-and God and my own conscience bear evidence with me that it is so then I do not see why I should, by my candour, lend my accusers arms against my innocence. There is no reason I should answer a word more, and I am determined to abide by this resolution." And again he resumed his posture of sullen and determined silence. "Allow me," said the Magistrate, "to remind you of one reason that may suggest the propriety of a candid and open confession. The inexperience of youth, Mr. Waverley, lays it open to the plans of the more designing and artful; and one of your friends at least-I mean Mac-Ivor of Glennaquoich— ranks high in the latter class, as, from your apparent ingenuousness, youth, and unacquaintance with the manners of the Highlands, I should be disposed to place you among the former. In such a case, a false step, or error like yours, which I shall be happy to consider as involuntary, may be atoned for, and I would willingly act as intercessor. But as you must necessarily be acquainted with the strength of the individuals in this country who have assumed arms, with their means, and with their plans, I must expect you will merit this mediation on my part by a frank and candid avowal of all that has come to your knowledge upon these heads. In which case, I think I can venture to promise that a very short personal restraint will be the only ill consequence that can arise from your accession to these unhappy intrigues." Waverley listened with great composure until the end of this exhortation, when, springing from his seat, with an energy he had not yet displayed, he replied, "Major Melville, since that is your name, I have hitherto answered your questions with candour, or declined them with temper, because their import concerned myself alone; but as you presume to esteem me mean enough to commence informer against others, who received me, whatever may be their public misconduct, as a guest and friend, I declare to you that I consider your questions as an insult infinitely more offensive than your calumnious suspicions; and that, since my hard fortune permits me no other mode of resenting them than by verbal defiance, you should sooner have my heart out of my bosom, than a single syllable of information on subjects which I could only become acquainted with in the full confidence of unsuspecting hospitality." Mr. Morton and the Major looked at each other; and the former, who, in the course of the examination, had been repeatedly troubled with a sorry rheum, had recourse to his snuff-box and his handkerchief. "Mr. Waverley," said the Major, "my present situation prohibits me alike from giving or receiving offence, and I will not protract a discussion which aproaches to either. I am afraid I must sign a warrant for detaining you in custody, but this house shall for the present be your prison. I fear I cannot persuade you to accept a share of our supper?— (Edward shook his head)-but I will order refreshments in your apartment." Our hero bowed and withdrew, under guard of the officers of justice, to a small but handsome room, where, declining all offers of food or wine, he flung himself on the bed, and, stupified by the harassing events and mental fatigue of this miserable day, he sunk into a deep and heavy slumber. This was more than he himself could have expected; but it is mentioned of the North-American Indians, when at the stake of torture, that on the least intermission of agony, they will sleep until the fire is applied to awaken them. CHAPTER XXXII A CONFERENCE, AND THE CONSEQUENCE MAJOR MELVILLE had detained Mr. Morton during his examination of Waverley, both because he thought he might derive assistance from his practical good sense and approved loyalty, and also because it was agreeable to have a witness of unimpeached candour and veracity to proceedings which touched the honour and safety of a young Englishman of high rank and family, and the expectant heir of a large fortune. Every step he knew would be rigorously canvassed, and it was his business to place the justice and integrity of his own conduct beyond the limits of question. When Waverley retired, the laird and clergyman of Cairnvreckan sat down in silence to their evening meal. While the servants were in attendance, neither chose to say any thing on the circumstances which occupied their minds, and neither felt it easy to speak upon any other. The youth and apparent frankness of Waverley stood in strong contrast to the shades of suspicion which darkened around him, and he had a sort of naïveté and openness of demeanour, that seemed to belong to one unhackneyed in the ways of intrigue, and which pleaded highly in his favour. Each mused over the particulars of the examination, and each viewed it through the medium of his own feelings. Both were men of ready and acute talent, and both were equally competent to combine various parts of evidence, and to deduce from them the necessary conclusions. But the wide lifference of their habits and education often occasioned a reat discrepancy in their respective deductions from admitted remises. Major Melville had been versed in camps and cities; he as vigilant by profession, and cautious from experience, had net with much evil in the world, and therefore, though himelf an upright magistrate and an honourable man, his opinions f others were always strict, and sometimes unjustly severe. Ir. Morton, on the contrary, had passed from the literary ursuits of a college, where he was beloved by his comanions, and respected by his teachers, to the ease and implicity of his present charge, where his opportunities of itnessing evil were few, and never dwelt upon, but in order › encourage repentance and amendment; and where the love nd respect of his parishioners repaid his affectionate zeal in heir behalf, by endeavouring to disguise from him what they new would give him the most acute pain, namely, their own ccasional transgressions of the duties which it was the busiess of his life to recommend. Thus it was a common saying the neighbourhood, (though both were popular characters,) hat the laird knew only the ill in the parish, and the minister nly the good. A love of letters, though kept in subordination to his lerical studies and duties, also distinguished the Pastor of Cairnvreckan, and had tinged his mind in earlier days with a light feeling of romance, which no after incidents of real life ad entirely dissipated. The early loss of an amiable young woman whom he had married for love, and who was quickly ollowed to the grave by an only child, had also served, even after the lapse of many years, to soften a disposition naturally mild and contemplative. His feelings on the present occasion were therefore likely to differ from those of the severe disciplinarian, strict magistrate, and distrustful man of the world. When the servants had withdrawn, the silence of both parties continued, until Major Melville, filling his glass, and pushing the bottle to Mr. Morton, commenced. K "A distressing affair this, Mr. Morton. I fear this youngster has brought himself within the compass of a halter." "God forbid!" answered the clergyman. Marry, and amen," said the temporal magistrate; "but I think even your merciful logic will hardly deny the conclusion." "Surely, Major," answered the clergyman, "I should hope it might be averted, for aught we have heard to-night?" "Indeed!" replied Melville. "But, my good parson, you are one of those who would communicate to every criminal the benefit of clergy." "Unquestionably I would: Mercy and longsuffering are the grounds of the doctrine I am called to teach." "True, religiously speaking; but mercy to a criminal may be gross injustice to the community. I don't speak of this young fellow in particular, who I heartily wish may be able to clear himself, for I like both his modesty and his spirit. But I fear he has rushed upon his fate." "And why? Hundreds of misguided gentlemen are now in arms against the government, many, doubtless, upon principles which education and early prejudice have gilded with the names of patriotism and heroism;-Justice, when she selects her victims from such a multitude, (for surely all will not be destroyed,) must regard the moral motive. He whom ambition, or hope of personal advantage, has led to disturb the peace of a well-ordered government, let him fall a victim to the laws; but surely youth, misled by the wild visions of chivalry and imaginary loyalty, may plead for pardon." "If visionary chivalry and imaginary loyalty come within the predicament of high treason," replied the magistrate, know no court in Christendom, my dear Mr. Morton, where they can sue out their Habeas Corpus." "But I cannot see that this youth's guilt is at all established to my satisfaction," said the clergyman. "Because your good-nature blinds your good sense," replied Major Melville. "Observe now: This young man, descended of a family of hereditary Jacobites, his uncle the leader of the Tory interest in the county of his father a disobliged and discontented courtier, his tutor a non-juror, and the author of two treasonable volumes-this youth, I say, enters into Gardiner's dragoons, bringing with him a body of young fellows from his uncle's estate, who have not stickled at avowing, in their way, the high-church principles they learned at Waverley Honour, in their disputes with their comrades. To these young men Waverley is unusually attentive; they are supplied with money beyond a soldier's wants, and inconsistent with his discipline; and are under the management of a favourite sergeant, through whom they hold an unusually close communication with their captain, and affect to consider themselves as independent of the other officers, and superior to their comrades." "All this, my dear Major, is the natural consequence of their attachment to their young landlord, and of their finding themselves in a regiment levied chiefly in the north of Ireland and the west of Scotland, and of course among comrades disposed to quarrel with them, both as Englishmen, and as members of the Church of England." "Well said, parson !" replied the magistrate.-"I would some of your synod heard you-But let me go on. This young man obtains leave of absence, goes to Tully-Veolan-the principles of the Baron of Bradwardine are pretty well known, not to mention that this lad's uncle brought him off in the year fifteen; he engages there in a brawl, in which he is said to have disgraced the commission he bore; Colonel Gardiner writes to him, first mildly, then more sharply-I think you will not doubt his having done so, since he says so; the mess invite him to explain the quarrel, in which he is said to have been involved; he neither replies to his commander nor his comrades. In the meanwhile, his soldiers become mutinous and disorderly, and at length, when the rumour of this unhappy rebellion becomes general, his favourite Sergeant Houghton, and another fellow, are detected in correspondence with a French emissary, accredited, as he says, by Captain Waverley, who urges him, according to the men's confession, to desert with the troop and join their captain, who was with Prince Charles. In the meanwhile this trusty captain is, by his own admission, residing at Glennaquoich with the most active, subtle, and desperate Jacobite in Scotland; he goes with him at least as far as their famous hunting rendezvous, and I fear a little farther. Meanwhile two other summonses are sent him; one warning him of the disturbances in his troop, another peremptorily ordering him to repair to the regiment, which, indeed, common sense might have dictated, when he observed rebellion thickening all round him. He returns an absolute refusal, and throws up his commission." "He had been already deprived of it," said Mr. Morton. |