dejected, clad in the deepest weeds of woe. Isabel did not appear. Her
beloved father had long required her constant attendance. With infinite
gratitude to Heaven, she acknowledged its goodness in again restoring to
him the use of that reason which enabled him to appreciate her filial
excellence. He had so far recovered the use of his limbs as to be able
to walk, supported by her arm; and it was her custom, at the first dawn
of morning, to lead him from his narrow cell to enjoy the refreshing
breeze, and the exhilarating glory of the rising sun, while old Williams
climbed the crumbling battlements of Waverly-hall to give notice if any
stranger approached.

Mrs. Mellicent's dress and manner, preserving the memorial of the past
generation, drew a supercilious smile from Lady Bellingham, who, in the
obscurity and penury to which she perceived a loyal Episcopalian was
reduced, plainly discerned a visible judgment. Her satellites easily
interpreted her sentiments, and considered the spinster as a fair mark
of contempt and ridicule; but as their patroness had not deigned to
intimate her opinion of Dr. Beaumont and his daughter, they knew not in
what light she would please to have them considered. Her Ladyship threw
a cold repulsive glance over Mrs. Mellicent's culinary arrangements,
declared, in a tone which belied her expressions, that every thing was
very excellent, but that her unfortunate health would not allow her to
indulge except in a particular species of food. She then ordered her
travelling chest to be opened, and the liqueurs, conserves, and pastry,
to be displayed by the side of Mrs. Mellicent's sallads, oat-cake, and
metheglin, inviting her, in a most gracious manner, to partake of the
pilgrim's wallet. But Mrs. Mellicent had the same antipathy to court
delicacies which Lady Bellingham had to country fare; and, with the
independent spirit of a Cincinnatus, gravely preferring "a radish and an
egg," continued to eat them leisurely with a satisfaction derived from a
consideration that they were not purchased by any sacrifice of
integrity. She secretly pondered on the base propensities which the
rebel cause engendered, when even a woman of rank, who had known better
manners, was so vitiated by the company she had lately kept, as to
esteem respectable, uncomplaining poverty a fair object of contempt.

It would have been difficult even for modern volubility to have supplied
conversation in a group thus circumstanced;