would not
overturn in his favour a settlement of the late Earl of Torwood, by which his
lordship gave his own estate to his own daughter; he was displeased with Lady
Margaret, because she avowed no desire for his alliance, and with the pretty
Edith, because she did not like his tall ungainly person. So he held a close
correspondence with Burley, and raised his followers with the purpose of helping
him, provided always he needed no help, - that is, if you had beat us yesterday.
And now the rascal pretends he was all the while proposing the King's service,
and, for aught I know, the Council will receive his pretext for current coin,
for he knows how to make friends among them - and a dozen scores of poor
vagabond fanatics will be shot, or hanged, while this cunning scoundrel lies hid
under the double cloak of loyalty, well lined with the fox-fur of hypocrisy.«
    With conversation on this and other matters they beguiled the way,
Claverhouse all the while speaking with great frankness to Morton, and treating
him rather as a friend and companion than as a prisoner; so that, however
uncertain of his fate, the hours he passed in the company of this remarkable man
were so much lightened by the varied play of his imagination, and the depth of
his knowledge of human nature, that since the period of his becoming a prisoner
of war, which relieved him at once from the cares of his doubtful and dangerous
station among the insurgents, and from the consequences of their suspicious
resentment, his hours flowed on less anxiously than at any time since his having
commenced actor in public life. He was now, with respect to his fortune, like a
rider who has flung his reins on the horse's neck, and, while he abandoned
himself to circumstances, was at least relieved from the task of attempting to
direct them. In this mood he journeyed on, the number of his companions being
continually augmented by detached parties of horse who came in from every
quarter of the country, bringing with them, for the most part, the unfortunate
persons who had fallen into their power. At length they approached Edinburgh.
    »Our Council,« said Claverhouse, »being resolved, I suppose, to testify by
their present exultation the extent of their former terror, have decreed a kind
of triumphal entry to us victors and our captives; but as I do not quite approve
the taste of it, I am willing to avoid my own part in the show, and, at the same
time, to save you from yours.«