Don't let any of the other
fellows disturb us. My nephew and I have business to talk of.'
When the servants had retired, 'In the name of God, Waverley, what has
brought you here? It may be as much as your life is worth.'
'Dear Mr. Waverley,' said Lady Emily, 'to whom I owe so much more than
acknowledgments can ever pay, how could you be so rash?'
'My father--my uncle--this paragraph,'--he handed the paper to Colonel
Talbot.
'I wish to Heaven these scoundrels were condemned to be squeezed to death
in their own presses,' said Talbot. 'I am told there are not less than a
dozen of their papers now published in town, and no wonder that they are
obliged to invent lies to find sale for their journals. It is true,
however, my dear Edward, that you have lost your father; but as to this
flourish of his unpleasant situation having grated upon his spirits and
hurt his health--the truth is--for though it is harsh to say so now, yet
it will relieve your mind from the idea of weighty responsibility--the
truth then is, that Mr. Richard Waverley, through this whole business,
showed great want of sensibility, both to your situation and that of your
uncle; and the last time I saw him, he told me, with great glee, that, as
I was so good as to take charge of your interests, he had thought it best
to patch up a separate negotiation for himself, and make his peace with
government through some channels which former connexions left still open
to him.
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