This engagement was viewed by the old Lord
as a trifling folly, which might be set aside by the head of the family.
He hinted that the proposed match was by no means disagreeable to his
daughter, and scarcely credited his ears when his young kinsman
declared his honour forbade him to break with Miss Murray."
"Dear father," ejaculated Aurelia, "so he gave up everything for her
sake?"
"And never repented it!" said Betty.
"Now," said Harriet, "I understand why he entered the army."
"It was all he had to depend on," said Betty, "and he had been
favourably noticed by Prince Eugene at the siege of Lisle, so that he
easily obtained a commission. He believed that though it was in the
power of the old Lord to dispose of part of his estates by will, yet
that some of the land was entailed in the male line, so that there
need not be many years of campaigning or poverty for his bride, even
if her father never were restored to his Scottish property. As you
know, our grandfather, Sir Archibald Murray, died for his loyalty in
the rising of '15, and two years later our father received at Belgrade
that terrible wound which closed his military career. Meantime, Urania
had married Sir Jovian Belamour, and Lord Delavie seemed to have
forgotten my father's offence, and gave him the management of the
estate, with this old house to live in, showing himself glad of the
neighbourhood of a kinsman whom he could thoroughly trust.
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