46 A JACOBITE EXILE

what they would do he -had no idea, but it seemed to him
that exile among strangers would be bearable if he had his
friend with him. It would not last many years, for surely
the often talked-of landing could not be very much longer
delayed; then they would return, share in the triumph of
the Stuart cause, and resume their life at Lynnwood, and
reckon with those who had brought this foul charge against
them.

That the Jacobite cause could fail to triumph was a con-
tingency to which Charlie did not give evena thought. He
had been taught that it was a just and holy cause. All his
school friends as well as the gentlemen who visited his
father were firm adherents of it, and he believed that the
same sentiments must everywhere prevail. ‘There was then
nothing but the troops of William to reckon with, and these
could hardly oppose a rising of the English people backed
by aid from France.

It was not until after dark that the messenger returned.

“Master Harry bade me tell you, sir, that a gipsy boy he
had never seen before, has brought him a little note from
his father. He will not return at present, but if Mr. Harry
can manage to slip away unnoticed in the afternoon to-mor-
row he is to come here. He is not to come direct, but to
make a circuit lest he should be watched and followed, and
it may be that the master will meet him here.”

Charlie was very glad to hear this. Harry could, of
course, give him little news of what was going on outside
the house, but Mr. Jervoise might be able to tell him some-
thing about his father, especially as he had said he had
means of learning what went on in Lancaster jail.

He was longing to be doing something. It seemed intol-
erable to him that he should be wandering aimlessly among
the hills, while his father was lying in Lancaster with a
charge affecting his life hanging over him. What he could
do he knew not, but anything would be better than doing