"That is perfectly satisfactory, sir. I shall be pleased to allow you parole within the walls, only restricting you from approaching those parts of the town where our defences are now placed. I shall give you an order for quarters at the Ursulines, though doubtless the good ladies would readily receive you even without my introduction." As he spake he accompanied the priest to the door, where he gave his instructions to an aide in waiting. He then turned to me and extended his hand. "Chevalier, we have already had the pleasure of some slight correspondence." "I have to thank your Excellency for as great a courtesy as one man can shew towards another. When I wrote, I ventured to mention my acquaintance with your Excellency's brother, Lord Elibank, not that I relied on anything else than your Excellency's natural sensibility for the acceptance of my request, but that I might in that manner help to establish my identity." "Believe me, Chevalier," he returned, with emphasis, "that was totally unnecessary. I was quite aware that you were in Canada. A man does not easily slip out of sight so long as he remains among his own class." "Your Excellency overwhelms me; such a recognition goes far to make up for the years of disappointment I have endured." "Then let us speak plainly, without further compliments on either side," he said, smiling gravely. "Nothing could please me better, your Excellency." "It will not even be necessary to keep up the 'Excellency.' I shall call you Kirkconnel, after the good homely Scots' fashion, if you have not forgotten." "Forgotten! That is one of the curses of my Scotch blood. I cannot forget!" "Then there is hope for you yet, Kirkconnel! For you have something behind you worth remembering." "I cannot say it oppresses me with any great sense of obligation, for I would find some difficulty in naming it at the moment." "Tut, tut, man!" he exclaimed, heartily. "Don't tell me that a man who played his part as well as you in '45 need mourn over it." "We're getting out towards the thin ice now, are we not, General?" "Not for me; though I dare say some members of my house might have to guard their steps more carefully. But to go on: you followed what you and your forbears held to be The Cause, and to which you held your honour pledged, and you saw it through to the bitter end. Then, instead of mixing yourself up in a miserable farrago of pot-house plots and chamber-mysteries which have only served to turn some honest men into rogues, you have acted like a soldier, and done only a soldier's work. And, best of all, you have succeeded. You have much that is worth remembering, Kirkconnel!" "Your Excellency is most kind." "I prefer to be plain. Why not drop this whole business?" "How can I? You would not urge me to come over because I happen to be a prisoner to-day? I may be exchanged to-morrow."