the tame life of woman seldom can provide. The Captain having installed his men in the servants' part, was good enough to come and sup with us, and was able in a measure to enliven the tedium of that meal. The gentlemen talked politics, of course, and I was able to gather from their words that the Pretender Charles was already in full retreat, and that his army was like to be presently scattered on the earth.
"He'll be flying for his precious life, sir, over hill and moor with our redcoats on his heels," the Captain says, with an enthusiasm that made his face sparkle in the candle light. And I thought this ardour so well adorned him that he appeared to a prettier advantage as a soldier than as a man of fashion.
Somehow I could not dismiss a certain interest that their military conversation had aroused. Besides, the present circumstances had a novelty, as to-night we were actually involved in the stress of war.
"A rebel must be a very dangerous person, I should fear," I said; "even the sound of rebel hath a spice of daring and the devil in it."
"Highly dangerous," says the Captain.
"Captain, do you know," I said, seized with a desire, "that as I have never seen a rebel I should dearly like to have a peep at one of these desperate creatures. 'Twould be an experience, you know; besides, when a fresh species of wild animal is caught, all the town is attracted to its cage."
