e hurried along by the
torrent. Many ladies declined the dance, which still went forward, and,
under various pretences, joined the party to which the 'handsome young
Englishman' seemed to have attached himself. He was presented to
several of the first rank, and his manners, which for the present were
altogether free from the bashful restraint by which, in a moment of less
excitation, they were usually clouded, gave universal delight.

Flora Mac-Ivor appeared to be the only female present who regarded him
with a degree of coldness and reserve; yet even she could not suppress
a sort of wonder at talents which, in the course of their acquaintance,
she had never seen displayed with equal brilliancy and impressive
effect. I do not know whether she might not feel a momentary regret at
having taken so decisive a resolution upon the addresses of a lover, who
seemed fitted so well to fill a high place in the highest stations
of society. Certainly she had hitherto accounted among the incurable
deficiencies of Edward's disposition, the MAUVAISE HONTE, which, as
she had been educated in the first foreign circles, and was little
acquainted with the shyness of English manners, was, in her opinion,
too nearly related to timidity and imbecility of disposition. But if
a passing wish occurred that Waverley could have rendered himself
uniformly thus amiable and attractive, its influence was momentary; for
circumstances had arisen since they met, which rendered, in her eyes,
the resolution she had formed respecting him final and irrevocable.

With opposite feelings, Rose Bradwardine bent her whole soul to listen.
She felt a secret triumph at the public tribute paid to one, whose merit
she had learned to prize too early and too fondly. Without a thought of
jealousy, without a feeling of fear, pain, or doubt, and undisturbed by
a single selfish consideration, she resigned herself to the pleasure of
observing the general murmur of applause. When Waverley spoke, her ear
was exclusively filled with his voice; when others answered, her eye
took its turn of observation, and seemed to watch his reply. Perhaps
the delight which she experienced in the course of that evening, though
transient, and followed by much sorrow, was in its nature the most pure
and disinterested which the human mind is capable of enjoying.

'Baron,' said the Chevalier, 'I would not trust my mistress in the
company of your young friend. He is really, though perhaps somewhat