ain drawn out, and
read line by line, in a low and smothered voice, and with frequent
pauses which, prolonged the mental treat, as an epicure protracts, by
sipping slowly the enjoyment of a delicious beverage. The entrance
of Mrs. Cruickshanks, with the sublunary articles of dinner and wine,
hardly interrupted this pantomime of affectionate enthusiasm.

At length the tall, ungainly figure and ungracious visage of Ebenezer
presented themselves. The upper part of his form, notwithstanding the
season required no such defence, was shrouded in a large great-coat,
belted over his under habiliments, and crested with a huge cowl of
the same stuff, which, when drawn over the head and hat, completely
over-shadowed both, and being buttoned beneath the chin, was called a
TROT-COZY. His hand grasped a huge jockey-whip, garnished with brass
mounting. His thin legs tenanted a pair of gambadoes, fastened at the
sides with rusty clasps. Thus accoutred, he stalked into the midst of
the apartment, and announced his errand in brief phrase:--

'Yerhorses are ready.'

'You go with me yourself then, landlord?'

'I do, as far as Perth; where you may be supplied With a guide to
Embro', as your occasions shall require.'

Thus saying, he placed under Waverley's eye the bill which he held in
his hand; and at the same time, self-invited, filled a glass of wine,
and drank devoutly to a blessing on their journey. Waverley stared
at the man's impudence, but, as their connexion was to be short, and
promised to be convenient, he made no observation upon it; and, having
paid his reckoning, expressed his intention to depart immediately.
He mounted Dermid accordingly, and sallied forth from the Golden
Candlestick, followed by the puritanical figure we have described,
after he had, at the expense of some time and difficulty, and by the
assistance of a 'louping-on-stane,' or structure of masonry erected for
the traveller's convenience in front of the house, elevated his person
to the back of a long-backed, raw-boned, thin-gutted phantom of a
broken-down blood-horse, on which Waverley's portmanteau was deposited.
Our hero, though not in a very gay humour, could hardly help laughing
at the appearance of his new squire, and at imagining the astonishment
which his person and equipage would have excited at Waverley-Honour.

Edward's tendency to mirth did not escape mine host of the Candlestick,
who, conscious of the cause, infused a double portion of sourin