Will Mr. Waverley favour us with his opinion in these arduous
circumstances?'
Waverley coloured high betwixt pleasure and modesty at the distinction
implied in this question, and answered, with equal spirit and readiness,
that he could not venture to offer an opinion as derived from military
skill, but that the counsel would be far the most acceptable to him which
should first afford him an opportunity to evince his zeal in his Royal
Highness's service.
'Spoken like a Waverley!' answered Charles Edward; 'and that you may hold
a rank in some degree corresponding to your name, allow me, instead of
the captain's commission which you have lost, to offer you the brevet
rank of major in my service, with the advantage of acting as one of my
aides-de-camp until you can be attached to a regiment, of which I hope
several will be speedily embodied.'
'Your Royal Highness will forgive me,' answered Waverley (for his
recollection turned to Balmawhapple and his scanty troop), 'if I decline
accepting any rank until the time and place where I may have interest
enough to raise a sufficient body of men to make my command useful to
your Royal Highness's service.
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