Distinguished by the favour of a
prince; destined, he had room to hope, to play a conspicuous part in the
revolution which awaited a mighty kingdom; excelling, probably, in mental
acquirements, and equalling at least in personal accomplishments, most of
the noble and distinguished persons with whom he was now ranked; young,
wealthy, and high-born,--could he, or ought he, to droop beneath the
frown of a capricious beauty?
O nymph, unrelenting and cold as thou art,
My bosom is proud as thine own.
With the feeling expressed in these beautiful lines (which, however, were
not then written), [Footnote: They occur in Miss Seward's fine verses,
beginning--'To thy rocks, stormy Lannow, adieu.'] Waverley determined
upon convincing Flora that he was not to be depressed by a rejection in
which his vanity whispered that perhaps she did her own prospects as much
injustice as his. And, to aid this change of feeling, there lurked the
secret and unacknowledged hope that she might learn to prize his
affection more highly, when she did not conceive it to be altogether
within her own choice to attract or repulse it. There was a mystic tone
of encouragement, also, in the Chevalier's words, though he feared they
only referred to the wishes of Fergus in favour of an union between him
and his sister.
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