human
He is not yet come, she said.
gpt
What can your brother possibly mean? Why express so anxious a wish that we should meet him here? And why not come to Castle Dinnan, as he proposed? I own, my dear Emily, that, even engaged as we are to each other, and with the sanction of your presence, I do not feel that I have done quite right in indulging him.
human
Evandale was never capricious, answered his sister;
gpt
I am sure he will satisfy us with his reasons, and if he does not, I will help you to scold him.
human
What I chiefly fear, said Edith,
gpt
What can I say? answered Lady Emily,--
human
And how is it in my power?
gpt
You can furnish him with the Scriptural apology for not going forth with the host,--'he has married a wife, and therefore cannot come.'
human
I have promised, said Edith, in a faint voice;
gpt
Nay, said Lady Emily,
human
I will leave Evandale (and here he comes) to plead his own cause.
gpt
Stay, stay, for God's sake!
human
Not I, not I, said the young lady, making her escape;
gpt
Good-morrow, Brother, and good-by till breakfast-time, said the lively young lady;
human
I trust you will give Miss Bellenden some good reasons for disturbing her rest so early in the morning.
gpt
And now, my lord, said Edith,
human
For God's sake, what is the matter?
gpt
His Majesty's faithful subjects have gained a great and most decisive victory near Blair of Athole; but, alas! my gallant friend Lord Dundee--
human
Has fallen?
gpt
True, most true: he has fallen in the arms of victory, and not a man remains of talents and influence sufficient to fill up his loss in King James's service. This, Edith, is no time for temporizing with our duty. I have given directions to raise my followers, and I must take leave of you this evening.
human
Do not think of it, my lord, answered Edith;
gpt
Listen to me, Edith, said Lord Evandale.
human
I am not so rash as you may suppose me, nor are my present motives of such light importance as to affect only those personally dependent on myself. The Life Guards, with whom I served so long, although new-modelled and new-officered by the Prince of Orange, retain a predilection for the cause of their rightful master; and --and here he whispered as if he feared even the walls of the apartment had ears--
gpt
And will you, on the faith of such men as you know these soldiers to be, said Edith,
human
I will, said Lord Evandale,--
gpt
I must; my honour and loyalty are both pledged for it.
human
And all for the sake, continued Miss Bellenden,
gpt
Most true, replied Lord Evandale;
human
And if you are determined to act what my feeble judgment must still term rashly, why give yourself the pain of this untimely meeting?
gpt
Were it not enough to answer, said Lord Evandale,
human
Because, he replied, putting a letter into her hand,
gpt
I have yet another request, which I dare hardly proffer, even when prefaced by these credentials.
human
My dearest childe, such was its tenor in style and spelling,
gpt
I never more deeply regretted the reumatizm, which disqualified me from riding on horseback, than at this present writing, when I would most have wished to be where this paper will soon be, that is at Fairy Knowe, with my poor dear Willie's only child. But it is the will of God I should not be with her, which I conclude to be the case, as much for the pain I now suffer, as because it hath now not given way either to cammomile poultices or to decoxion of wild mustard, wherewith I have often relieved others. Therefore, I must tell you, by writing instead of word of mouth, that, as my young Lord Evandale is called to the present campaign, both by his honour and his duty, he hath earnestly solicited me that the bonds of holy matrimony be knitted before his departure to the wars between you and him, in implement of the indenture formerly entered into for that effeck, whereuntill, as I see no raisonable objexion, so I trust that you, who have been always a good and obedient childe, will not devize any which has less than raison. It is trew that the contrax of our house have heretofore been celebrated in a manner more befitting our Rank, and not in private, and with few witnesses, as a thing done in a corner. But it has been Heaven's own free will, as well as those of the kingdom where we live, to take away from us our estate, and from the King his throne. Yet I trust He will yet restore the rightful heir to the throne, and turn his heart to the true Protestant Episcopal faith, which I have the better right to expect to see even with my old eyes, as I have beheld the royal family when they were struggling as sorely with masterful usurpers and rebels as they are now; that is to say, when his most sacred Majesty, Charles the Second of happy memory, honoured our poor house of Tillietudlem by taking his /disjune/ therein,