Page 152 - A Jacobite Exile

The king then changed the subject with his usual abruptness, and dismissed
Charlie, at the end of his ride, without any further allusion to the subject.

The young fellow, however, knew enough of the king's headstrong
disposition to be aware that the matter was settled, and that he could not,

without incurring the king's serious displeasure, decline to accept the
commission. He walked back, with a serious face, to the hut that the
officers of the company occupied, and asked Harry Jervoise to come out to

him.

"What is it, Charlie?" his friend said. "Has his gracious majesty been
blowing you up, or has your horse broken its knees?"

"A much worse thing than either, Harry. The king appears to have taken
into his head that I am cut out for a diplomatist;" and he then repeated to his

friend the conversation the king had had with him.

Harry burst into a shout of laughter.

"Don't be angry, Charlie, but I cannot help it. The idea of your going, in

disguise, I suppose, and trying to talk over the Jewish clothiers and cannie
Scotch traders, is one of the funniest things I ever heard. And do you think
the king was really in earnest?"

"The king is always in earnest," Charlie said in a vexed tone; "and, when he

once takes a thing into his head, there is no gainsaying him."

"That is true enough, Charlie," Harry said, becoming serious. "Well, I have

no doubt you will do it just as well as another, and after all, there will be
some fun in it, and you will be in a big city, and likely to have a deal more

excitement than will fall to our lot here."

"I don't think it will be at all the sort of excitement I should care for, Harry.

However, my hope is, that the colonel will be able to dissuade him from the
idea."