He had been reading news that stirred him deeply, and he had fallen into a meditation.
The news sheet contained a brief and hasty account of the loss of Fort William Henry, with a hint respecting the massacre which had followed.

No particulars were as yet forthcoming.

This was but the voice of rumour.

But the paragraph, vague as it was, had been sufficient to arouse strange feelings within the young officer.

He had let the paper fall now, and was turning things over in his own mind.
One of the articles had said how needful it was becoming for England to awake from her lethargy, and send substantial aid to her colonies, unless she desired to see them annihilated by the aggressions of France.