nt of the threatened evil; and
Edward, with horror, regarded himself as the original cause of both.

Ere he could collect himself sufficiently to speak, Colonel Talbot had
recovered his usual composure of manner, though his troubled eye denoted
his mental agony.

'She is a woman, my young friend, who may justify even a soldier's
tears.' He reached him the miniature, exhibiting features which fully
justified the eulogium; 'and yet, God knows, what you see of her there is
the least of the charms she possesses--possessed, I should perhaps
say--but God's will be done.'

'You must fly--you must fly instantly to her relief. It is not--it shall
not be too late.'

'Fly? how is it possible? I am a prisoner, upon parole.'

'I am your keeper; I restore your parole; I am to answer for you.'

'You cannot do so consistently with your duty; nor can I accept a
discharge from you, with due regard to my own honour; you would be made
responsible.'

'I will answer it with my head, if necessary,' said Waverley impetuously.
'I have been the unhappy cause of the loss of your child, make me not the
murderer of your wife.'

'No, my dear Edward,' said Talbot, taking him kindly by the hand, 'you
are in no respect to blame; and if I concealed this domestic distress for
two days, it was lest your sensibility should view it in that light. You
could not think of me, hardly knew of my existence, when I left England
in quest of you. It is a responsibility, Heaven knows, sufficiently heavy
for mortality, that we must answer for the foreseen and direct result of
our actions; for their indirect and consequential operation the great and
good Being, who alone can foresee the dependence of human events on each
other, hath not pronounced his frail creatures liable.'

'But that you should have left Lady Emily,' said Waverley, with much
emotion, 'in the situation of all others the most interesting to a
husband, to seek a--'

'I only did my duty,' answered Colonel Talbot, calmly, 'and I do not,
ought not, to regret it. If the path of gratitude and honour were always
smooth and easy, there would be little merit in following it; but it
moves often in contradiction to our interest and passions, and sometimes
to our better affections. These are the trials of life, and this, though
not the least bitter' (the tears came unbidden to his eyes), 'is not the
first which it has been my fate to encounter. But we will talk of this
to-morrow,' he said, wringing Wa