 Bellenden would, in spite
of summer walks beneath the greenwood tree, exchange of verses, of drawings, and
of books, end in becoming Lady Evandale.
    These hints coincided so exactly with the very point of his own suspicions
and fears, that Morton was not long of feeling that jealousy which every one has
felt who has truly loved, but to which those are most liable whose love is
crossed by the want of friends' consent, or some other envious impediment of
fortune. Edith herself, unwittingly, and in the generosity of her own frank
nature, contributed to the error into which her lover was in danger of falling.
Their conversation once chanced to turn upon some late excesses committed by the
soldiery on an occasion when it was said (inaccurately however) that the party
was commanded by Lord Evandale. Edith, as true in friendship as in love, was
somewhat hurt at the severe strictures which escaped from Morton on this
occasion, and which, perhaps, were not the less strongly expressed on account of
their supposed rivalry. She entered into Lord Evandale's defence with such
spirit as hurt Morton to the very soul, and afforded no small delight to Jenny
Dennison, the usual companion of their walks. Edith perceived her error, and
endeavoured to remedy it; but the impression was not so easily erased, and it
had no small effect in inducing her lover to form that resolution of going
abroad, which was disappointed in the manner we have already mentioned.
    The visit which he received from Edith during his confinement, the deep and
devoted interest which she had expressed in his fate, ought of themselves to
have dispelled his suspicions; yet, ingenious in tormenting himself, even this
he thought might be imputed to anxious friendship, or, at most, to a temporary
partiality, which would probably soon give way to circumstances, the entreaties
of her friends, the authority of Lady Margaret, and the assiduities of Lord
Evandale.
    »And to what do I owe it,« he said, »that I cannot stand up like a man, and
plead my interest in her ere I am thus cheated out of it? - to what, but to the
all-pervading and accursed tyranny which afflicts at once our bodies, souls,
estates, and affections? And is it to one of the pensioned cut-throats of this
oppressive Government that I must yield my pretensions to Edith Bellenden? - I
will not, by Heaven! - It is a just punishment on me for being dead to public
wrongs, that they have visited me with their injuries in a point where they can
be least
