah hastening to answer it.