Fergus, who did not understand these delicacies, strode through the apartment biting his lip, and then, with a constrained smile, said, ’Well, sister, I leave you to act your new character of mediator between the Elector of Hanover and the subjects of your lawful sovereign and benefactor,’ and left the room.

There was a painful pause, which was at length broken by Miss Mac-Ivor.  ‘My brother is unjust,’ she said, ’because he can bear no interruption that seems to thwart his loyal zeal.’

‘And do you not share his ardour?’ asked Waverley,

‘Do I not?’ answered Flora.  ’God knows mine exceeds his, if that be possible.  But I am not, like him, rapt by the bustle of military preparation, and the infinite detail necessary to the present undertaking, beyond consideration of the grand principles of justice and truth, on which our enterprise is grounded; and these, I am certain, can only be furthered by measures in themselves true and just.  To operate upon your present feelings, my dear Mr. Waverley, to induce you to an irretrievable step, of which you have not considered either the justice or the danger, is, in my poor judgment, neither the one nor the other.’

‘Incomparable Flora!’ said Edward, taking her hand, ’how much do I need such a monitor!’

‘A better one by far,’ said Flora, gently withdrawing her hand, ’Mr. Waverley will always find in his own bosom, when he will give its small still voice leisure to be heard.’

’No, Miss Mac-Ivor, I dare not hope it; a thousand circumstances of fatal self-indulgence have made me the creature rather of imagination than reason.  Durst I but hope—­could I but think—­that you would deign to be to me that affectionate, that condescending friend, who would strengthen me to redeem my errors, my future life—­’

’Hush, my dear sir! now you carry your joy at escaping the hands of a Jacobite recruiting officer to an unparalleled excess of gratitude.’

’Nay, dear Flora, trifle with me no longer; you cannot mistake the meaning of those feelings which I have almost involuntarily expressed; and since I have broken the barrier of silence, let me profit by my audacity.  Or may I, with your permission, mention to your brother—­’

‘Not for the world, Mr. Waverley!’

‘What am I to understand?’ said Edward.  ’Is there any fatal bar—­ has any prepossession—­’

‘None, sir,’ answered Flora.  ’I owe it to myself to say that I never yet saw the person on whom I thought with reference to the present subject.’

’The shortness of our acquaintance, perhaps—­If Miss Mac-Ivor will deign to give me time—­’

’I have not even that excuse.  Captain Waverley’s character is so open—­is, in short, of that nature that it cannot be misconstrued, either in its strength or its weakness.’

‘And for that weakness you despise me?’ said Edward.