eolan and Glennaquoich his hosts had
respected his engagements with the existing government, and though enough
passed by accidental innuendo that might induce him to reckon the Baron
and the Chief among those disaffected gentlemen who were still numerous
in Scotland, yet until his own connection with the army had been broken
off by the resumption of his commission, he had no reason to suppose that
they nourished any immediate or hostile attempts against the present
establishment. Still he was aware that, unless he meant at once to
embrace the proposal of Fergus Mac-Ivor, it would deeply concern him to
leave the suspicious neighbourhood without delay, and repair where his
conduct might undergo a satisfactory examination. Upon this he the rather
determined, as Flora's advice favoured his doing so, and because he felt
inexpressible repugnance at the idea of being accessary to the plague of
civil war. Whatever were the original rights of the Stuarts, calm
reflection told him that, omitting the question how far James the Second
could forfeit those of his posterity, he had, according to the united
voice of the whole nation, justly forfeited his own. Since that period
four monarchs had reigned in peace and glory over Britain, sustaining and
exalting the character of the nation abroad and its liberties at home.
Reason asked, was it worth while to disturb a government so long settled
and established, and to plunge a kingdom into all the miseries of civil
war, for the purpose of replacing upon the throne the descendants of a
monarch by whom it had been wilfully forfeited? If, on the other hand,
his own final conviction of the goodness of their cause, or the commands
of his father or uncle, should recommend to him allegiance to the
Stuarts, still it was necessary to clear his own character by showing
that he had not, as seemed to be falsely insinuated, taken any step to
this purpose during his holding the commission of the reigning monarch,

The affectionate simplicity of Rose and her anxiety for his safety, his
sense too of her unprotected state, and of the terror and actual dangers
to which she might be exposed, made an impression upon his mind, and he
instantly wrote to thank her in the kindest terms for her solicitude on
his account, to express his earnest good wishes for her welfare and that
of her father, and to assure her of his own safety. The feelings which
this task excited were speedily lost in the necessity which he now