“Which side is he on?”
“He complains bitterly of his son being disobedient to him, and put upon his disobedience by his Jacobite acquaintance. If the young man joins Prince Charlie, it is thought that his father will stand by King George, that the family estates may be safe whichever way the war ends,—Bless me! what a sigh! One would think— Come now, what’s the matter?”
“The wickedness of it!” said Annie.
“Oh! is that all? Lovat’s wickedness is nothing new; and what better could you expect from his son? By the same rule, I have great expectations of your son. As you are sound, he will be sound too, and do his king and country good service. You are both on the same side, and not like the master of Lovat and his father.”
“We have no estates to corrupt our minds,” observed Annie. “We have only our duty to care for.”
“Ay, then, you are on the same side.”
“Rollo is ready to march with the men of these islands. I am on no side, sir. I do not understand the matter, and I have nothing to do with it. There is no occasion for me to take any side.”
“Why yes; as it happens, there is, Mrs Fleming: and that is one of the things that brought me here to-day. Sir Alexander Macdonald desires that you will oblige him by not burning your lamp in the night till the troubles are over.”
“I am sorry that there is anything in which I cannot oblige Sir Alexander Macdonald: but I must burn my lamp.”
“But hear: you do not know his reasons. There are some suspicious vessels skulking about among these islands; and you ought to show them no favour till they show what they are.”