"Well, may it be dear, for it has cost you dear, or rather it might have cost you dear, had it not been for our gracious sovereign's clemency in restoring to your brother his estates. Now own, sweet coz, that never was Old England so great or so glorious as she is at present; our navies triumphant, our armies crowned with laurels, our commerce flourishing, our colonies prospering, our negotiations successful----Anything else, my lord duke? for I often hear a recapitulation of our glories, and I ought to know them by heart." "Nay, dearest cousin, I do not understand such things; but I know full well that adverse fortune cannot loose us from our allegiance." "Nay, nay, constancy to a falling cause is treason, not allegiance; for you know 'Treason doth never prosper. What's the reason? That when it prospers, none dare call it treason.'" "Methinks, if any are guilty of treason, it is not those who through weal and through woe, through danger and distress, at the risk of their fortunes and their persons, preserve their fidelity to the king of their ancestors!" The Earl of Nithsdale turned a warning glance upon his wife, whose feelings had for a moment outrun her prudence. The blood rushed into her face; her eyes filled with tears. "Nay, dearest cousin, you are moved. Forgive my giddy bantering, and trust me, that whether Whig or Tory, Protestant or Catholic, Jacobite or not, I love you dearly; and if ever there should arise occasion to prove it, you shall not find your cousin Christian Montrose wanting:" and she threw her arms around her neck, and embraced Lady Nithsdale with a warm-hearted frankness which caused their playful dispute to draw still closer the bonds of affection between them. Although the earl would not have denied his attachment to the exiled family, he wished not to be unnecessarily forward in expressing his sentiments. He respected the sincere patriotism of the Duke of Montrose--he did him the justice to believe that it was from firm conviction that he was so strenuous a supporter of the Protestant succession; and it was no matter of surprise to him when, two years afterwards, the duke retired from the ministry, rather than support the Earl of Oxford in measures of which his conscience did not approve. CHAPTER IX. Wigton's coming, Nithsdale's coming, Carnwarth's coming, Kenmure's coming, Derwentwater and Foster's coming, Withrington and Nairne's coming: Little wot ye who's coming, Blythe Cowhill, and a's coming. _The Chevalier's Muster-roll._ The queen's health was now declining; and Lord Nithsdale, in common with many others of his party, looked forward to the chance of a peaceable restoration of the Stuarts.