, very singular, and not at all decorous.
She concluded her farewell with a kind and moving benediction, and gave the
young officer, as a pledge of her regard, a valuable diamond ring (often worn by
the male sex at that time), and a purse of broad gold pieces, which also were
more common Sixty Years since than they have been of late.
 

                                Chapter Seventh.

                          A Horse-Quarter in Scotland.

The next morning, amid varied feelings, the chief of which was a predominant,
anxious, and even solemn impression, that he was now in a great measure
abandoned to his own guidance and direction, Edward Waverley departed from the
Hall amid the blessings and tears of all the old domestics and the inhabitants
of the village, mingled with some sly petitions for serjeantcies and
corporalships, and so forth, on the part of those who professed that »they never
thoft to ha' seen Jacob, and Giles, and Jonathan, go off for soldiers, save to
attend his honour, as in duty bound.« Edward, as in duty bound, extricated
himself from the supplicants with the pledge of fewer promises than might have
been expected from a young man so little accustomed to the world. After a short
visit to London, he proceeded on horseback, then the general mode of travelling,
to Edinburgh, and from thence to Dundee, a seaport on the eastern coast of
Angus-shire, where his regiment was then quartered.
    He now entered upon a new world, where, for a time, all was beautiful
because all was new. Colonel Gardiner, the commanding officer of the regiment,
was himself a study for a romantic, and at the same time an inquisitive, youth.
In person he was tall, handsome, and active, though somewhat advanced in life.
In his early years he had been what is called, by manner of palliative, a very
gay young man, and strange stories were circulated about his sudden conversion
from doubt, if not infidelity, to a serious and even enthusiastic turn of mind.
It was whispered that a supernatural communication, of a nature obvious even to
the exterior senses, had produced this wonderful change; and though some
mentioned the proselyte as an enthusiast, none hinted at his being a hypocrite.
This singular and mystical circumstance gave Colonel Gardiner a peculiar and
solemn interest in the eyes of the young soldier.12 It may be easily imagined
that the officers of a regiment, commanded by so respectable a person, composed
a society more sedate and orderly than a military mess always exhibits; and that
Waverley escaped some temptations to which
