A Jacobite Exile | Page 3

it might happen that,
instead of Alured coming home with a black eye, and, as you say, a
missing tooth, he might have been carried home with a sword thrust
through his body.
"It was, to my mind, entirely the fault of your son. I should have
blamed Charlie, had he called the king at Westminster Dutch William,
for, although each man has a right to his own opinions, he has no right
to offend those of others--besides, at present it is as well to keep a quiet
tongue as to a matter that words cannot set right. In the same way, your

son had no right to offend others by calling James Stuart the Pretender.
"Certainly, of the twelve boys who go over to learn what the Rector of
Apsley can teach them, more than half are sons of gentlemen whose
opinions are similar to my own.
"It would be much better, John Dormay, if, instead of complaining of
my boy, you were to look somewhat to your own. I marked, the last
time he came over here, that he was growing loutish in his manners,
and that he bore himself with less respect to his elders than is seemly in
a lad of that age. He needs curbing, and would carry himself all the
better if, like Charlie, he had an hour a day at sword exercise. I speak
for the boy's good. It is true that you yourself, being a bitter Whig, mix
but little with your neighbours, who are for the most part the other way
of thinking; but this may not go on for ever, and you would, I suppose,
like Alured, when he grows up, to mix with others of his rank in the
county; and it would be well, therefore, that he should have the
accomplishments and manners of young men of his own age."
John Dormay did not reply hastily--it was his policy to keep on good
terms with his wife's cousin, for the knight was a man of far higher
consideration, in the county, than himself. His smile, however, was not
a pleasant one, as he rose and said:
"My mission has hardly terminated as I expected, Sir Marmaduke. I
came to complain, and I go away advised somewhat sharply."
"Tut, tut, man!" the knight said. "I speak only for the lad's good, and I
am sure that you cannot but feel the truth of what I have said. What
does Alured want to make enemies for? It may be that it was only my
son who openly resented his ill-timed remarks, but you may be sure
that others were equally displeased, and maybe their resentment will
last much longer than that which was quenched in a fair stand-up fight.
Certainly, there need be no malice between the boys. Alured's defeat
may even do him good, for he cannot but feel that it is somewhat
disgraceful to be beaten by one nearly a head shorter than he."
"There is, no doubt, something in what you say, Sir Marmaduke," John

Dormay said blandly, "and I will make it my business that, should the
boys meet again as antagonists, Alured shall be able to give a better
account of himself."
"He is a disagreeable fellow," Sir Marmaduke said to himself, as he
watched John Dormay ride slowly away through the park, "and, if it
were not that he is husband to my cousin Celia, I would have nought to
do with him. She is my only kinswoman, and, were aught to happen to
Charlie, that lout, her son, would be the heir of Lynnwood. I should
never rest quiet in my grave, were a Whig master here.
"I would much rather that he had spoken wrathfully, when I straightly
gave him my opinion of the boy, who is growing up an ill-conditioned
cub. It would have been more honest. I hate to see a man smile, when I
know that he would fain swear. I like my cousin Celia, and I like her
little daughter Ciceley, who takes after her, and not after John Dormay;
but I would that the fellow lived on the other side of England. He is out
of his place here, and, though men do not speak against him in my
presence, knowing that he is a sort of kinsman, I have never heard one
say a good word for him.
"It is not only because he is a Whig. There are other Whig gentry in the
neighbourhood, against whom I bear no ill will, and can meet at a
social board in friendship. It would be hard if politics were to stand
between neighbours. It is Dormay's manner that is against him. If he
were anyone but Celia's husband, I would say that he is a smooth-faced
knave, though I