In this lonely and secluded situation, without the advantage of company
or conversation with men of cultivated minds, the arguments of Colonel
Talbot often recurred to the mind of our hero. A still more anxious
recollection haunted his slumbers--it was the dying look and gesture
of Colonel Gardiner. Most devoutly did he hope, as the rarely occurring
post brought news of skirmishes with various success, that it might
never again be his lot to draw his sword in civil conflict. Then his
mind turned to the supposed death of Fergus, to the desolate situation
of Flora, and, with yet more tender recollection, to that of Rose
Bradwardine, who was destitute of the devoted enthusiasm of loyalty,
which, to her friend, hallowed and exalted misfortune. These reveries he
was permitted to enjoy, undisturbed by queries or interruption;--and it
was in many a winter walk by the shores of Ullswater, that he acquired
a more complete mastery of a spirit tamed by adversity than his former
experience had given him; and that he felt himself entitled to say
firmly, though perhaps with a sigh, that the romance of his life was
ended, and that its real history had now commenced.
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