This, indeed,
was a mixture of feeling which he did not avow even to himself, but it
existed, nevertheless, in a powerful degree.
In Flora's bosom, on the contrary, the zeal of loyalty burnt pure and
unmixed with any selfish feeling; she would have as soon made religion
the mask of ambitious and interested views, as have shrouded them
under the opinions which she had been taught to think patriotism. Such
instances of devotion were not uncommon among the followers of the
unhappy race of Stuart, of which many memorable proofs will recur to the
mind of most of my readers. But peculiar attention on the part of the
Chevalier de St. George and his princess to the parents of Fergus and
his sister, and to themselves when orphans, had riveted their faith.
Fergus, upon the death of his parents, had been for some time a page of
honour in the train of the Chevalier's lady, and, from his beauty
and sprightly temper, was uniformly treated by her with the utmost
distinction. This was also extended to Flora, who was maintained for
some time at a convent of the first order, at the princess's expense,
and removed from thence into her own family, where she spent nearly two
years.
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