"Undoubtedly, and under suspicion, too, by the tenor of the poor lady's letter." "'Josephine,'" said he, reading the inscription upon the ring; "why, that is the name of the widow Beauharnais, who three or four years ago married the First Consul to escape the guillotine! You must preserve these relics with care, Winny; and as for the poor bairn, Rohallion must be his home till we find his mother, a task very unlikely to be accomplished, if ever at all, in these times, when France is at war with all the world, and her scaffolds are drenched daily with the blood of women, children, and priests, as well as of brave and loyal gentlemen. But into no better hands than ours, Winny, could this poor waif of misfortune have fallen. He is the child of a faithful royalist soldier, too--we must always remember that." Like his worthy wife, Lord Rohallion inherited with his blood a strong dash of Jacobitism, thus his sympathies were all with the humbled royalty of France. The worthy old Defender of the Faith, who muddled away his time at Windsor, and his son, the "first gentleman" in Europe, who spent his days and nights less reputably in his Pavilion at Brighton--Thackeray's man of waistcoats, wigs, and uniforms--had perhaps no truer servant than Major-General Reynold Lord Rohallion, K.C.B., &c. Yet among the "Stuart Papers," which, in 1807, found their way into the royal archives, there was discovered a correspondence between a certain peer whose initial was R. and "His Majesty Henry II. of Scotland and IX. of England," which rather excited the surprise of the ministry and privy council; but like the same secret correspondence of many other nobles of both kingdoms, it was deemed only wise and charitable to commit it to oblivion, for the grave had closed over the good old Cardinal Duke of York--the last of the Stuarts--and few knew why, for a year and a day, the hilt of Rohallion's sword was covered by a band of crape. CHAPTER VII. OUR STORY PROGRESSES. "Here he dwelt in state and bounty, Lord of Burleigh fair and free; Not a lord in all the county, Is so great a lord as he."--TENNYSON. Kind old Rohallion was deeply interested in and attracted by the little boy, who had many winning and endearing ways about him; and he particularly excelled in a bright and captivating smile, that was joyous in its perfect innocence.