'Upon the honour of a gentleman,' he said, 'but it makes me young again
to see you here, Mr. Waverley! A worthy scion of the old stock of
Waverley-Honour--spes altera, as Maro hath it--and you have the look of
the old line, Captain Waverley; not so portly yet as my old friend Sir
Everard--mais cela viendra avec le tems, as my Dutch acquaintance, Baron
Kikkitbroeck, said of the sagesse of Madame son epouse. And so ye have
mounted the cockade? Right, right; though I could have wished the colour
different, and so I would ha' deemed might Sir Everard. But no more of
that; I am old, and times are changed. And how does the worthy knight
baronet, and the fair Mrs. Rachel?--Ah, ye laugh, young man! In troth she
was the fair Mrs. Rachel in the year of grace seventeen hundred and
sixteen; but time passes--et singula praedantur anni--that is most
certain. But once again ye are most heartily welcome to my poor house of
Tully-Veolan! Hie to the house, Rose, and see that Alexander Saunderson
looks out the old Chateau Margaux, which I sent from Bourdeaux to Dundee
in the year 1713.'
Rose tripped off demurely enough till she turned the first corner, and
then ran with the speed of a fairy, that she might gain leisure, after
discharging her father's commission, to put her own dress in order, and
produce all her little finery, an occupation for which the approaching
dinner-hour left but limited time.
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