Waverley; or, 'Tis sixty years since — Volume 1Scott, Walter
History
Waverley; or, 'Tis sixty years since — Volume 1
Scott, Walter
Historical fiction; Jacobite Rebellion, 1745-1746 -- Fiction; Scotland -- History -- 18th century -- Fiction
Her form, though rather large for her years, was very well
proportioned, and her demeanour had a natural and rustic grace,
with nothing of the sheepishness of an ordinary peasant. The
smiles, displaying a row of teeth of exquisite whiteness, and the
laughing eyes, with which, in dumb show, she gave Waverley that
morning greeting which she wanted English words to express, might
have been interpreted by a coxcomb, or perhaps by a young soldier
who, without being such, was conscious of a handsome person, as
meant to convey more than the courtesy of an hostess. Nor do I
take it upon me to say that the little wild mountaineer would have
welcomed any staid old gentleman advanced in life, the Baron of
Bradwardine, for example, with the cheerful pains which she
bestowed upon Edward's accommodation. She seemed eager to place
him by the meal which she had so sedulously arranged, and to which
she now added a few bunches of cranberries, gathered in an
adjacent morass. Having had the satisfaction of seeing him seated
at his breakfast, she placed herself demurely upon a stone at a
few yards' distance, and appeared to watch with great complacency
for some opportunity of serving him.
Evan and his attendant now returned slowly along the beach, the
latter bearing a large salmon-trout, the produce of the morning's
sport, together with the angling-rod, while Evan strolled forward,
with an easy, self-satisfied, and important gait, towards the spot
where Waverley was so agreeably employed at the breakfast-table.
After morning greetings had passed on both sides, and Evan,
looking at Waverley, had said something in Gaelic to Alice, which
made her laugh, yet colour up to her eyes, through a complexion
well en-browned by sun and wind, Evan intimated his commands that
the fish should be prepared for breakfast. A spark from the lock
of his pistol produced a light, and a few withered fir branches
were quickly in flame, and as speedily reduced to hot embers, on
which the trout was broiled in large slices. To crown the repast,
Evan produced from the pocket of his short jerkin a large scallop
shell, and from under the folds of his plaid a ram's horn full of
whisky. Of this he took a copious dram, observing he had already
taken his MORNING with Donald Bean Lean before his departure; he
offered the same cordial to Alice and to Edward, which they both
declined. With the bounteous air of a lord, Evan then proffered
the scallop to Dugald Mahony, his attendant, who, without waiting
to be asked a second time, drank it off with great gusto. Evan
then prepared to move towards the boat, inviting Waverley to
attend him. Meanwhile, Alice had made up in a small basket what
she thought worth removing, and flinging her plaid around her, she
advanced up to Edward, and with the utmost simplicity, taking hold
of his hand, offered her cheek to his salute, dropping at the same
time her little curtsy. Evan, who was esteemed a wag among the
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