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Show CONDENSED I I CLASSICS I $ - $ :: i WAVERLEY J t t - ' I-'-" $ & z By SIR WALTER SCOTT S J' Condensation by Henry T. Schnittkind, Ph. D. X ... ... . W The majority of Sir Waller Scott's DOVetfl were published annnymouMly. 'Waverley" appeared in 1S14, and not until lSiT7 Traa It formally acknowledged acknowl-edged that Scott Tvna the author of The Waverley Novell. A few Edin-bnrgh Edin-bnrgh friends Tiere always In the secret and year by year the circle of those Tviio knew was widened. Hut to thousands and thousauds of rapt renders, the author remained "The Great Unknown." Even those who actually knew Scott to be the author were sometimes puzzled. He hart oITl-cinl oITl-cinl law duties which he did not shirk; be appeared in society more than many busy men; each year his name was signed to so many articles and reviefs that it seemed Incredible that he could . find time for anything else. The explanation lay in Scott's ability to concentrate. He knew what be wanted to any and he spent little time bunting; for phrases or polishing his sentences. There Is a familiar anecdote of a visitor to Edinburgh, dining with convivial friends and looking out of a window at a hand which went back and forth, back and forth, across sheets of paper. "It never stops," said his host. . . . "It is the same every night." Tbe visitor suggested that It was perhaps a dllisent clerk. "No, boys," his friend replied, "I well know whose hand it is 'tis Walter Scott's." Sometimes Scott was so racked by pain that he could not write. "The Bride of Lammermoor" and "Ivanhoe" - were dictated while the author was suffering so Intensely from cramps that between sentences he screamed aloud In agony. But when be was begged to stop and rest, he answered, "Nay, "Willie, only see that the doors are fast." LET us for a few thrilling minutes transport ourselves to Scotland in 1745, when its Highland forests for-ests teemed with the caves of robbers and its moors resounded with the shouting of the chieftains as they battled bat-tled to restore the exiled house of Stuart to the throne, then occupied by King George IL Are you ready? Then let us join the handsome young English officer, Edward Ed-ward Waverley. He is about to visit the cavern of the Highland robber, Donald Bean Lean, little dreaming of the maze of adventures into which this visit will lead him. Waverley is enjoying enjoy-ing a furlough at the Scottish Lowland mansion of the eccentric, garrulous and " lovable baron of Bradwardine. The Aaron's seventeen-year-old daughter, Rose Bradwardine, "with a profusion of hair of paley gold, and a skin like the snow of her era mountain in whiteness," white-ness," has fallen ta love with Waverley, Waver-ley, who, however, finds her tender attentions at-tentions too tame for his poetic imagination. imagi-nation. It is his ambition to explore the wild regions of romance, and for- I The baron's cattle, having been stolen I by the robber Donald Bean Lean, are restored through the interposition of the baron's friend, the powerful Highland High-land chieftain, Fergus Maclvor. The chieftain's lieutenant, Evan Dim Mac-! combich, invites Waverley to visit Don-1 aid Bean Lean's den. After a journey; throughout Lowland glen -and brae, over Highland lake and f ores-t, Uiey ar-: rived at the cavern, where Waverley spends an interesting night in the presence pres-ence of Donald Bean Lean and his com-I:iny com-I:iny of robbers, who come singly or in groups, each .putting with his dirk a slice of flesh from a carcass suspended In the cave, broiling the steak and washing it down with draughts of undiluted un-diluted whisky. A buxom Highland ' ltiss, Hie robber's daughter, takes care of this romantic den. The next morning Evan Dim Mae- ! combich induces Waverley to visit the i Ilighlacd mansion of his master, Fertile Fer-tile Maclvor, whose handsome face "resembles a smiling summer's day in which, however, one can detect signs that It may thunder and lighten before evening." His love for his beautiful and accomplished sister, Flora Hat-Ivor, Hat-Ivor, Is equaled only by his nmbition to restore the exiled Stuart family to the throne. Feigns entertains Waverley at a plo turesoue banciuet attended bv hun dreds of the clansmen of Maclvor. After the banquet Flora asks Waverley to meet her In her favorite haunt near a cascade. As Edward approached the waterfall, "the sun, now stooping In the west, seemed to add more than hu-Uida hu-Uida brilliancy to the full expressive darkness of Flora's eyes. Edward thought he had never, even in his wildest wild-est dreams, imagined a picture of such exquisite loveliness." Conscious of her charms in this "Eden in the wilderuess," Flora sings to him a stirring martial song which she accompanies on a small Scottish liarp, the melody blending harmoniously harmonious-ly with the sound of the waters of the cataract. Waverley, bewitched by her loveliness, proposes to Flora, who promptly rejects him. Disappointed, but not discouraged, Waverley gladly accepts an invitation to remain tit Fergus Maclvor's mansion for a few days. While attending a stag-hunt he sustains an Injury which keeps li : m in l ed for some time. On h'.s recovery he is both astonished and Incensed to learn that the colonel of his ivgimont has reduced him to the ranks f"r "absence without leave." His anger is aggravated by a letter from his f::;her who, through a political bUiutLr, has lost a high position in the court of King George, Lt the saroo time, oo, Iiose Bra(v.-arrllne writes to him that her father, the baron, has been obliged to flee in order to escape arrest for his adherence to the cause of the exiled Stuarts. Despite these apparent acts of Injustice In-justice Waverley remains loyal to King George and decides to return home. On the way to England, however, he is arrested ar-rested and charged with desertion and treason. Knowing himself to be Innocent, Inno-cent, he is mystified at this turn of affairs. af-fairs. What plot has been hatched against him and by whom? His stupefaction stupe-faction increases when he is rescued by a band of Highlanders. Who are these Highlanders? And why do they Interest themselves in him? These and similar questions perplex his bewildered bewil-dered senses. Wounded during the rescue, he Is nursed back to health in a peasant's hut by a young girl, who always manages man-ages to make her escape whenever he tries to catch a glimpse of her. When his health is restored the Highlanders take him to Edinburgh, where he meets his friends, Fergus Maclvor and the baron of Bradwardine, among the insurgents who are making an attempt to recover the throne for their gallant leader, the exiled Prince Charles Edward. Ed-ward. Waverley now feels compelled to join this army. Just before enlisting, Waverley tries once more to win Flora's love, but is again repulsed. He therefore throws himself heart and soul into the cause of the young princo. The army is about to engage In its first battle. The sun has just risen. The rocks, and the very sky itself, "resound "re-sound with the clang of the bagpipes." The mountaineers rouse themselves with the hum and bustle of a multitude of bees, arming and ready to swarm out of their hives. The insurgents win the battle and Waverley captures a brave English officer, of-ficer, who remains alone beside his cannon after the others have fled. This officer turns out to be a certain Colonel Talbot, an old friend of the house of Waverley, whom Edward has never met before. Colonel Talbot has left an invalid wife in order to find Waverley and to induce him to return home, since his conduct has put the entire Waverley family into danger. When Edward learns that Colonel Talbot's imprisonment is likely to cost the life of his sick wife he obtains the colonel's release. In return for this kindness Colonel Talbot promises to Intercede with the English king in Wa-verley's Wa-verley's behalf. The way for such a plea has fortunately been paved by the revelation of some of the mysteries attending at-tending the arrest of Waverley for desertion de-sertion and treason. By means of a packet of letters, which Donald Bean Lean's daughter has slipped into Edward's Ed-ward's baggage, he learns that her father, fa-ther, the Highland robber, being in the service of Pr'aice Charles Edward, and wishing to gain favor in his eyes, has concocted a plot whereby the British government was led to believe that Waverley was a traitor, thereby forcing forc-ing him into the army of the insurgent prince. Only one question now remains re-mains unexplained. Who was the girl that nursed him during his fever in the ' peasant's hut? ! Before the solution is found f this question, the insurgent army is totally defeated, Fergus Maclvor is captured, ' the prince escapes, and Waverley, who is now also a fugitive, pays a secret visit to the mansion of the Baron of BradwaTdine, for he is anxious to learn about the fate of some of his friends. He finds the baron in hiding (a that self-same hut where he had been nursed during his fever. Hare he learns that it was Rose Bradwardine vho nursed him. It was Rose, also, who had paid Donald Bean Leas with her mother's jewelry in order to induce him to rescue Waverley after his surest for treason. Overcome with gratitude for such devotion, Edward asks the baron of Bradwardine for his daughter's daugh-ter's hand. He can now marry her in security; for, thanks to the kindness of; Colonel Talbot and other influential : Englishmen, both he and the baron1 have been pardoned. It takes the loquacious baron an hour to teli Rose of Edward's love for her. It takes Edward jmst five minutes to convince her of It. Their happiness would now be complete com-plete but for the sad fate of Fergur. Maclvor, who has been condemned to death. lie faces the executioner unflinchingly, un-flinchingly, expressing no regret for his fate, but only the hope that "they will set my head on the Scotch gate, that I may look, even after death, to the blue hills of my own country, which I love so dearly." With this shadow to mar the sunshine sun-shine of their happiness, Edward and Rose are married. Thus we come to the end of the romantic ro-mantic tale, and we must again return to the drab reality of our everyday existence. ex-istence. But before so doing let us, together to-gether with Flora Maclvor, who has joined the Scottish Benedictine nuns in Paris, bid the happy couple good luck and adieu 1 Copyright, 1919. by the Post Publishing Co. (The Boston Post). Copyright in the United Kingdom, the Dominions, Us Colonies Col-onies and dependencies, under the copyright copy-right act, by the Post Publishing Co., Boston, Mass., U. S. A. All rights reserved. |