'That I may be certain,'
concluded the letter, 'that this actually reaches you, I dispatch it by
Corporal Timms, of your troop, with orders to deliver it into your own
hand.'
Upon reading these letters, Waverley, with great bitterness of feeling,
was compelled to make the AMENDE HONORABLE to the memory of the brave
and excellent writer; for surely, as Colonel Gardiner must have had
every reason to conclude they had come safely to hand, less could not
follow, on their being neglected, than that third and final summons,
which Waverley actually received at Glennaquoich, though too late
to obey it. And his being superseded, in consequence of his apparent
neglect of this last command, was so far from being a harsh or severe
proceeding, that it was plainly inevitable. The next letter he unfolded
was from the Major of the regiment, acquainting him that a report, to
the disadvantage of his reputation, was public in the country, stating,
that one Mr. Falconer of Ballihopple, or some such name, had proposed,
in his presence, a treasonable toast, which he permitted to pass in
silence, although it was so gross an affront to the royal family, that
a gentleman in company, not remarkable for his zeal for government, had
nevertheless taken the matter up; and that, supposing the account true,
Captain Waverley had thus suffered another, comparatively unconcerned,
to resent an affront directed against him personally as an officer, and
to go out with the person by whom it was offered.
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