 Here he heard the
tidings of the decisive battle of Culloden. It was no more than he had long
expected, though the success at Falkirk had thrown a faint and setting gleam
over the arms of the Chevalier. Yet it came upon him like a shock, by which he
was for a time altogether unmanned. The generous, the courteous, the
noble-minded Adventurer, was then a fugitive, with a price upon his head; his
adherents, so brave, so enthusiastic, so faithful, were dead, imprisoned, or
exiled. Where, now, was the exalted and high-souled Fergus, if, indeed, he had
survived the night at Clifton? - where the pure-hearted and primitive Baron of
Bradwardine, whose foibles seemed foils to set off the disinterestedness of his
disposition, the genuine goodness of his heart, and his unshaken courage? Those
who clung for support to these fallen columns, Rose and Flora, - where were they
to be sought, and in what distress must not the loss of their natural protectors
have involved them? Of Flora he thought with the regard of a brother for a
sister - of Rose, with a sensation yet more deep and tender. It might be still
his fate to supply the want of those guardians they had lost. Agitated by these
thoughts, he precipitated his journey.
    When he arrived in Edinburgh, where his inquiries must necessarily commence,
he felt the full difficulty of his situation. Many inhabitants of that city had
seen and known him as Edward Waverley; how, then, could he avail himself of a
passport as Francis Stanley? He resolved, therefore, to avoid all company, and
to move northward as soon as possible. He was, however, obliged to wait a day or
two in expectation of a letter from Colonel Talbot, and he was also to leave his
own address, under his feigned character, at a place agreed upon. With this
latter purpose he sallied out in the dusk through the well-known streets,
carefully shunning observation, - but in vain: one of the first persons whom he
met at once recognised him. It was Mrs. Flockhart, Fergus Mac-Ivor's
good-humoured landlady.
    »Gude guide us, Mr. Waverley, is this you? - na, ye needna be feared for me
- I wad betray nae gentleman in your circumstances. Eh, lack-a-day! lack-a-day!
here's a change o' markets! how merry Colonel Mac-Ivor and you used to be in our
house?« And the good-
