Page 141 - A Jacobite Exile

"Of course, you will stay here with me. I suppose you have leave at
present?"

"Yes, father, Colonel Jamieson told me that my first duty was to get strong

and well again, and that I was to think of no other until I had performed
that. And how have you been getting on, father?"

"Very well, lad. I don't pretend that it is not a great change from
Lynnwood, but I get along very well, and thank heaven, daily, that for so

many years I had set aside a portion of my rents, little thinking that the time
would come when they would prove my means of existence. My friends
here have invested the money for me, and it bears good interest, which is

punctually paid. With the English and Scotch exiles, I have as much society
as I care for, and as I find I am able to keep a horse--for living here is not

more than half the cost that it would be in England-- I am well enough
contented with my lot.

"There is but one thing that pricks me. That villain John Dormay has, as he
schemed for, obtained possession of my estates, and has been knighted for

his distinguished services to the king. I heard of this some time since, by a
letter from one of our Jacobite friends to whom I wrote, asking for news.
He says that the new knight has no great cause for enjoyment in his dignity

and possessions, because, not only do the Jacobite gentry turn their backs
upon him, when they meet him in the town, but the better class of Whigs

hold altogether aloof from him, regarding his elevation, at the expense of
his wife's kinsman, to be disgraceful, although of course they have no idea
of the evil plot by which he brought about my ruin. There is great pity

expressed for his wife, who has not once stirred beyond the grounds at
Lynnwood since he took her there, and who is, they say, a shadow of her

former self. Ciceley, he hears, is well. That cub of a son is in London, and
there are reports that he is very wild, and puts his father to much cost. As to
the man himself, they say he is surrounded by the lowest knaves, and it is

rumoured that he has taken to drink for want of better company. It is some
comfort to me to think that, although the villain has my estates, he is

getting no enjoyment out of them.