 unaccustomed to the use of wine, excepting with great temperance.
He slept therefore soundly till late in the succeeding morning, and then
awakened to a painful recollection of the scene of the preceding evening. He had
received a personal affront, - he, a gentleman, a soldier, and a Waverley. True,
the person who had offered it was not, at the time it was given, possessed of
the moderate share of sense which nature had allotted him; true also, in
resenting this insult, he would break the laws of Heaven, as well as of his
country; true, in doing so, he might take the life of a young man who perhaps
respectably discharged the social duties, and render his family miserable; or he
might lose his own; - no pleasant alternative even to the bravest, when it is
debated coolly and in private.
    All this pressed on his mind; yet the original statement recurred with the
same irresistible force. He had received a personal insult; he was of the house
of Waverley; and he bore a commission. There was no alternative; and he
descended to the breakfast parlour with the intention of taking leave of the
family, and writing to one of his brother officers to meet him at the inn
mid-way between Tully-Veolan and the town where they were quartered, in order
that he might convey such a message to the Laird of Balmawhapple as the
circumstances seemed to demand. He found Miss Bradwardine presiding over the tea
and coffee, the table loaded with warm bread, both of flour, oatmeal, and
barley-meal, in the shape of loaves, cakes, biscuits, and other varieties,
together with eggs, rein-deer ham, mutton and beef ditto, smoked salmon,
marmalade, and all other delicacies which induced even Johnson himself to extol
the luxury of a Scotch breakfast above that of all other countries. A mess of
oatmeal porridge, flanked by a silver jug, which held an equal mixture of cream
and butter-milk, was placed for the Baron's share of this repast; but Rose
observed he had walked out early in the morning, after giving orders that his
guest should not be disturbed.
    Waverley sat down almost in silence, and with an air of absence and
abstraction, which could not give Miss Bradwardine a favourable opinion of his
talents for conversation. He answered at random one or two observations which
she ventured to make upon ordinary topics; so that feeling herself almost
repulsed in her efforts at entertaining him, and secretly wondering that a
scarlet coat should cover no better breeding, she left him to
