f the ancient royal house), now shrank from
acknowledging "the Elector" as their monarch. Simon Glenlivet, a shrewd
and prudent man, who had lived in London and watched the course of
political events, had long ago laid aside any romantic enthusiasm for
the cause of the exiled Stuarts, if he had ever possessed such a
feeling; realising perhaps the truth of Sir John Maynard's reply to
William III. when the king asked the old man if he had not survived
"all his brother lawyers," "Ay, and if your Majesty had not come, I
might shortly _have survived the law itself_."

Maisie's father, like most of his brother-citizens, had welcomed the
"Deliverer" with acclamations, and would doubtless have greeted the
accession of George I. with equal enthusiasm had he lived to witness it.
It was only after she crossed the Border that Maisie had heard the son
of James II. alluded to save as the "Pretender," to whom his enemies
denied any kinship with the Stuarts at all. Maisie, wise and discreet
beyond her years, speedily learnt to stifle her own political opinions
amid her husband's family circle; though indeed she was no eager
supporter of any party. She had been duly taught that it was a duty to
submit to the "powers that be," and to pray daily for the king; and like
a dutiful little maiden of her time, piously obeyed her teacher's and
guardian's injunctions, without troubling her head as to whether the
actual lawful monarch of England was keeping his court at St. Germains
or St. James'. And Maisie's husband, to tell the truth, was scarcely a
more vehement or interested politician than herself; though Sir Alick
called himself a Jacobite because his father and mother had been
Jacobites before him. Lady Glenlivet, a woman of narrow education and
deeply rooted prejudices, was a strong partisan of the Stuart cause;
strong with all the unreasoning vehemence of a worthy but ignorant
woman. So, when the Earl of Mar's disastrous expedition was being
secretly organised, the emissaries of the plotters found ready
acceptance with the "auld leddy," who scrupled not to press and urge her
son to join the "glorious undertaking" which should restore her lawful
king to Scotland and bring added honours and lands to the Glenlivet
family. Sir Alick, supremely happy in his domestic life, had at first
small desire for embarking in the hazardous scheme of the wisdom and
justice of which he felt less positively assured than did his mother.
Sir Alick had seen so