“And I suppose you abide by it as before?”
“I must, Nairn. We need not reopen that subject.”
“I only mention it, because I am anxious about the future of your boy, Christopher. I congratulate you on finding such a son. Will you understand me, if I say I trust you have not thought of influencing him to leave our service, though I could not blame you wishing him beside you.”
“Nairn, I owe you my thanks for having broached the subject. I have been too dependent on my own exertions all my life to make me a good beggar, even for my son. When in Louisbourg you expressed yourself as under some obligation towards me. Will you discharge it by using your best endeavours for his advancement? He is too good metal to waste as a common soldier.”
“He is that! And if you allow him to remain, I pledge my word he shall not continue as such. It may sound presumptions in a mere captain to promise so confidently, but if we come out of this successfully, promotions will follow. He has been most favourably marked by the General, and also by our Colonel.”
“Let me see; he is a son of old Lovat, is he not?”
“That he is, and in more ways than one.”
“If he be like his sainted father, he will have a longer memory for his own interests than those of his friends.”
“This is rank treason, Chevalier. I won't listen to another word of it,” said Nairn, laughing. “But I am depending on the General, he never forgets any one, I can tell you, too,” he added, eagerly, “he is a stickler for birth, and he will appreciate the fact of Christopher being your son.”
“That is a rare advantage!” I said, banteringly.