He
therefore ran briefly over most of the events with which the reader
is already acquainted, suppressing his attachment to Flora, and indeed
neither mentioning her nor Rose Bradwardine in the course of his
narrative.
Mr. Morton seemed particularly struck with the account of Waverley's
visit to Donald Bean Lean. 'I am glad,' he said, 'you did not mention
this circumstance to the Major. It is capable of great misconstruction
on the part; of those who do not consider the power of curiosity and the
influence of romance as motives of youthful conduct. When I was a young
man like you, Mr. Waverley, any such hair-brained expedition (I beg your
pardon for the expression) would have had inexpressible charms for me.
But there are men in the world who will not believe that danger
and fatigue are often incurred without any very adequate cause, and
therefore who are sometimes led to assign motives of action entirely
foreign to the truth. This man Bean Lean is renowned through the country
as a sort of Robin Hood, and the stories which are told of his address
and enterprise are the common tales of the winter fireside. He certainly
possesses talents beyond the rude sphere in which he moves; and, being
neither destitute of ambition nor encumbered with scruples, he will
probably attempt, by every means, to distinguish himself during the
period of these unhappy commotions.
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