Mr. Oldbuck having recovered their wind, and
continued their respective harangues, the three strands of the conversation, to
speak the language of a ropework, were again twined together into one
undistinguishable string of confusion.
    Yet, howsoever uninteresting this piebald jargon might seem, it was
obviously Miss Wardour's purpose to give it her attention, in preference to
yielding Captain M'Intyre an opportunity of renewing their private conversation.
So that, after waiting for a little time with displeasure, ill concealed by his
haughty features, he left her to enjoy her bad taste, and taking his sister by
the arm, detained her a little behind the rest of the party.
    »So I find, Mary, that your neighbour has neither become more lively nor
less learned during my absence.«
    »We lacked your patience and wisdom to instruct us, Hector.«
    »Thank you, my dear sister. But you have got a wiser, if not so lively an
addition to your society, than your unworthy brother - Pray, who is this Mr.
Lovel, whom our old uncle has at once placed so high in his good graces? - he
does not use to be so accessible to strangers.«
    »Mr. Lovel, Hector, is a very gentleman-like young man.«
    »Ay, - that is to say, he bows when he comes into a room, and wears a coat
that is whole at the elbows.«
    »No, brother; it says a great deal more. It says that his manners and
discourse express the feelings and education of the higher class.«
    »But I desire to know what is his birth and his rank in society, and what is
his title to be in the circle in which I find him domesticated?«
    »If you mean, how he comes to visit at Monkbarns, you must ask my uncle, who
will probably reply, that he invites to his own house such company as he
pleases; and if you mean to ask Sir Arthur, you must know that Mr. Lovel
rendered Miss Wardour and him a service of the most important kind.«
    »What! that romantic story is true, then? - And pray, does the valorous
knight aspire, as is befitting on such occasions, to the hand of the young lady
whom he redeemed from peril? It is quite in the rule of romance, I am aware; and
I did think that she was uncommonly dry to me as we walked together, and seemed
from time to time as if she watched whether she was not giving offence to her
gallant cavalier.