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The old slave used the ancient name of the fort, but I understood
"Does anybody live here now except the Colonel, Joshua?"
"No, suh, nobody 'cep' de Kunnel--'scusin' me, Mars' Carus"
"Joshua," I said, under ossip of the country Tell entleman who used to coentleman--Lieutenant Walter N Butler?"
There was an interval of silence
"Wuz de ossifer a-sparkin' de young misses at Gin'ral Schuyler's?"
"Yes, Joshua"
"A-co'tin' Miss Betty, suh?"
"Yes, yes Colonel Hamilton married her That is the man, Joshua Tell e in Butlersbury?"
A longer silence, then: "No, suh Hit wuz de talk ob de town dat Suh John Johnsing done tuk Miss Polly Watts foh his lady-wife, an' all de ti, dess a-cryin' her eyes out But Mars' Butler he done tuk an' run off 'long o' dat half-caste lady de ossifers call Carolyn Montour----"
"What!"
"Yaas, suh Dat de way Mars' Butler done carry on, suh He done skedaddle 'long o' M'ss Carolyn Hit wuz a Mohaeddin', Mars' Carus"
"He never wine ed, suh He dess lak all de young gentry, suh--'scusin' you'se'f, Mars' Carus"
I nodded in grim silence After a moed head, saying: "Ef a ossifer done tell you what de Kunnel done tell wine do, Mars' Carus, suh?"
"Obey," I said briefly "You're a good servant, Joshua When Colonel Van Schaick returns, say to hiers marches to Butlersbury at sunup, and that if Colonel Van Schaick can spare six bat-horses and an aron, to be at the Half-Moon at dawn, Captain Renault will be vastly obliged to hi to the proper authorities"
Then I turned, descended the brick stoop, and walked slowly back to my quarters, a prey to apprehension and bitter melancholy For if it were true that Walter Butler had done this thing, the law of the land was on his side; and if the war ended with him still alive, the courts ht halted Was it possible that Walter Butler had dared invade the tiger-brood of Catrine Montour to satisfy his unslaked lust?
Was it possible that he dared affront the she-de an alliance with her fiercely beautiful child?--an alliance that Catrine Montour ular it ht appear to jurists