CHAPTER LII
INTRIGUES OF SOCIETY AND LOVE
Colonel Talbot became more kindly in his demeanour towards Waverley
after the confidence he had reposed in him; and as they were necessarily
much together, the character of the Colonel rose in Waverley's
estimation. There seemed at first something harsh in his strong
expressions of dislike and censure, although no one was in the general
case more open to conviction. The habit of authority had also given his
manners some peremptory hardness, notwithstanding the polish which they
had received from his intimate acquaintance with the higher circles. As
a specimen of the military character, he differed from all whom Waverley
had as yet seen. The soldiership of the Baron of Bradwardine was marked
by pedantry; that of Major Melville by a sort of martinet attention to
the minutiae and technicalities of discipline, rather suitable to one
who was to manoeuvre a battalion, than to him who was to command an
army; the military spirit of Fergus was so much warped and blended with
his plans and political views, that it was less that of a soldier than
of a petty sovereign. But Colonel Talbot was in every point the English
soldier.
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