Bonnie Prince Charlie : a Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden eBook

“What we did was done, in the first place, for my brother Malcolm, and afterwards for love of you, Ronald; and right glad I am to hear that you obtained the freedom of your parents and a commission as an officer in the service of the King of France.  I would be glad that you had come over here on any other errand than that which brings you.  Things have gone on well with you so far; but how will they end?  I hear that the Jacobites of England are not stirring, and you do not think that with a few thousand Highland clansmen you are going to conquer the English army that beat the French at Dettingen, and well nigh overcame them at Fontenoy.  Ah, lad, it will prove a sore day for Scotland when Charles Stuart set foot on our soil!”

“We won’t talk about that now, Andrew,” Malcolm said good temperedly.  “The matter has got to be fought out with the sword, and if our tongues were to wag all night they could make no difference one way or another.  So let us not touch upon politics.  But I must say, that as far as Ronald and I are concerned, we did not embark on this expedition because we had at the moment any great intention of turning Hanoverian George off his throne; but simply because Ronald had made France too hot to hold him, and this was the simplest way that presented itself of getting out of the country.  As long as there are blows to be struck we shall do our best.  When there is no more fighting to be done, either because King James is seated on his throne in London, or because the clans are scattered and broken, we shall make for France again, where by that time I hope the king will have got over the breach of his edict and the killing of his favourite, and where Ronald’s father and mother will be longing for his presence.”

“Eh, but it’s awful, sirs,” Elspeth, who as an old and favourite servant had remained in the room after laying the supper and listened to the conversation, put in, “to think that a young gallant like our Ronald should have slain a man!  He who ought not yet to have done with his learning, to be going about into wars and battles, and to have stood up against a great French noble and slain him.  Eh, but it’s awful to think of!”

“It would be much more awful, Elspeth, if the French noble had killed me, at least from the light in which I look at it.”

“That’s true enough,” Elspeth said.  “And if he wanted to kill you, and it does seem from what you say that he did want, of course I cannot blame you for killing him; but to us quiet bodies here in Glasgow it seems an awful affair; though, after you got in a broil here and drew on the city watch, I ought not to be surprised at anything.”

“And now we must go,” Ronald said, rising.  “It is well nigh midnight, and time for all decent people to be in bed.”

CHAPTER XV:  A Mission.