" In the course of the morning Major Dunwoodie, who was an old friend of the family, and the lover of Frances, the younger daughter, arrived, took over the command of the troop, and inquired into the case of his friend the prisoner.

" Dunwoodie caught the paper eagerly, and after gazing at the signature for some time, said, "This name is no counterfeit.

"Harper!" echoed Dunwoodie, who had joined the family consultation.

" "But," said Dunwoodie, "he knew him not as an officer of the royal army?"

"If he cannot," shouted Dunwoodie, "who can?

" She reached her home undiscovered, as her brother reached the British lines, and on meeting her lover, Major Dunwoodie, in the morning learned that the American troops had been ordered suddenly by Washington to withdraw from the immediate neighbourhood. VI.Last Scenes

When, in the evening, the order was given to the shattered troops to return to camp, Captain Wharton Dunwoodie found that his lieutenant was missing, and taking a lighted fusee, he went himself in quest of the body.

"Ah, dear Tom," exclaimed Dunwoodie, "I knew I should find you the nearest man to the enemy!"

" Dunwoodie went to the spot and found an aged stranger.

Dunwoodie opened it, and found a paper on which he read: "Circumstances of political importance, which involve the lives and fortunes of many, have hitherto kept secret what this paper reveals.