subjects in Scotland.«
    There were two parts of this speech disagreeable to Caroline. In the first
place, it removed the flattering notion she had adopted, that Argyle designed to
use her personal intercession in making his peace with the administration, and
recovering the employments of which he had been deprived; and next, she was
displeased that he should talk of the discontents in Scotland as irritations to
be conciliated, rather than suppressed.
    Under the influence of these feelings, she answered, hastily, »That his
Majesty has good subjects in England, my Lord Duke, he is bound to thank God and
the laws - that he has subjects in Scotland, I think he may thank God and his
sword.«
    The Duke, though a courtier, coloured slightly, and the Queen, instantly
sensible of her error, added, without displaying the least change of
countenance, and as if the words had been an original branch of the sentence -
»And the swords of those real Scotchmen who are friends to the House of
Brunswick, particularly that of his Grace of Argyle.«
    »My sword, madam,« replied the Duke, »like that of my fathers, has been
always at the command of my lawful king, and of my native country - I trust it
is impossible to separate their real rights and interests. But the present is a
matter of more private concern, and respects the person of an obscure
individual.«
    »What is the affair, my Lord?« said the Queen. »Let us find out what we are
talking about, lest we should misconstrue and misunderstand each other.«
    »The matter, madam,« answered the Duke of Argyle, »regards the fate of an
unfortunate young woman in Scotland, now lying under sentence of death, for a
crime of which I think it highly probable that she is innocent. And my humble
petition to your Majesty is, to obtain your powerful intercession with the King
for a pardon.«
    It was now the Queen's turn to colour, and she did so over cheek and brow,
neck and bosom. She paused a moment as if unwilling to trust her voice with the
first expression of her displeasure; and on assuming the air of dignity and an
austere regard of control, she at length replied, »My Lord Duke, I will not ask
your motives for addressing to me a request, which circumstances have rendered
such an extraordinary one. Your road to the King's closet, as a peer and a
privy-councillor, entitled to request an audience, was open, without giving me
the pain