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
glance of his mother's eye, that the purpose of his desperate
defence was attained. Ah! I remember,' she continued, 'I remember
well to have seen one that knew and loved him. Miss Lucy Saint
Aubin lived and died a maid for his sake, though one of the most
beautiful and wealthy matches in this country; all the world ran
after her, but she wore widow's mourning all her life for poor
William, for they were betrothed though not married, and died in--
I cannot think of the date; but I remember, in the November of
that very year, when she found herself sinking, she desired to be
brought to Waverley-Honour once more, and visited all the places
where she had been with my grand-uncle, and caused the carpets to
be raised that she might trace the impression of his blood, and if
tears could have washed it out, it had not been there now; for
there was not a dry eye in the house. You would have thought,
Edward, that the very trees mourned for her, for their leaves
dropt around her without a gust of wind, and, indeed, she looked
like one that would never see them green again.'
From such legends our hero would steal away to indulge the fancies
they excited. In the corner of the large and sombre library, with
no other light than was afforded by the decaying brands on its
ponderous and ample hearth, he would exercise for hours that
internal sorcery by which past or imaginary events are presented
in action, as it were, to the eye of the muser. Then arose in long
and fair array the splendour of the bridal feast at Waverley-
Castle; the tall and emaciated form of its real lord, as he stood
in his pilgrim's weeds, an unnoticed spectator of the festivities
of his supposed heir and intended bride; the electrical shock
occasioned by the discovery; the springing of the vassals to arms;
the astonishment of the bridegroom; the terror and confusion of
the bride; the agony with which Wilibert observed that her heart
as well as consent was in these nuptials; the air of dignity, yet
of deep feeling, with which he flung down the half-drawn sword,
and turned away for ever from the house of his ancestors. Then
would he change the scene, and fancy would at his wish represent
Aunt Rachel's tragedy. He saw the Lady Waverley seated in her
bower, her ear strained to every sound, her heart throbbing with
double agony, now listening to the decaying echo of the hoofs of
the king's horse, and when that had died away, hearing in every
breeze that shook the trees of the park, the noise of the remote
skirmish. A distant sound is heard like the rushing of a swoln
stream; it comes nearer, and Edward can plainly distinguish the
galloping of horses, the cries and shouts of men, with straggling
pistol-shots between, rolling forwards to the Hall. The lady
starts up--a terrified menial rushes in--but why pursue such a
description?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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