The Chief's beautiful sister appeared very glad to see Edward, and, as her brother spoke a few hasty words to her in Gaelic, she suddenly clasped her hands, and, looking up to heaven, appeared to ask a blessing upon some enterprise. She then gave Edward some letters that had arrived for him during his absence. It was perhaps as well that Edward took these to his room to open, considering the amount of varied ill news that he found in them. The first was from his father, who had just been dismissed from his position as King's minister, owing (as he put it) to the ingratitude of the great--but really, as was proved afterwards, on account of some political plots which he had formed against his chief, the prime minister of the day. Then his generous uncle, Sir Everard, wrote that all differences were over between his brother and himself. He had espoused his quarrel, and he directed Edward at once to send in the resignation of his commission to the War Office without any preliminaries, forbidding him longer to serve a government which had treated his father so badly. But the letter which touched Edward most deeply was one from his commanding officer at Dundee, which declared curtly that if he did not report himself at the headquarters of the regiment within three days after the date of writing, he would be obliged to take steps in the matter which would be exceedingly disagreeable to Captain Waverley. Edward at once sat down and wrote to Colonel Gardiner that, as he had thus chosen to efface the remembrance of past civilities, there was nothing left to him but to resign his commission, which he did formally, and ended his letter by requesting his commanding officer to forward this resignation to the proper quarter. No little perplexed as to the meaning of all this, Edward was on his way to consult Fergus Mac-Ivor on the subject, when the latter advanced with an open newspaper in his hand. "Do your letters," he asked, "confirm this unpleasant news?" And he held out the _Caledonian Mercury_, in which not only did he find his father's disgrace chronicled, but on turning to the _Gazette_ he found the words, "Edward Waverley, Captain in the --th regiment of dragoons, superseded for absence without leave." The name of his successor, one Captain Butler, followed immediately.