presented to Madame. His name is Arthur Maxwell Hope; but we call him
usually by his Christian name.'

'A tall, dark, handsome youth, almost like a Spaniard, or a picture by
Vandyke? It seems to me that I have seen him with M. le Comte.'
(Madame de Bourke could not venture on such a word as Nithsdale.)

'Madame is right. The mother of the boy is a Maxwell, a cousin not far
removed from my Lord, but he could not hinder her from being given in
marriage as second wife to Sir David Hope, already an old man. He was
good to her, but when he died, the sons by the first wife were harsh
and unkind to her and to her son, of whom they had always been jealous.
The eldest was a creature of my Lord Stair, and altogether a Whig;
indeed, he now holds an office at the Court of the Elector of Hanover,
and has been created one of HIS peers. (The scorn with which the
gentle Winifred uttered those words was worth seeing, and the other
noble lady gave a little derisive laugh.) 'These half-brothers
declared that Lady Hope was nurturing the young Arthur in Toryism and
disaffection, and they made it a plea for separating him from her, and
sending him to an old minister, who kept a school, and who was very
severe and even cruel to the poor boy. But I am wearying Madame.'

'Oh no, I listen with the deepest interest.'

'Finally, when the King was expected in Scotland, and men's minds were
full of anger and bitterness, as well as hope and spirit, the boy--he
was then only fourteen years of age--boasted of his grandfather's
having fought at Killiecrankie, and used language which the tutor
pronounced treasonable. He was punished and confined to his room; but
in the night he made his escape and joined the royal army. My husband