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wine, hardly interrupted this pantomime of affectionate enthusiasm..

At length the tall ungainly figure and ungracious visage of Ebenezer presented themselves. The upper part of his form, notwithstanding the season required no such defence, was shrouded in a large great-coat, belted over his under habiliments, and crested with a huge cowl of the same stuff, which, when drawn over the head and hat, completely overshadowed both, and being buttoned beneath the chin, was called a trot-cosy. His hand grasped a huge jockey whip, garnished with brass mounting. His thin legs tenanted a pair of gambadoes, fastened at the sides with rusty clasps. Thus accou tred, he stalked into the midst of the apartment, and announced his errand in brief phrase, "Yere horses are ready."

"You go with me yourself then, landlord ?"

"I do, as far as Perth; where ye may

be supplied with a guide to Embro', as your occasions shall require."

Thus saying, he placed under Waverley's eye the bill, which he held in his hand; and at the same time, self-invited, filled a glass of wine, and drank devoutly to a blessing on their journey. Waverley stared at the man's impudence, but, as their connection was to be short, and promised to be convenient, he made no observation upon it; and having paid his reckoning, expressed his intention to depart immediately. He mounted Dermid accordingly, and sallied forth from the Golden Candlestick, followed by the puritanical figure we have described, after he had, at the expence of some time and difficulty, and by the assistance of a "louping-on-stane," or structure of masonry erected for the traveller's convenience in front of the house, elevated his person to the back of a long-backed, raw-boned, thingutted phantom of a broken-down bloodhorse, on which Waverley's portmanteau

was deposited. Our hero, though not in a very gay humour, could hardly help laughing at the appearance of his new squire, and at imagining the astonishment which his person and equipage would have excited at Waverley-Honour.

Edward's tendency to mirth did not escape mine host of the Candlestick, who, conscious of the cause, infused a double portion of souring into the pharasaical leaven of his countenance, and resolved internally that, in one way or other, the young Englisher should pay dearly for the contempt with which he seemed to regard him. Callum also stood at the gate, and enjoyed, with undissembled glee, the ridiculous figure of Mr Cruickshanks. Waverley passed him, he pulled off his hat respectfully, and, approaching his stirrup, bade him "Tak heed the auld whig played him nae cantrap.'

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Waverley once more thanked, and bade him farewell, and then rode briskly onward, not sorry to be out of hearing of

the shouts of the children, as they beheld old Ebenezer rise and sink in his stirrups, to avoid the concussions occasioned by a hard trot upon a half-paved street. The village of was soon several miles behind him.

CHAPTER VII.

Shows that the Loss of a Horse's Shoe may be a serious Inconvenience.

THE manner and air of Waverley, but above all the glittering contents of his purse, and the indifference with which he seemed to regard them, somewhat overawed his companion, and deterred him from making any attempts to enter upon conversation. His own reflections were moreover agitated by various surmises, and by plans of self-interest, with which these were intimately connected. The travellers journeyed, therefore, in silence, until it was interrupted by the annunciation, on the part of the guide, that his "naig had lost a fore-foot shoe, which, doubtless, his honour would consider it was his part to replace." This was what lawyers call

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