The ensuing evening was cold, dark, and stormy. The commandant of Fort Constitution was faithful to his appointment. He was received at the door of Captain Wilton’s cottage by Arabella, and conducted silently to the drawing-room. A single light faintly illuminated the interior, and scarcely served to reveal the figure of an individual, plainly dressed, and enveloped in an overcoat, seated beside a table in the centre of the apartment. He rose on the entrance of Gansevoort, and advancing hastily to meet him, with extended hand, and a cordial manner, said, “I rejoice to meet you, Mr. Gansevoort, or rather Sir Francis, if you will permit me thus, in anticipation, to address you.”

The commandant drew back with evident emotion, and declining the proffered hand of the other, replied; “If I mistake not, I have the honor of addressing Sir Philip Bender. We will waive courtesies for the present, until we more fully understand the relation in which we stand to each other.”

“We meet no longer as enemies, Mr. Gansevoort, but as fellow-subjects of the same most gracious sovereign.”

“You and I are, indeed, subjects of one sovereign, Sir Philip, but it is that Sovereign whose empire is the universe.”

“Very true,” replied the other. “My remark, perhaps, was not properly applicable until our business is accomplished.”

“If there is business to be transacted between us, Sir Philip will have the kindness to disclose the nature of it.”

“Come, come, Colonel Gansevoort,” replied Major Bender, with a smile, “let us have no unnecessary formality. I have come to consummate, in every particular, the negotiation already pending between us, through my fair plenipotentiary here, and to learn from you at what hour you will be prepared to deliver formal possession of the fortress under your charge to its rightful and royal proprietor, whom I have the honor to represent.”

“You then recognize this lady as your authorized agent in what has heretofore passed between her and myself on this subject, and now renew her propositions.”

“I do,” eagerly replied Sir Philip; “I see we are fast coming to the point.”

“Yes, Sir Philip Bender, we are coming to the point; but it is one of which you do not seem to dream. In the name, and by the authority of the Congress of the United States, I arrest you as a spy.”

Simultaneously with these words, which were spoken in a tone sufficiently elevated to be heard without, the door opened, and a serjeant, followed by a dozen men, entered the room. A deadly palor overspread the countenance of Sir Philip. Surprise and consternation for a moment paralyzed his faculties. He made no attempt at escape, but dropping silently into a chair, covered his face with his hands, and remained speechless. Had not Bender considered his success in this intrigue as nearly certain as any human project can be rendered before its fulfillment, nothing would have induced him to run the hazard of a personal exposure. But, notwithstanding his certainty, he had still done all that he could do, to be prepared for what he considered the very remote contingency of a mistake. He had landed thirty men, under command of Wiley, and concealed them at the edge of a wood, about a third of a mile distant; it being impossible to bring them into the village without instant detection. A faithful servant alone had accompanied him to the house, and had received instructions, in case of need, to hasten, if possible, and bring them up in time for a rescue. At the moment of his arrest, Miss Wilton, trembling with terror, had slipped from the room, and hastened to notify the servant of his master’s danger. Sir Philip’s horse stood saddled at the door, and the clatter of his hoofs, as he dashed down the street, now caught the ear of the prisoner. Hope, therefore, had not entirely deserted him. If by any means he could detain his captor fifteen or twenty minutes, he was yet safe, and not only so, but would have accomplished no slight enterprise in capturing the commandant of the fort. Gansevoort manifested a becoming respect for the feelings of his prisoner, and allowed him to remain some minutes undisturbed. When the latter, however, saw that preparations were making to depart, he resorted to another artifice to gain time. He sought to draw the commandant into a debate on the propriety of his arrest, alledging that if he had been guilty of any offence, he had been decoyed into it by the latter.

“Not so,” replied Gansevoort, indignantly. “Did I decoy the Dragon into this harbor, or your emissaries into my presence? If I have made use of strategy, it has been to counteract strategy; to undermine the miner, and ‘blow up the engineer with his own petard.’ But why should I waste words in justifying myself to a man who has shown himself to be beyond the influence of every honorable feeling. Extraordinary, indeed, must be those measures which I should not have been justified in using, to prevent the accomplishment of an outrage so great, that I can scarcely refrain even here from inflicting signal vengeance for its contemplation. Base, perfidious, cowardly man! the mantling blood upon your cheek tells me that I am understood.”

“He rails with safety, who rails at a prisoner,” replied Bender, “but let me ask you,” he continued, rising and speaking slowly, and with an abstracted air, “let me ask you whether—”

“Another time and place must suffice,” said the other.

“One word,” rejoined Sir Philip, “only one word!” He paused suddenly, and threw back his head in a listening attitude. A distant tramp was heard. It came nearer—nearer—until a loud “halt!” resounded in front of the house. Then, with an air of indescribable exultation, he shouted, “Now, Colonel Gansevoort, the tables are turned. You are my prisoner! What think you now of ‘undermining the miner, and blowing up the engineer with his own petard?’”

“Stand to your arms, my men!” shouted Gansevoort, hastily drawing his sword, “Let one fly and alarm the garrison. Quick! barricade the doors!”

It was too late. The doors were flung violently open, and panting with haste, rushed into the room—not a British officer, but the Count Louis De Zeng! “We heard that you were in danger,” he exclaimed, hastily, to the commandant. “A hundred men at the door await your orders.”

“Your aid is timely,” was the reply. “Take half of your men, and conduct the prisoner immediately to the fort. The rest will remain with me to receive our approaching visiters.”

These orders were immediately put into execution. Wiley, however, became apprized of the state of affairs, and retreated with his men rapidly to their boats. They were not pursued.

A few words will explain the secret of Count De Zeng’s unexpected appearance. When Arabella gave her orders to the servant of Major Bender, Alice, unperceived, stood trembling by. She was terrified beyond measure at the peril of Gansevoort, in whom the gentle girl was interested to a degree that she would not own, even to herself and which nothing could have induced her to exhibit to another. She could not give the alarm within, without exposing her predilections, besides which, she supposed the British force to be much nearer than they were, and that nothing but an immediate alarm of the garrison would afford the slightest chance of escape. She ran, therefore, as soon as she was unobserved, hastily to the fort, which was scarcely forty rods distant. A sentinel on duty conducted her immediately to Count De Zeng, to whom, after exacting a promise of secrecy in regard to her agency in the matter, she briefly communicated the state of affairs at her father’s house. The count lost not a moment in acting on her information, with the result which has been described.

——