Vanslyperken bowed to his haughty new acquaintance, and quitted
the house.
"Yes," thought Ramsay, "that fellow is a low, contemptible traitor, and
how infamous does treason appear in that wretch! but--I--I am no
traitor--I have forfeited my property and risked my life in fidelity to
my king, and in attempting to rid the world of a usurper and a tyrant.
Here, indeed, I am playing a traitor's part to my host, but still I am
doing my duty. An army without spies would be incomplete, and one may
descend to that office for the good of one's country without tarnish or
disgrace. Am I not a traitor to her already? Have not I formed visions
in my imagination already of obtaining her hand, and her heart, and her
fortune? Is not this treachery? Shall I not attempt to win her
affections under disguise as her father's friend and partisan? But what
have women to do with politics? Or if they have, do not they set so
light a value upon them, that they will exchange them for a feather?
Yes, surely; when they love, their politics are the politics of those
they cling to. At present, she is on her father's side; but if she leave
her father and cleave to me, her politics will be transferred with her
affections.
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