A Jacobite Exile | Page 9

that
all you said about what took place at the window is perfectly true; but,
even had you not said so, I should have felt there was something else.
What was it brought you to that window? Your story was
straight-forward enough, but it was certainly singular your happening
to be there, and I fancy some of our friends thought that you had gone
round to listen, yourself. One hinted as much; but I said that was absurd,
for you were completely in my confidence, and that, whatever peril and
danger there might be in the enterprise, you would share them with
me."
"It is not pleasant that they should have thought so, father, but that is
better than that the truth should be known. This is how it happened;"
and he repeated what Ciceley had told him in the garden.
"So the worthy Master John Dormay has set a spy upon me," Sir
Marmaduke said, bitterly. "I knew the man was a knave--that is public
property--but I did not think that he was capable of this. Well, I am
glad that, at any rate, no suspicion can fall upon Ciceley in the matter;
but it is serious, lad, very serious. We do not know how long this
fellow has been prying and listening, or how much he may have learnt.
I don't think it can be much. We talked it over, and my friends all
agreed with me that they do not remember those curtains having been
drawn before. To begin with, the evenings are shortening fast, and, at
our meeting last week, we finished our supper by daylight; and, had the
curtains been drawn, it would have been noticed, for we had need of
light before we finished. Two of the gentlemen, who were sitting facing
the window, declared that they remembered distinctly that it was open.

Mr. Jervoise says that he thought to himself that, if it was his place, he
would have the trees cut away there, for they shut out the light.
"Therefore, although it is uncomfortable to think that there has been a
spy in the house, for some months, we have every reason to hope that
our councils have not been overheard. Were it otherwise, I should lose
no time in making for the coast, and taking ship to France, to wait
quietly there until the king comes over."
"You have no documents, father, that the man could have found?"
"None, Charlie. We have doubtless made lists of those who could be
relied upon, and of the number of men they could bring with them, but
these have always been burned before we separated. Such letters as I
have had from France, I have always destroyed as soon as I have read
them. Perilous stuff of that sort should never be left about. No; they
may ransack the place from top to bottom, and nothing will be found
that could not be read aloud, without harm, in the marketplace of
Lancaster.
"So now, to bed, Charlie. It is long past your usual hour."
Chapter 2
: Denounced.
"Charlie," Sir Marmaduke said on the following morning, at breakfast,
"it is quite possible that that villain who acted as spy, and that other
villain who employed him--I need not mention names--may swear an
information against me, and I may be arrested, on the charge of being
concerned in a plot. I am not much afraid of it, if they do. The most
they could say is that I was prepared to take up arms, if his majesty
crossed from France; but, as there are thousands and thousands of men
ready to do the same, they may fine me, perhaps, but I should say that
is all. However, what I want to say to you is, keep out of the way, if
they come. I shall make light of the affair, while you, being pretty hot
tempered, might say things that would irritate them, while they could
be of no assistance to me. Therefore, I would rather that you were kept

out of it, altogether. I shall want you here. In my absence, there must be
somebody to look after things.
"Mind that rascal John Dormay does not put his foot inside the house,
while I am away. That fellow is playing some deep game, though I
don't quite know what it is. I suppose he wants to win the goodwill of
the authorities, by showing his activity and zeal; and, of course, he will
imagine that no one has any idea that he has been in communication
with this spy. We have got a hold over him, and, when I come back, I
will have it out with him. He is not popular now, and, if it were known
that he had been working against me, his