one, making James Stuart the
successor to Anne.

"Still, even if we had succeeded so far, by Marlborough's
influence, that our fathers could have returned to England without
fear of being tried for their lives, I do not think that either of
them would have come, so long as the charge of having been
concerned in an assassination plot was hanging over them.

"Now that they are cleared, and can come back with honour, it will
be different, altogether. It will be glorious news for them. Of
course, we shall start as soon as we get the official communication
that the estates are restored. We shall only have to go back to
them, for, as you know, yours is the only estate that has been
granted to anyone else. The others were put up for sale, but no one
would bid for them, as the title deeds would have been worth
nothing if King James came over. So they have only been let to
farmers, and we can walk straight in again, without dispossessing
anyone."

"I don't know what to do about John Dormay," Charlie said. "There
is no doubt that, from what the judge said, they will prosecute
him."

"So they ought to," Harry broke in. "He has striven, by false
swearing, to bring innocent men to the scaffold. Why, it is worse
than murder."

"I quite agree with you, Harry, and, if I were in your place, I
would say just as strongly as you do that he ought to be hung. But
you see, I am differently situated. The man is a kinsman of ours by
marriage. My cousin Celia has been always most kind to me, and is
my nearest relative after my father. She has been like an aunt,
and, indeed, did all she could to supply the place of a mother to
me; and I am sure my little sweetheart Ciceley has been like a
sister. This must have been a most terrible trial to them. It was a
bad day for cousin Celia when she married that scoundrel, and I am
sure that he has made her life a most unhappy one. Still, for their
sake, I would not see his villainy punished as it deserves, nor
indeed for our own, since the man is, to a certain extent, our
kinsman.

"Besides, Harry, as you must remember well enough, Ciceley and I,
in boy and girl fashion, used to say we should be some day husband
and wife, and I have never since seen anyone whom I would so soon
marry as my bonny little cousin; and if Ciceley is of the same
mind, maybe some day or other she may come to Lynnwood as its
mistress; but that could hardly be, if her father were hung for
attempting to swear away the lif