their king. I could bear to see you dead," she laid her hand upon her
heart in sudden fear at the idea, in spite of her brave words, "but I
could not bear to see you a rebel. Think again. You will not so
decide?" She said it bravely; it was her final appeal, and as she made
it she knew that it was useless. The sceptre had departed out of her
hand.

He smiled sadly at her, but shook his head ominously. "Mother, do you
know these last fought for Stuart pretenders against the house of
Hanover? George III., in your creed, has no right to the place he
holds. Do I not then follow my ancestors in taking the field against
him?"

"Ah, my child, 't is an unworthy subterfuge. They did fight for the
house of Stuart, God bless it! It was king against king then, and at
least they fought for royalty, for a king; but now the house of Stuart
is gone; the new king occupies the throne undisputed, and our
allegiance is due to him. These unfortunate people who are fighting
here strive to create a republic where all men shall be equal! Said
the sainted martyr Charles on the scaffold, ''T is no concern of the
common people's how they are governed.' A common man equal to a
Talbot! Fight, my son, if you must; but oh, fight for the king, even
an usurper, before a republic, a mob in which so-called equality stands
in very unstable equilibrium,--fight for the rightful ruler of the
land, not against him."

"Mother, if I am to believe the opinions of those whom I have been
taught to respect, the rightful rulers of this colony, of our country,
of any country, are the people who inhabit it."

"And who says that, pray, my boy?"

"Mr. Henry."

"And do you mean to tell me, a Talbot, that you have been taught to
look up to men of the social stamp of Patrick Henry, or to respect
their opinions?" she said with ineffable disdain.

"Mother, the logic of events has forced all men to do so. Had you
heard his speeches before the Burgesses at Williamsburg, you would have
thought that he was second to no man in the colony, or in the world
beside; but if he be not satisfactory, there is his excellency General
Washington."

"Mr. Washington," she replied with an emphasis on the "Mr." "Now
there, I grant you, is a man," she said reluctantly. "I cannot
understand the perversion of his destiny or the folly of his course."

"And, mother, you know his family was as loyal as our own. One of his
forefathers held Worcester for King Charles with