CHAPTER LV
A BRAVE MAN IN SORROW
If my fair readers should be of opinion that my hero's levity in love
is altogether unpardonable, I must remind them that all his griefs and
difficulties did not arise from that sentimental source. Even the lyric
poet, who complains so feelingly of the pains of love, could not forget,
that, at the same time, he was 'in debt and in drink,' which, doubtless,
were great aggravations of his distress. There were indeed whole days in
which Waverley thought neither of Flora nor Rose Bradwardine, but which
were spent in melancholy conjectures on the probable state of matters at
Waverley-Honour, and the dubious issue of the civil contest in which he
was pledged. Colonel Talbot often engaged him in discussions upon
the justice of the cause he had espoused. 'Not,' he said, 'that it is
possible for you to quit it at this present moment, for, come what will,
you must stand by your rash engagement. But I with you to be aware
that the right is not with you; that you are fighting against the real
interests of your country; and that you ought, as an Englishman and a
patriot, to take the first opportunity to leave this unhappy expedition
before the snowball melts.
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