3$ Major Andre and General Arnold. 



ploughshare into weapons of destruction, and beside their peaceful 

 hearthstones in the sight of their parents, their wives, and their child- 

 ren, to battle for that liberty which was dearer to them than life itself. 



Few hearts, whom the unfortunate circumstances of the times threw 

 into opposite sides in this unnatural conflict, felt more keenly the 

 blow which separated them than did those of Andre and Mary ; the 

 young officer was obliged instantly to march with the English troops 

 against the republicans, while his betrothed bride remained behind 

 with her sister, under the protection of her brother-in-law, Arnold, 

 who, in the very outset of the war, had become distinguished for his 

 daring courage, and had been promoted by Washington to a post of 

 considerable importance in the American army. 



It was in the exercise of his duties in this situation, that his bound- 

 less extravagance led him into the commission of those acts of 

 oppression and rapacity for which we have already beheld him 

 degraded and deprived of his military command by the virtuous 

 Washington. From that day forth he nourished the most implacable 

 hostility to the cause which he had heretofore so ardently espoused, 

 and it required but little persuasion on the part of Beatrice, who 

 had long sighed for this revolution in Arnold's mind, to induce him 

 to resolve on betraying that cause the moment he could do so 

 effectually. 



Hardly had Arnold quitted the breakfast parlour, after com- 

 municating to Beatrice, in the brief sentence we have recorded, his 

 altered sentiments, than Mary, throwing herself upon her sister's 

 bosom, gave vent to the fulness of her heart in a torrent of tears. 



" Now," exclaimed she, "we shall be all happy; Arnold will, I 

 foresee, abandon those detestable republicans, he will join the king's 

 army and then oh! joy to meet my brave Andre." 



'* My dear Mary," replied Beatrice, " the prospect of your happi- 

 ness fills my heart with the purest pleasure ; but not even for that, 

 not for the gratification of my own long-cherished hopes, would I 

 urge him to the step he is about to take, did I not feel that the un- 

 hallowed cause in which he has lavished his blood can never prosper, 

 that the arm of divine wrath is raised against those bold rebels who 

 dare, in the face of heaven, array themselves against their anointed 

 king and the ancient laws of their father land." 



The weeping Mary looked in her sister's countenance, beaming 

 with enthusiasm, but she attempted not to interrupt her. 



" Think you, Mary," she continued, " that I am unaware of the sus- 

 picion upon one hand, and detestation on the other, with which the man 

 is regarded who deserts the banner under which he has once fought? 

 Think you that I did not glory in Arnold's fame, and mourn his 

 disgrace? but knowing that the former was gained at the sacrifice of 

 his loyalty, and the latter was the requital bestowed upon himlby an 

 ungrateful country, I bless the Providence that has made them 

 instruments in drawing him from the ranks of disaffection. I know 

 Arnold's disposition, his resolution is irrevocably fixed to quit the 

 republican army, and I am much mistaken in his temper if he do 

 not make his return to his allegiance a matter of more importance to 

 the interests of England than it at present appears to us." t 



