.

CHAPTER XXVI

AN ECLAIRCISSEMENT

The hint which the Chieftain had thrown out respecting Flora was not
unpremeditated. He had observed with great satisfaction the growing
attachment of Waverley to his sister, nor did he see any bar to their
union, excepting the situation which Waverley's father held in the
ministry, and Edward's own commission in the army of George II. These
obstacles were now removed, and in a manner which apparently paved the
way for the son's becoming reconciled to another allegiance. In every
other respect the match would be most eligible. The safety, happiness,
and honourable provision of his sister, whom he dearly loved, appeared to
be ensured by the proposed union; and his heart swelled when he
considered how his own interest would be exalted in the eyes of the
ex-monarch to whom he had dedicated his service, by an alliance with one
of those ancient, powerful, and wealthy English families of the steady
cavalier faith, to awaken whose decayed attachment to the Stuart family
was now a matter of such vital importance to the Stuart cause. Nor could
Fergus perceive any obstacle to such a scheme. Waverley's attachment was
evident; and as his person was handsome, and his taste apparently
coincided with her own, he anticipated no opposition on the part of
Flora. Indeed, between his ideas of patriarchal power and those which he
had acquired in France respecting the disposal of females in marriage,
any opposition from his sister, dear as she was to him, would have been
the last obstacle on which he would have calculated, even had the union
been less eligible.

Influenced by these feelings, the Chief now led Waverley in quest of Miss
Mac-Ivor, not without the hope that the present agitation of his guest's
spirits might give him courage to cut short what Fergus termed the
romance of the courtship. They found Flora, with her faithful attendants,
Una and Cathleen, busied in preparing what appeared to Waverley to be
white bridal favours. Disguising as well as he could the agitation of his
mind, Waverley asked for what joyful occasion Miss Mac-Ivor made such
ample preparation.

'It is for Fergus's bridal,' she said, smiling.

'Indeed!' said Edward; 'he has kept his secret well. I hope he will allow
me to be his bride's-man.'

'That is a man's office, but not yours, as Beatrice says,' retorted
Flora.

'And who is the fair lady, may I be permitted to ask, Miss Mac-Ivor?'

'Did not I tell you