Bonnie Prince Charlie | Page 6

unbuckled his sword and handed it
to the officers. 'You will look after the things till I return, Malcolm. As

I am sure I can clear myself of any charge that may be brought against
me, I trust to be speedily back again.
"'Your trooper need not trouble himself,' the officer said; `the official
with me will take charge of everything, and will at once affix my seal
to all your effects.'
"I went down stairs and saw the colonel enter a carriage with the two
officials, then I went straight to the major. 'Colonel Leslie has been
arrested, sir, on what charge I know not. He has intrusted a commission
to me. Therefore, if you find I am absent from parade in the morning
you will understand I am carrying out his orders.'
"The major was thunderstruck at the news, but told me to do as the
colonel had ordered me, whatever it might be. I mounted the colonel's
horse at once and rode to the house where the child was in keeping. The
people knew me well, as I had often been there with messages from the
colonel. When I showed them the signet ring, and told them that I had
orders to take the child to his father, they made no opposition. I said I
would return for him as soon as it was dusk. I then went and purchased
a suit of civilian clothes, and returning to the house attired myself in
these, and taking the child on the saddle before me, rode for the
frontier.
"Following unfrequented roads, travelling only at night, and passing a
day in a wood, I passed the frontier unmolested, and made my way to
Ostend, where I sold the horse and took passage in the first ship sailing
for Leith. I arrived there two days ago, and have walked here, with an
occasional lift in a cart; and here I am, brother Andrew, to ask you for
hospitality for a while for myself and Leslie's boy. I have a hundred
louis, but these, of course, belong to the child. As for myself, I confess
I have nothing; saving has never been in my line."
"You are heartily welcome, Malcolm, as long as you choose to stop;
but I trust that ere long you will hear of Colonel Leslie."
"I trust so," Malcolm said; "but if you knew the court of France as well
as I do you would not feel very sanguine about it. It is easier to get into
a prison than out of one."
"But the colonel has committed no crime!" the bailie said.
"His chance would be a great deal better if he had," Malcolm laughed.
"A colonel of one of his majesty's Scottish regiments can do a good
deal in the way of crime without much harm befalling him; but when it

comes to marrying the daughter of a nobleman who is a great
personage at court, without his consent, it is a different affair altogether,
I can tell you. Leslie has powerful friends, and his brother officers will
do what they can for him; but I can tell you services at the court of
France go for very little. Influence is everything, and as the nobleman
the marquis intended to be the husband of his daughter is also a great
personage at court and a friend of Louis's, there is no saying how
serious a matter they may make of it. Men have been kept prisoners for
life for a far less serious business than this."
"But supposing he is released, does he know where to communicate
with you?"
"I am afraid he doesn't," Malcolm said ruefully. "He knows that I come
from Glasgow, but that is all. Still, when he is freed, no doubt he will
come over himself to look for his son, and I am sure to hear of his
being here."
"You might do, and you might not," the bailie said. "Still, we must
hope for the best, Malcolm. At any rate I am in no haste for the colonel
to come. Now I have got you home again after all these years, I do not
wish to lose you again in a hurry."
Malcolm only remained for a few weeks at his brother's house. The
restraint of life at the bailie's was too much for him. Andrew's was a
well ordered household. The bailie was methodical and regular, a
leading figure in the kirk, far stricter than were most men of his time as
to undue consumption of liquor, strong in exhortation in season and out
of season. His wife was kindly but precise, and as outspoken as
Andrew himself. For the first day or two the real affection which
Andrew had for his younger brother, and the pleasure he felt at