And he will refit the old library in the most exquisite
Gothic taste, and garnish its shelves with the rarest and most valuable
volumes; and he will draw plans and landscapes, and write verses, and
rear temples, and dig grottoes; and he will stand in a clear summer night
in the colonnade before the hall, and gaze on the deer as they stray in
the moonlight, or lie shadowed by the boughs of the huge old fantastic
oaks; and he will repeat verses to his beautiful wife, who will hang upon
his arm;--and he will be a happy man.'
And she will be a happy woman, thought poor Rose. But she only sighed and
dropped the conversation.
CHAPTER XXIV
FERGUS A SUITOR
Waverley had, indeed, as he looked closer into the state of the
Chevalier's court, less reason to be satisfied with it. It contained, as
they say an acorn includes all the ramifications of the future oak, as
many seeds of tracasserie and intrigue as might have done honour to the
court of a large empire. Every person of consequence had some separate
object, which he pursued with a fury that Waverley considered as
altogether disproportioned to its importance. Almost all had their
reasons for discontent, although the most legitimate was that of the
worthy old Baron, who was only distressed on account of the common cause.
Pages:
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703