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which every officer is bound to the standards under which he is enrolled? Look at Titus Livius, what he says of those Roman soldiers who were so unhappy as exuere sacramentum, -to renounce their legionary oath ; but ye are ignorant, sir, alike of ancient history and modern courtesy."

« << Not so ignorant as ye would pronounce me,» roared Balmawhapple. «I ken weel that you mean the solemn League and Covenant; but if a' the whigs in bell had taken the―>>

Here the baron and Waverley spoke both at once, the former calling out, « Be silent, sir! ye not only show your ignorance, but disgrace your native country before a stranger and an Englishman; and Waverley, at the same moment, entreating Mr Bradwardine to permit him to reply to an affront which seemed levelled at him personally. But the baron was exalted by wine, wrath, and scorn, above all sublunary considerations.

<< I crave you to be hushed, Captain Waverley; you are elsewhere, peradventure, sui juris, ---foris-familiated, that is, and entitled, it may be, to think and resent for yourself; but in my domain, in this poor barony of Bradwardine, and under this roof which is quasi mine, being held by tacit relocation by a tenant at will, I am in loco parentis to you, and bound to see you scathless, And for you, Mr Falconer, of Bal

mawhapple, I warn ye, let me see no more aberrations from the paths of good manners.>>

« And I tell you, Mr Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine of Brad wardine and Tully-Veolan," retorted the sportsman, in huge disdain, « that I'll make a moor cock of the man that refuses my toast, whether it be a crop-eared English whig wi' a black riband at his lug, or ane wha deserts his ain friends to claw favor wi' the rats of Hanover. »

In an instant both rapiers were brandished, and some desperate passes exchanged. Balmawhapple was young, stout, and active; but the baron, infinitely more master of his weapon, would, like Sir Toby Belch, have tickled his opponent other gates than he did, had he not been under the influence of Ursa Major.

Edward rushed forward to interfere between the combatants, but the prostrate bulk of the Laird of Killancureit, over which he stumbled, intercepted his passage. How Killancureit happened to be in this recumbent posture, at so interesting a moment, was never açcurately known. Some thought he was about to ensconce himself under the table; he himself alleged, that he stumbled in the act of lifting a joint-stool, to prevent mischief, by knocking down Balmawhapple. Be that as it may, if readier aid than either his or Waverley's had not interposed, there would certainly have

been bloodshed. But the well-known clash of swords, which was no great stranger to her dwelling, aroused Luckie Macleary as she sat quietly beyond the hallan, or earthen partition of the cottage, with eyes employed on Boston's Crook of the Lot, while her ideas were engaged in summing up the reckoning. She boldly rushed in, with the shrill expostulation, «Wad their honours slay ane another there, and bring discredit on an honest widowwoman's house, when there was a' the lee-land in the country to fight upon?» a remonstrance which she seconded by flinging her plaid with great dexterity over the weapons of the combatants. The servants by this time rushed in, and being, by great chance, tolerably sober, separated the incensed opponents, with the assistance of Edward and Killancureit. The latter led off Balmawhapple, cursing, swearing, and vowing revenge against every whig, presbyterian, and fanatic in England and Scotland, from John-o'-Groat's to the Land's End, and was with difficulty got to horse. Our hero, with the assistance of Saunders Saunderson, escorted the Baron of Bradwardine to his own dwelling, but could not prevail upon him to retire to bed until he had made a long and learned apology for the events of the evening, of which, however, there was not a word intelligible, except something about the Centaurs and the Lapithæ.

CHAPTER XII.

Repentance, and a Reconciliation.

WAVERLEY was unaccustomed to the use of wine, excepting with great temperance. He slept therefore soundly till late in the succeeding morning, and then awakened to a painful recollection of the scene of the preceding evening. He had received a personal affront, -he, a gentleman, a soldier, and a Waverley. True, the person who offered it was not, at the time it was given, possessed of the moderate share of sense which nature had allotted him; true also, in resenting this insult, he would break the laws of Heaven, as well as of his country; true, in doing so, he might take the life of a young man who perhaps respectably discharged the social duties, and render his family miserable; or he might lose his own; -no pleasant alternative even to the bravest, when it is debated coolly and in private.

All this pressed on his mind; yet the original

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statement recurred with the same irresistible force. He had received a personal insult; he was of the house of Waverley; and he bore a commission. There was no alternative; and he descended to the breakfast parlour with the intention of taking leave of the family, and writing to one of his brother-officers to meet him at the inn mid-way between Tully-Veolan and the town where they were quartered, in order that he might convey such a message to the Laird of Balmawhapple as the circumstances seemed to demand. He found Miss Bradwardine presiding over the tea and coffee, the table loaded with warm bread, both of flour and barley, in the shape of loaves, cakes, biscuits, and other varieties, together with eggs, rein-deer ham, mutton and beef ditto, smoked salmon, marmalade, and all the other delicacies which induced even Johnson himself to extol the luxury of a Scotch breakfast above that of all other countries. A mess of oat-meal porridge, flanked by a silver jug, which held an equal mixture of cream and buttermilk, was placed for the baron's share of this repast; but Rose observed he had walked out early in the morning, after giving orders that his guest should not be disturbed.

Waverley sat down almost in silence, and with an air of absence and abstraction, which could not give Miss Bradwardine a favourable opinion of his talents for conversation.

He

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