heart quailed as she said to herself, 'A great raw Scot! What can be
done with him?

Lord Nithsdale spoke for him, thinking he had better go as secretary,
and showing some handwriting of good quality. 'Did he know any
languages?' 'French, English, Latin, and some Greek.' 'And, Madame,'
added Lord Nithsdale, 'not only is his French much better than mine, as
you would hear if the boy durst open his mouth, but our broad Scotch is
so like Swedish that he will almost be an interpreter there.'

However hopeless Madame de Bourke felt, she smiled and professed
herself rejoiced to hear it, and it was further decided that Arthur
Maxwell Hope, aged eighteen, Scot by birth, should be mentioned among
those of the Ambassador's household for whom she demanded passports.
Her position rendered this no matter of difficulty, and it was wiser to
give the full truth to the home authorities; but as it was desirable
that it should not be reported to the English Government that Lord
Burnside's brother was in the suite of the Jacobite Comte de Bourke, he
was only to be known to the public by his first name, which was not
much harder to French lips than Maxwell or Hope.

'Tall and black and awkward,' said Estelle, describing him to her
brother. 'I shall not like him--I shall call him Phalante instead of
Arthur.'

'Arthur,' said Ulysse; 'King Arthur was turned into a crow!'

'Well, this Arthur is like a crow--a great black skinny crow with torn
feathers.'