dly
drawn open and they had as frequently shut the hatchway of his cage, the
old gentleman put an end to the contest by securing it on the outside
with a nail so effectually that the door could not be drawn till this
exterior impediment was removed.

While musing upon the cause of this contradictory spirit in persons whose
conduct intimated no purpose of plunder, and who, in all other points,
appeared to consult his welfare and his wishes, it occurred to our hero
that, during the worst crisis of his illness, a female figure, younger
than his old Highland nurse, had appeared to flit around his couch. Of
this, indeed, he had but a very indistinct recollection, but his
suspicions were confirmed when, attentively listening, he often heard, in
the course of the day, the voice of another female conversing in whispers
with his attendant. Who could it be? And why should she apparently desire
concealment? Fancy immediately aroused herself and turned to Flora
Mac-Ivor. But after a short conflict between his eager desire to believe
she was in his neighbourhood, guarding, like an angel of mercy, the couch
of his sickness, Waverley was compelled to conclude that his conjecture
was altogether improbable; since, to suppose she had left her
comparatively safe situation at Glennaquoich to descend into the Low
Country, now the seat of civil war, and to inhabit such a lurking-place
as this, was a thing hardly to be imagined. Yet his heart bounded as he
sometimes could distinctly hear the trip of a light female step glide to
or from the door of the hut, or the suppressed sounds of a female voice,
of softness and delicacy, hold dialogue with the hoarse inward croak of
old Janet, for so he understood his antiquated attendant was denominated.

Having nothing else to amuse his solitude, he employed himself in
contriving some plan to gratify his curiosity, in despite of the sedulous
caution of Janet and the old Highland janizary, for he had never seen the
young fellow since the first morning. At length, upon accurate
examination, the infirm state of his wooden prison-house appeared to
supply the means of gratifying his curiosity, for out of a spot which was
somewhat decayed he was able to extract a nail. Through this minute
aperture he could perceive a female form, wrapped in a plaid, in the act
of conversing with Janet. But, since the days of our grandmother Eve, the
gratification of inordinate curiosity has generally borne its penalty in
dis