"Sure, I am only an ignorant lass as you say, padre, one that knows no more than the sisters taught her in the convent; but there's that in me cries out stronger than learning or creed or loyalty."
Colonel O'Donnell hammered his fist upon the table-top—he had just drained a third glass.
"And this is the child of a race that have been pulled down from the high places of the land by the tyrant, and their heads and limbs strewn God knows where, and those who escaped death driven to poverty and exile! Girl, you know not what you say. The people of Spain will be thanking us for the use to which we turned their treasure—and then we'll pay it back," he added with a happy inspiration.
"Odds, that we will!" endorsed my great-uncle. "What's a million and a half pounds to royal Spain? Aye, or to an England that waxes grandly prosperous under wise Stuart rule?"
"'Twill be the difference betwixt honor and dishonor," I cried hotly. "As for prosperity, England was never richer, as any man who earns his living honestly would tell you. King George may be a Dutchman and talk with an accent and spend more time in Hanover than London; but he keeps his hands off trade, and that means wealth for all who'll labor."
Colonel O'Donnell favored me with a fishy glance.
"It seems we must both reckon with disloyalty in our families, Murray," he remarked dryly.
"Never give it a thought, sir," replied my great-uncle. "Tut, tut, chevalier, they are young and shall learn by experience. Let them argue it between themselves, eh? That should fetch them around."
"I'll not suffer any to call me disloyal!" exclaimed Moira. "I am all for the Stuarts; but I'd not have them resort to dishonest means to win what is their own."
"Humph," said my great-uncle. "To win their own, my lass, they must have money. If you will tell us where else in the wide world they are to obtain it, I'll transship this treasure back aboard the Santissima Trinidad."