Colonel Holliday advanced with a courtly air, and offered her his
hand. The French gentleman, with an air to the full as courtly as
that of the colonel, brought forward a chair for her; and when she
had seated herself, Rupert advanced to kiss her hand.
"No, Rupert, you are too hot. There, leave us; I wish to speak to
Colonel Holliday and monsieur."
With a deep bow, and a manner far more respectful and distant than
that which nowadays would be shown to a stranger who was worthy of
all honour, Rupert Holliday left his mother's presence.
"I know what she wants," Rupert muttered to himself. "To stop my
fencing lessons; just as if a gentleman could fence too well. She
wants me to be a stiff, cold, finnikin fop, like that conceited
young Brownlow, of the Haugh.
"Not if I know it, madame ma mere. You will never make a courtier
of me, any more than you will a whig. The colonel fought at Naseby,
and was with the king in France. Papa was a tory, and so am I."
And the lad whistled a Jacobite air as he made his way with a rapid
step to the stables.
The terms Whig and Tory in the reign of King William had very
little in common with the meaning which now attaches to these
words. The principal difference between the two was in their views
as to the succession to the throne. The Princess Anne would succeed
King William, and the whigs desired to see George, Elector of
Hanover, ascend the throne when it again became vacant; the tories
looked to the return of the Stuarts.
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