“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.”
“That you shall not, I'll answer for it! I have no intention to give M. de Lévis the assistance of even one more artillery officer, if I can help it. No, no! I shall keep you fast while I can, but 'tis only in the event of my holding the winning cards in this affair that I would urge you to send in your submission and take your place beside us, your natural comrades, where you belong. What chance of promotion, or even of recognition, will you run, if M. de Lévis has to leave Canada in our hands?”
“None whatever. I have never deceived myself for a moment on that point.”
“Then be sensible, and, like a sensible man, make a sensible move when the time comes!” he exclaimed, with the greatest good feeling.
“I am afraid I am too old a fool to be sensible at any time on such a subject. But I thank your Excellency from the bottom of my heart,” I returned, as warmly.