Waverley; Or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since — Volume 2

by Walter Scott

  CHAPTER LIV

  'TO ONE THING CONSTANT NEVER'

  'I am the very child of caprice,' said Waverley to himself, as hebolted the door of his apartment and paced it with hasty steps.'What is it to me that Fergus Mac-Ivor should wish to marry RoseBradwardine? I love her not; I might have been loved by herperhaps; but rejected her simple, natural, and affectingattachment, instead of cherishing it into tenderness, anddedicated myself to one who will never love mortal man, unless oldWarwick, the King-maker, should arise from the dead The Baron too--I would not have cared about his estate, and so the name wouldhave been no stumbling-block. The devil might have taken thebarren moors and drawn off the royal caligae for anything I wouldhave minded. But, framed as she is for domestic affection andtenderness, for giving and receiving all those kind and quietattentions which sweeten life to those who pass it together, sheis sought by Fergus Mac-Ivor. He will not use her ill, to be sure;of that he is incapable. But he will neglect her after the firstmonth; he will be too intent on subduing some rival chieftain orcircumventing some favourite at court, on gaining some heathy hilland lake or adding to his bands some new troop of caterans, toinquire what she does, or how she amuses herself.

  And then will canker sorrow eat her bud, And chase the native beauty from her cheek; And she will look as hollow as a ghost, And dim and meagre as an ague fit, And so she'll die.

  And such a catastrophe of the most gentle creature on earth mighthave been prevented if Mr. Edward Waverley had had his eyes! Uponmy word, I cannot understand how I thought Flora so much, that is,so very much, handsomer than Rose. She is taller indeed, and hermanner more formed; but many people think Miss Bradwardine's morenatural; and she is certainly much younger. I should think Florais two years older than I am. I will look at them particularlythis evening.'

  And with this resolution Waverley went to drink tea (as thefashion was Sixty Years Since) at the house of a lady of qualityattached to the cause of the Chevalier, where he found, as heexpected, both the ladies. All rose as he entered, but Floraimmediately resumed her place and the conversation in which shewas engaged. Rose, on the contrary, almost imperceptibly made alittle way in the crowded circle for his advancing the corner of achair. 'Her manner, upon the whole, is most engaging,' saidWaverley to himself.

  A dispute occurred whether the Gaelic or Italian language was mostliquid, and best adapted for poetry; the opinion for the Gaelic,which probably might not have found supporters elsewhere, was herefiercely defended by seven Highland ladies, who talked at the topof their lungs, and screamed the company deaf with examples ofCeltic euphonia. Flora, observing the Lowland ladies sneer at thecomparison, produced some reasons to show that it was notaltogether so absurd; but Rose, when asked for her opinion, gaveit with animation in praise of Italian, which she had studied withWaverley's assistance. "She has a more correct ear than Flora,though a less accomplished musician," said Waverley to himself. 'Isuppose Miss Mac-Ivor will next compare Mac-Murrough nan Fonn toAriosto!'

  Lastly, it so befell that the company differed whether Fergusshould be asked to perform on the flute, at which he was an adept,or Waverley invited to read a play of Shakspeare; and the lady ofthe house good-humouredly undertook to collect the votes of thecompany for poetry or music, under the condition that thegentleman whose talents were not laid under contribution thatevening should contribute them to enliven the next. It chancedthat Rose had the casting vote. Now Flora, who seemed to impose itas a rule upon herself never to countenance any proposal whichmight seem to encourage Waverley, had voted for music, providingthe Baron would take his violin to accompany Fergus. 'I wish youjoy of your taste, Miss Mac-Ivor,' thought Edward, as they soughtfor his book. 'I thought it better when we were at Glennaquoich;but certainly the Baron is no great performer, and Shakspeare isworth listening to.'

  'Romeo and Juliet' was selected, and Edward read with taste,feeling, and spirit several scenes from that play. All the companyapplauded with their hands, and many with their tears. Flora, towhom the drama was well known, was among the former; Rose, to whomit was altogether new, belonged to the latter class of admirers.'She has more feeling too,' said Waverley, internally.

  The conversation turning upon the incidents of the play and uponthe characters, Fergus declared that the only one worth naming, asa man of fashion and spirit, was Mercutio. 'I could not,' he said,'quite follow all his old-fashioned wit, but he must have been avery pretty fellow, according to the ideas of his time.'

  'And it was a shame,' said Ensign Maccombich, who usually followedhis Colonel everywhere, 'for that Tibbert, or Taggart, or whateverwas his name, to stick him under the other gentleman's arm whilehe was redding the fray.'

  The ladies, of course, declared loudly in favour of Romeo, butthis opinion did not go undisputed. The mistress of the house andseveral other ladies severely reprobated the levity with which thehero transfers his affections from Rosalind to Juliet. Floraremained silent until her opinion was repeatedly requested, andthen answered, she thought the circumstance objected to not onlyreconcilable to nature, but such as in the highest degree evincedthe art of the poet. 'Romeo is described,' said she, 'as a youngman peculiarly susceptible of the softer passions; his love is atfirst fixed upon a woman who could afford it no return; this herepeatedly tells you,--

  From love's weak, childish bow she lives unharmed,

  and again--

  She hath forsworn to love.

  Now, as it was impossible that Romeo's love, supposing him areasonable being, could continue to subsist without hope, the poethas, with great art, seized the moment when he was reducedactually to despair to throw in his way an object moreaccomplished than her by whom he had been rejected, and who isdisposed to repay his attachment. I can scarce conceive asituation more calculated to enhance the ardour of Romeo'saffection for Juliet than his being at once raised by her from thestate of drooping melancholy in which he appears first upon thescene to the ecstatic state in which he exclaims--

  --come what sorrow can, It cannot countervail the exchange of joy That one short moment gives me in her sight.'

  'Good now, Miss Mac-Ivor,' said a young lady of quality, 'do youmean to cheat us out of our prerogative? will you persuade us lovecannot subsist without hope, or that the lover must become fickleif the lady is cruel? O fie! I did not expect such anunsentimental conclusion.'

  'A lover, my dear Lady Betty,' said Flora, 'may, I conceive,persevere in his suit under very discouraging circumstances.Affection can (now and then) withstand very severe storms ofrigour, but not a long polar frost of downright indifference.Don't, even with YOUR attractions, try the experiment upon anylover whose faith you value. Love will subsist on wonderfullylittle hope, but not altogether without it.'

  'It will be just like Duncan Mac-Girdie's mare,' said Evan, 'ifyour ladyships please, he wanted to use her by degrees to livewithout meat, and just as he had put her on a straw a day the poorthing died!'

  Evan's illustration set the company a-laughing, and the discoursetook a different turn. Shortly afterwards the party broke up, andEdward returned home, musing on what Flora had said. 'I will lovemy Rosalind no more,' said he; 'she has given me a broad enoughhint for that; and I will speak to her brother and resign my suit.But for a Juliet--would it be handsome to interfere with Fergus'spretensions? though it is impossible they can ever succeed; andshould they miscarry, what then? why then alors comme alors.' Andwith this resolution of being guided by circumstances did our herocommit himself to repose.