The Waverley novels, by Sir Walter Scott, complete in 12 vol., printed from the latest English ed., embracing the author's last corrections, prefaces & notes.

OLD MORTALI TY. 589
dow afforded, to steal one last glance at the lovely speaker. It was in this
attempt, made while Edith seemed to have her eyes unalterably bent upon
the ground, that Morton's presence was detected by her raising them suddenly. So soon as her wild scream made this known to the unfortunate
object of a passion so constant, and which seemed so ill-fated, he hurried
from the place as if pursued by the furies. He passed Halliday in the
garden without recognising, or even being sensible that he had seen him,
threw himself on his horse, and, by a soi't of instinct rather than recollection, took the first by-road in preference to the public route to:Iamilton.
In all probability this prevented Lord Evandale from learning that he was
actually in existence; for the news that the Highlanders had obtained a
decisive victory at Killiecrankie, had occasioned an accurate look-out to be
kept, by order of the Government, on all the passes, for fear of some commotion among the Lowland Jacobites. They did not omit to post sentinels
on Bothwell Bridge, and as these men had not seen any traveller pass westward in that direction, and as, besides, their comrades stationed in the
village of Bothwell were equally positive that none had gone eastward, the
apparition, in the existence of which Edith and IHalliday were equally positive, became yet more mysterious in the judgment of Lord Evandale, who
was finally inclined to settle in the belief, that the heated and disturbed
imagination of Edith had summoned up the phantom she stated herself to
have seen, and that Halliday had, in some unaccountable manner, been
infected by the same superstition.
Meanwhile, the by-path which Morton pursued, with all the speed which
his vigorous horse could exert, brought him in a very few seconds to the
brink of the Clyde, at a spot marked with the feet of horses, who were conducted to it as a watering-place. The steed, urged as he was to the gallop,
did not pause a single instant, but, throwing himself into the river, was
soon beyond his depth. The plunge which the animal made as his feet
quitted the ground, with the feeling that the cold water rose above his
sword-belt, were the first incidents which recalled Morton, whose movements had been hitherto mechanical, to the necessity of taking measures for
preserving himself and the noble animal which he bestrode. A perfect
master of all manly exercises, the management of a horse in water was as
fimiliar to him as when upon a meadow. He directed the animal's course
somewhat down the stream towards a low plain, or holm, which seemed to
promise an easy egress from the river. In the first and second attempt to
get on shore, the horse was frustrated by the nature of the ground, and
nearly fell backwards on his rider. The instinct of self-preservation seldom
fails, even in the most desperate circumstances, to recall the human mind to
some degree of equipoise, unless when altogether distracted by terror, and
Morton was obliged to the danger in which he was placed for complete
recovery of his self-possession. A third attempt, at a spot more carefully and
judiciously selected, succeeded better than the former, and placed the horse
and his rider in safety upon the farther and left-hand bank of the Clyde.
" But whither," said Morton, in the bitterness of his heart, " am I now to
direct my course? or rather, what does it signify to which point of the
compass a wretch so forlorn betakes himself? I would to God, could the
wish be without a sin, that these dark waters had flowed over me, and
drowned my recollection of that which was, and that which is!"
The sense of impatience, which the disturbed state of his feelings had
occasioned, scarcely had vented itself in these violent expressions, ere he
was struck with shame at having given way to such a paroxysm. liHe
remembered how signally the life which he now held so lightly in the
bitterness of his disappointment, had been preserved through the almost
incessant perils which had beset him since he entered upon his public
career.
"I am a fool!" he said, "and worse than a fool, to set light by that
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