"
"We had best separate now," said Partridge in a low voice. "If the
populace see but two or three of us having our heads together, they
straightway imagine that we are plotting against them, and I see those
fellows yonder are sending black looks this way already.
"I shall do myself the honor," he added, to Sedgwick, "to call upon
you at your house for further consultation, since under the pretext of
a physician's duty, I am allowed by their high mightinesses, the
rabble, to go about more freely than is prudent for other gentlemen."
The next day the news from Springfield, which Sedgwick had privately
brought, reached the village from other sources, together with the
developments since his passage through the town. It seemed that there
had indeed been no collision between the militia and the rebel force,
but it was because the Supreme Court had, after demurring for two
days, finally yielded to the orders of Captain Shays and adjourned,
after which the rebels took triumphant possession of the courthouse.
The elation which the news produced among the people was prodigious.
Perez doubled the patrols, and even then had to wink at a good many
acts of lawlessness at the expense of the friends of the courts.
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