Sir
Everard entered, and after a glance at the picture and another at his
nephew, began a little speech, which, however, soon dropt into the
natural simplicity of his common manner, agitated upon the present
occasion by no common feeling. 'Nephew,' he said; and then, as mending
his phrase, 'My dear Edward, it is God's will, and also the will of your
father, whom, under God, it is your duty to obey, that you should leave
us to take up the profession of arms, in which so many of your ancestors
have been distinguished. I have made such arrangements as will enable you
to take the field as their descendant, and as the probable heir of the
house of Waverley; and, sir, in the field of battle you will remember
what name you bear. And, Edward, my dear boy, remember also that you are
the last of that race, and the only hope of its revival depends upon you;
therefore, as far as duty and honour will permit, avoid danger--I mean
unnecessary danger--and keep no company with rakes, gamblers, and Whigs,
of whom, it is to be feared, there are but too many in the service into
which you are going. Your colonel, as I am informed, is an excellent
man--for a Presbyterian; but you will remember your duty to God, the
Church of England, and the--' (this breach ought to have been supplied,
according to the rubric, with the word KING; but as, unfortunately, that
word conveyed a double and embarrassing sense, one meaning de facto and
the other de jure, the knight filled up the blank otherwise)--'the Church
of England, and all constituted authorities.
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