All precautions to blockade his view were from that time abandoned, and
he was not only permitted but assisted to rise, and quit what had been,
in a literal sense, his couch of confinement. But he was not allowed to
leave the hut; for the young Highlander had now rejoined his senior, and
one or other was constantly on the watch. Whenever Waverley approached
the cottage dooi the sentinel upon duty civilly, but resolutely, placed
himself against it and opposed his exit, accompanying his action with
signs which seemed to imply there was danger in the attempt and an enemy
in the neighbourhood. Old Janet appeared anxious and upon the watch; and
Waverley, who had not yet recovered strength enough to attempt to take
his departure in spite of the opposition of his hosts, was under the
necessity of remaining patient His fare was, in every point of view,
better than he could have conceived, for poultry, and even wine, were no
strangers to his table. The Highlanders never presumed to eat with him,
and, unless in the circumstance of watching him, treated him with great
respect. His sole amusement was gazing from the window, or rather the
shapeless aperture which was meant to answer the purpose of a window,
upon a large and rough brook, which raged and foamed through a rocky
channel, closely canopied with trees and bushes, about ten feet beneath
the site of his house of captivity.
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