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.

554 WAVERLEY NOVELS.
In the charge of Mrs. Chiffinch, and of him whose name she bore, Edward Christian placed the daughter of his sister, and of his confiding friend,
calmly contemplating her ruin as an event certain to follow; and hoping to
ground upon it his own chance of a more assured fortune, than a life spent
in intrigue had hitherto been able to procure for him.
The innocent Alice, without being able to discover what was wrong either
in the scenes of unusual luxury with which she was surrounded, or in the
manners of her hostess, which, both from nature and policy, were kind and
caressing - felt nevertheless an instinctive apprehension that all was not
right-a feeling in the human mind, allied, perhaps, to that sense of danger
which animals exhibit when placed in the vicinity of the natural enemies
of their race, and which makes birds cower when the hawk is in the air,
and beasts tremble when the tiger is abroad in the desert. There was a
heaviness at her heart which she could not dispel; and the few hours which
she had already spent at Chiffinch's were like those passed in prison by one
unconscious of the cause or event of his captivity. It was the third morning after her arrival in London, that the scene took place which we now
recur to.
The impertinence and vulgarity of Empson, which was permitted to him
as an unrivalled performer upon his instrument, were exhausting themselves
at the expense of all other musical professors, and Mrs. Chiffinch was listening with careless indifference, when some one was heard speaking loudly,
and with animation, in the inner apartment.
"Oh, gemini and gilliflower water 1" exclaimed the damsel, startled out
of her fine airs into her natural vulgarity of exclamation, and running to
the door of communication -" if he has not come back again after all Iand if old Rowley -"
A tap at the farther and opposite door here arrested her attention - she
quitted the handle of that which she was about to open as speedily as if it
had burnt her fingers, and, moving back towards her couch, asked, " Who
is there?"
" Old Rowley himself, madam," said the King, entering the apartment
with his usual air of easy composure.
" 0 crimini! —your Majesty — I thought -"
" That I was out of hearing, doubtless," said the King; "and spoke of
me as folks speak of absent friends. Make no apology. I think I have
heard ladies say of their lace, that a rent is better than a darn.- Nay, be
seated. -Where is Chiffinch?"
"IHe is down at York-House, your Majesty," said the dame, recovering,
though with no small difficulty, the calm affectation of her usual demeanour.
"Shall I send your Majesty's commands?"
"I will wait his return," said the King. -" Permit me to taste your
chocolate."
" There is some fresh frothed in the office," said the lady; and using a
little silver call, or whistle, a black boy, superbly dressed, like an Oriental
page, with gold bracelets on his naked arms, and a gold collar around his
equally bare neck, attended with the favourite beverage of the morning, in
an apparatus of the richest china.
While he sipped his cup of chocolate, the King looked round the apartment, and observing Fenella, Peveril, and the musician, who remained
standing beside a large Indian screen, he continued, addressing Mistress
Chiffinch, though with polite indifference, " I sent you the fiddles this morning-or rather the flute —Empson, and a fairy elf whom I met in the Park,
who dances divinely. She has brought us the very newest saraband from
the Court of Queen Mab, and I sent her here, that you may see it at
leisure."
"Your Majesty does me by far too much honour," said Chiffinch, her
eyes properly cast down, and her accents minced into becoming humility.