“Hush! You may laugh as you please, Charles: prudence and caution, even carried to excess, are likelier to serve our turn than carelessness and boldness, till we are safe out of England.”
“Why, there again! You are more apprehensive a thousand times since we have crossed the border than you were during all the time in Scotland, all the hiding time, and the time of dodging enemies on the alert for us in every direction.”
“I confess it. As one nears the end of a difficult or dangerous business, one should be the more fearful of disaster. Think how it may turn to naught all the toils that have brought one so far. Never relax because the goal is in sight: if you trip at the last, and through your own folly, too, ’tis the more to be regretted.”
“All true, my dear Roughwood; and yet, for our peace of mind, ’tis comforting to think how much safer we really are in England than we were across the border. Nobody expects to find Jacobites on the highroads of England.”
“There have been far too many seen on the highroads of England lately,” said Roughwood, with a gloomy smile.
“Ah, yes, the poor fellows now at Carlisle and York,” replied Charles; “but Jacobites uncaught are a different matter. They are all thought to be skulking in the Highlands, the Duke of Cumberland’s soldiers closing nearer and nearer round them. Heaven send that the Prince may escape! Would that his chances were as good as ours! ’Tis probable every mile of the Scottish coast is patrolled by government vessels, as every foot of the Highlands is hunted over by regulars and militia—or will be hunted over, ere all is done. ’Twas high time we left our quarters among the rocks and heather, and a miracle of good luck that we slipped through the enemy’s lines and across the border. England is the safer land for us, and vastly easier to escape from by sea.”
Their talk was interrupted by the entrance of the landlady, who took their orders for dinner, after which meal they intended to resume their journey. When they were again alone, Charles continued:
“So, my dear lad, as I was about to say, let us be easy in our minds, put away apprehensions, and avoid suspicion by showing no expectation of it. Your mad resolve to come to England and see the beloved lady before you flee the kingdom, turns out to be the wisest course we could have taken.”