A rusty penny from the modern, decimal era. Until 1707, Scotland had its own currency; in 1971, the whole United Kingdom converted to decimal currency.
“WHEN very obstinate folk are met, there are only two ways out: Blows — and I think none of us could care to go so far; or the arbitrament of chance — and here is a guinea piece. Will you stand by the toss of the coin?”
“I will stand and fall by it,” said Mr. Henry. “Heads, I go; shield, I stay.” The coin was spun and it fell shield. “We shall live to repent of this,” says Mr. Henry.
As for Miss Alison, she caught up that piece of gold which had just sent her lover to the wars, and flung it clean through the family shield in the great painted window.
“If you loved me as well as I love you, you would have stayed,” cried she.
“‘I could not love you, dear, so well, loved I not honour more,’” sang the Master.*
“Oh!” she cried, “you have no heart — I hope you may be killed!”
** From the poem ‘To Lucasta, going to the wars’ by Richard Lovelace (1618–1658).
Précis
At the Jacobite Rising of 1745, James and his younger brother Henry decided which of them would fight for Bonnie Prince Charlie by the toss of a coin. James, whose duty was to stay at home with his family, won the toss and chose to leave for the war, outraging Henry and breaking the heart of his lover Alison. (58 / 60 words)
