Page 73 - A Jacobite Exile

"You will have no trouble in getting at that, father," Charlie said laughing,
"seeing that you have nothing to do but to lean over, and put your hand into

my holsters, which are so full, as you see, that I am forced to carry my
pistols in my belt."

"What mean you, lad?"

"I mean, father, that I have the whole of the hoard, that was stowed away in
the priest's hiding place;" and he then related how Banks had revealed to

him the secret of the hiding place, and how he had, the night before Sir
Marmaduke was removed from Lancaster Castle, visited the place and
carried away the money.

"I could not see Banks," he said, "but I left a few words on a scrap of paper,

saying that it was I who had taken the money. Otherwise he would have
been in a terrible taking, when he discovered that it was gone."

"That is right good news, indeed, lad. For twelve years I have set aside half
my rents, so that in those bags in your holsters there are six years' income,

and the interest of that money, laid out in good mortgages, will suffice
amply for my wants in a country like Sweden, where life is simple and
living cheap. The money itself shall remain untouched, for your use, should

our hopes fail and the estates be lost for all time. That is indeed a weight off
my mind.

"And you are, I hope, in equally good case, Jervoise, for if not, you know
that I would gladly share with you?"

"I am in very good case, Sir Marmaduke, though I none the less thank you

for your offer. I too have, as you know, put aside half my income. My
estates are not so large as those of Lynnwood. Their acreage may be as
large, but a good deal of it is mountain land, worth but little. My fund,

therefore, is not as large as yours, but it amounts to a good round sum; and
as I hope, either in the army or in some other way, to earn an income for

myself, it is ample. I shall be sorry to divert it from the use for which I
intended it, but that cannot now be helped. I have had the pleasure, year by