But it did not come that day. He had to return to his duties in the Prince’s anteroom, and at such times as he was free he found that his mother was engaged with her royal mistress.
The next day found him more determined than ever; but another, a greater, and more unexpected obstacle was in the way. He went to his mother’s apartments, to find that, worn out with sorrow and anxiety, she had taken to her bed, and the Princess’s physician had seen her and ordered complete rest, and that she should be kept free from every anxiety.
“How can I go now!” thought the boy; “and how can she be kept free from anxiety!”
It was impossible in both cases, while with the latter every scrap of news would certainly be brought to her, for the Palace hummed with the excitement of the troubles in the north; and as the day glided by there came the news that the Earl of Mar had set up the standard of the Stuarts in Scotland, and proclaimed Prince James King of Great Britain; but the Pretender himself remained in France, waiting for the promised assistance of the French Government, which was slow in coming.
Still the Scottish nobles worked hard in the Prince’s cause, and by degrees the Earl of Mar collected an army of ten thousand fighting men, including the staunch Highlanders, who readily assumed claymore and target at the gathering of the clans.
It was over the English rising that Frank was the more deeply interested, and he eagerly hungered for every scrap of news which was brought to the Palace, Captain Murray hearing nearly everything, and readily responding to the boy’s questions, though he always shook his head and protested that it would do harm and unsettle him.
“You’d better shut up your ears, Frank lad, and go on with your duties,” he said one day. “But tell me first, what is the last news about Lady Gowan?”
“Ill, very ill,” said the boy wearily. “All this is killing her.”
“Then the bad news ought to be kept from her.”
“Bad news!” gasped Frank. “Is it then so bad?”