"
"It is easy to perceive the school in which you have been brought up,
young man, even if there was not evidence on this paper that your
forefather nerved under the Cavalier, Colonel Beverley, and has been
brought up to his way of thinking."
"Sir, it is a base dog that bites the hand that feeds him," replied
Edward, with warmth. "Jacob Armitage, and his father before him, were
retainers in the family of Colonel Beverley; they were indebted to him
for the situation they held in the forest; indebted to him for every
thing; they revere his name, they uphold the cause for which he fell,
as I do."
"Young man, if you do not speak advisedly, at all events you speak
gratefully; neither have I a word of disrespect to offer to the memory
of Colonel Beverley, who was a gallant man, and true to the cause
which he espoused, although it was not a holy one; but, in my
position, I can not, in justice to those whom I serve, give places and
emolument to those who have been, and still are, as I may judge by
your expressions, adverse to the present government."
"Sir," replied Edward, "your language, with respect to Colonel
Beverley, has made me feel respect for you, which I confess I did not
at first; what you say is very just, not that I think you harm Jacob
Armitage, as, in the first place, I know that he would not serve under
you; and, in the next, that he is too old and infirm to hold the
situation; neither has he occasion for it, as his cottage and land are
his own, and you can not remove him.
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