I hear, so they still do at home under the
Elector of Hanover.'

'The Regent has acknowledged him,' put in the French lady.

'Well,' said the poor exile, 'I know my Lord felt that it was his duty to
obey the summons of his lawful sovereign, and that, as he said when he
took up arms, one can only do one's duty and take the consequences; but
oh! when I look at the misery and desolation that has come of it, when I
think of the wives not so happy as I am, when I see my dear Lord wearing
out his life in banishment, and think of our dear home and our poor
people, I am tempted to wonder whether it were indeed a duty, or whether
there were any right to call on brave men without a more steadfast
purpose not to abandon them!'

'It would have been very different if the Duke of Berwick had led the
way,' observed Madame de Bourke. 'Then my husband would have gone, but,
being French subjects, honour stayed both him and the Duke as long as the
Regent made no move.' The good lady, of course, thought that the Marshal
Duke and her own Count must secure victory; but Lady Nithsdale was intent
on her own branch of the subject, and did not pursue 'what might have
been.'

'After all,' she said, 'poor Arthur, at fourteen, could have no true
political convictions. He merely fled because he was harshly treated,
heard his grandfather branded as a traitor, and had an enthusiasm for my
husband, who had been kind to him. It was a mere boy's escapade, and if
he had returned home when my Lord bade him, it would only have been
remembered as such. He knows it now, and I frankly tell you, Madame,
that what he has seen of our exiled court has not increased his ardour in
the cause.'

'Alas, no,' said Madame de Bourke. 'If the Chevalier de St. George were
other than he is, it would be easier to act in his behalf.'

'And you agree with me, Madame,' continued the visitor, 'that nothing can
be worse or more hopeless for a youth than the life to which we are
constrained here, with our whole shadow of hope in intrigue; and for our
men, no occupation worthy of their sex. We women are not so ill off,
with our children and domestic affairs; but it breaks my heart to see
brave gentlemen's lives thus wasted. We have done our best for Arthur.
He has studied with one of our good clergy, and my Lord himself has
taught him to fence; but we cannot treat him any longer as a boy, and I
know not what is to be his future, unless we can return him to his own
co