 volunteer officer, and sending you, by orders of the Pret
- Chevalier, I mean - as a prisoner to Doune, from whence he understood you were
carried prisoner to Edinburgh. These are particulars which cannot but tell in
your favour. He hinted that he had been employed to deliver and protect you, and
rewarded for doing so; but he would not confess by whom, alleging, that, though
he would not have minded breaking any ordinary oath to satisfy the curiosity of
Mr. Morton, to whose pious admonitions he owed so much, yet in the present case
he had been sworn to silence upon the edge of his dirk,94 which, it seems,
constituted, in his opinion, an inviolable obligation.
    And what has become of him?«
    »Oh, he was hanged at Stirling after the rebels raised the siege, with his
lieutenant, and four plaids besides; he having the advantage of a gallows more
lofty than his friends.«
    »Well, I have little cause either to regret or rejoice at his death; and yet
he has done me both good and harm to a very considerable extent.«
    »His confession, at least, will serve you materially, since it wipes from
your character all those suspicions which gave the accusation against you a
complexion of a nature different from that with which so many unfortunate
gentlemen, now or lately in arms against the Government, may be justly charged.
Their treason - I must give it its name, though you participate in its guilt -
is an action arising from mistaken virtue, and therefore cannot be classed as a
disgrace, though it be doubtless highly criminal. Where the guilty are so
numerous, clemency must be extended to far the greater number; and I have little
doubt of procuring a remission for you, provided we can keep you out of the
claws of justice till she has selected and gorged upon her victims; for in this,
as in other cases, it will be according to the vulgar proverb, First come, first
served. Besides, Government are desirous at present to intimidate the English
Jacobites, among whom they can find few examples for punishment. This is a
vindictive and timid feeling which will soon wear off, for, of all nations, the
English are least bloodthirsty by nature. But it exists at present, and you must
therefore be kept out of the way in the meantime.«
    Now entered Spontoon with an anxious countenance. By his regimental
acquaintances he had traced out Madam Nosebag, and found her full of ire, fuss,
and fidget, at discovery of an impostor, who had travelled
