hands flexed around its neck until it strangled like that, and conscious for the first time of the strength in my long, lean body, and proud â proud as when I said to her:
There was a spark inside me once, which I always knew. But now it will burn, and you will not be ashamed of me.â¦
But the dream placed all together, and in the dream, after I kissed Molly Bracken, I took her hand in mine and we walked down the street through York Village and out to the meadows beyond. And as we passed along the street, everyone whispered:
See there, it is that worthless orphan lad, Jamie Stuart, but we must honor him now, for there is by his side the loveliest lady that ever lived.
We walked into a meadow all carpeted with daisies, and suddenly we were ringed around with fragrant pine woods, alone under the sun and the breeze. Oh, my true love, sweet Jamie Stuart, she said to me, and I answered, For all eternity, I will be true to fair Molly Bracken. We stroked each otherâs face and hair, and our happiness was so great that it seemed we must surely die of it, for it was too much to bear.
And then Jack Maloney was waking me, with:
Timeâs up, Jamie lad. Would you sleep away your whole last day of grace?
Let me go back to my dream, I begged him.
There is no going back to dreams, Jamie, he said, with strange tenderness. As a matter of fact, it seems to me that there is no going back ever, whether in dreams or out of them.
I resisted him and closed my eyes and tried to slip back into the pool of sleep. Weary enough I was, but he kept shaking me, and as he shook me the dream dissolved and I knew I would never regain it.
You have lost me the fairest maid in all of Pennsylvania, I said.
How, Jamie?
You have never loved, so how would you understand?
And do you think there is a man who never loved, Jamie, even a soldier of King George III who was put into the camps with the pap still on his lips? Let that be â¦
I crawled out of the straw and dropped to the ground. The hut was dark, as it always was, with just one narrow bar of light through a crack in the door.
Close the damned door! I cried.
Youâre mighty mettlesome, Jamie, nodded Maloney, closing the door. Then he said:
There are some of us who have had no sleep, Jamie, so sit on your temper. Youâve got a dayâs work ahead. The Committee wants a check on every hut in the encampment, and at least one member of the Citizen-soldier Guard should be chosen from each hut, if that is possible. Then, tonight, when we issue the order to stand to arms and parade, the guards can lead. We have also heard gossip that a ration of rum has been allotted and will be issued out in honor of the New Year â which is something, for all the officersâ crying that they had no rum or food either. Also, it is a piece of madness, for that rum on empty stomachs will drive the men crazy. All the more reason for the guards to be good men and to keep their heads. Also, keep your foot down on powder and shot. The hotheads will want to load muskets, and to the Committeeâs way of thinking, thereâs more danger in that than in anything else; for if we pull this off, bayonets will be ample to deal with a hundred and fifty officers, and if we fail, there will be nothing gained by turning it into a blood bath. We have had reports from the Hardwick House and the Kemble House and from three houses in the village where gentry are quartered. They stuffed themselves last night and most of them are still sleeping, and unless I mistake their temper, theyâll give the encampment a wide berth all this day. But if any officer seems to get wind of what weâre up to, Jamie, you are empowered to place him under arrest, binding and gagging him. The old hospital hutment will be turned into a guardhouse. Both barbers have joined us and taken the pledge to be true to the Line and the enlisted men.
I was out of my sleep and my dreams now, and I noticed that Billy Bowzar and
There was a spark inside me once, which I always knew. But now it will burn, and you will not be ashamed of me.â¦
But the dream placed all together, and in the dream, after I kissed Molly Bracken, I took her hand in mine and we walked down the street through York Village and out to the meadows beyond. And as we passed along the street, everyone whispered:
See there, it is that worthless orphan lad, Jamie Stuart, but we must honor him now, for there is by his side the loveliest lady that ever lived.
We walked into a meadow all carpeted with daisies, and suddenly we were ringed around with fragrant pine woods, alone under the sun and the breeze. Oh, my true love, sweet Jamie Stuart, she said to me, and I answered, For all eternity, I will be true to fair Molly Bracken. We stroked each otherâs face and hair, and our happiness was so great that it seemed we must surely die of it, for it was too much to bear.
And then Jack Maloney was waking me, with:
Timeâs up, Jamie lad. Would you sleep away your whole last day of grace?
Let me go back to my dream, I begged him.
There is no going back to dreams, Jamie, he said, with strange tenderness. As a matter of fact, it seems to me that there is no going back ever, whether in dreams or out of them.
I resisted him and closed my eyes and tried to slip back into the pool of sleep. Weary enough I was, but he kept shaking me, and as he shook me the dream dissolved and I knew I would never regain it.
You have lost me the fairest maid in all of Pennsylvania, I said.
How, Jamie?
You have never loved, so how would you understand?
And do you think there is a man who never loved, Jamie, even a soldier of King George III who was put into the camps with the pap still on his lips? Let that be â¦
I crawled out of the straw and dropped to the ground. The hut was dark, as it always was, with just one narrow bar of light through a crack in the door.
Close the damned door! I cried.
Youâre mighty mettlesome, Jamie, nodded Maloney, closing the door. Then he said:
There are some of us who have had no sleep, Jamie, so sit on your temper. Youâve got a dayâs work ahead. The Committee wants a check on every hut in the encampment, and at least one member of the Citizen-soldier Guard should be chosen from each hut, if that is possible. Then, tonight, when we issue the order to stand to arms and parade, the guards can lead. We have also heard gossip that a ration of rum has been allotted and will be issued out in honor of the New Year â which is something, for all the officersâ crying that they had no rum or food either. Also, it is a piece of madness, for that rum on empty stomachs will drive the men crazy. All the more reason for the guards to be good men and to keep their heads. Also, keep your foot down on powder and shot. The hotheads will want to load muskets, and to the Committeeâs way of thinking, thereâs more danger in that than in anything else; for if we pull this off, bayonets will be ample to deal with a hundred and fifty officers, and if we fail, there will be nothing gained by turning it into a blood bath. We have had reports from the Hardwick House and the Kemble House and from three houses in the village where gentry are quartered. They stuffed themselves last night and most of them are still sleeping, and unless I mistake their temper, theyâll give the encampment a wide berth all this day. But if any officer seems to get wind of what weâre up to, Jamie, you are empowered to place him under arrest, binding and gagging him. The old hospital hutment will be turned into a guardhouse. Both barbers have joined us and taken the pledge to be true to the Line and the enlisted men.
I was out of my sleep and my dreams now, and I noticed that Billy Bowzar and
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