France -- History -- Louis XV, 1715-1774 -- Fiction; Jacobite Rebellion, 1745-1746 -- Fiction
"No," said Archibald Sholto, "we will not trust to Geordie, true as I
believe him to be. This is the best plan. If you will wait--as I know
you will--until her ladyship returns, though it will not be for some
hours yet, I apprehend, I will make my way to Wandsworth, find out if
they are warned, and, if not, will myself wait their return. Then I
will accept your shelter in the Minories for a time until we can all
three get safe back to France. For France is now our only refuge
again, as it has so often and so long been before."
"Humph!" said McGlowrie, "perhaps so 'tis best. None know you at
Wandsworth?"
"None. No living soul except the woman of the house--a true one. Her
father fell in the Cause in the '15' at Sherriffmuir. She is safe."
"So be it. Then away with you to yon village, and trust me to manage
things in this one. Now, off wi' you, Archie, but first make some
change in your clothing."
"But how? I have no other clothes but those I wear."
"Hoot! a small changement is easy, and sometimes, so to speak as it
were, effectual. Off with that hat and wig." And as he spoke he took
off each of his.
"You will lose by the exchange, Jemmy," said Archibald. "Mine is but a
rusty bob and a poor hat; both yours are very good."
"No matter. To-morrow at the lodgment we will change again."
Therefore, with his appearance considerably altered, Archibald Sholto
prepared now to set out for Wandsworth. But ere he did so he said one
word to honest James McGlowrie.
"Jemmy," he remarked, "make no mistake about Ka--Lady Fordingbridge
and this meeting with Bertie Elphinston to which she has gone. She is
as good and pure a woman as ever lived and suffered. I have known her
from a child, gave her her first communion; there is no speck of ill
in her."
"Lived and suffered, eh?" repeated the other.
"Ay, lived and suffered! The man she has gone to meet was to have been
her husband; they loved each other with all their hearts and souls;
and by foul treachery she was stolen from him by that most
unparalleled scoundrel, Fordingbridge. Remember that, Jemmy, when you
see her to-night; remember she is as pure a woman as your mother was,
and respect her for all that she has endured."
"Have no fear," said Jemmy, manfully, "have no fear. Although ye are a
Papist, Archie, and a priest at that, I'll e'en take your word for
it."
So, with a light laugh from the Jesuit at the rigid and plain-spoken
Presbyterianism of his old schoolfellow and whilom fag, they parted
with a grasp of the hand, each to what he had to do. That James
McGlowrie carried out his portion of the undertaking has been already
told, as well as how, after the information he gave Lady
Fordingbridge, she decided to accept Lady Belrose's offer of her house
as a refuge, if only temporarily; and how he afterwards became a
messenger from her to Bertie Elphinston.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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