Beadle's Dime Novels No. 37: Godbold, the Spy

# Catalog Description

Gideon Godbold; or, The Faithful and Unfaithful of 1783 is a historical romance by N.C. Iron set during the American Revolutionary War. The narrative opens in Philadelphia in 1779 with Alice Faith, an orphaned woman whose Tory father's estates were confiscated by Congress and whose English officer lover was killed in the war. Alice now lives with her friend Isabelle Ormond. The story establishes omens: Alice observes clouds she interprets as a vision of her former lover's death, and Isabelle recounts an ill-starred wedding between Margaret Shippen and General Arnold, marred by thunder, a shattered ring, and a crushed miniature portrait. The novel then shifts to follow Horace Blythe, a Lieutenant in Washington's body-guard, traveling as a dispatch bearer from General Washington to Philadelphia through dangerous territory infested with Cowboys and Skinners—lawless brigands who plunder both armies.