'It accords with the rest,' she said; 'but we must submit. Shall you obtain leave, do you suppose?'
'For—for—to-morrow,' said Waverley; but muttering the last word so faintly that it was almost unintelligible.
'Aye, then or never,' said Flora, 'until'—she added, looking upward, 'the time when, I trust, we shall all meet. But I hope you will see him while earth yet bears him. He always loved you at his heart, though—but it is vain to talk of the past.'
'Vain indeed!' echoed Waverley.
'Or even of the future, my good friend,' said Flora, 'so far as earthly events are concerned; for how often have I pictured to myself the strong possibility of this horrid issue, and tasked myself to consider how I could support my part; and yet how far has all my anticipation fallen short of the unimaginable bitterness of this hour!'
'Dear Flora, if your strength of mind'—
'Aye, there it is,' she answered, somewhat wildly; 'there is, Mr. Waverley, there is a busy devil at my heart, that whispers—but it were madness to listen to it—that the strength of mind on which Flora prided herself has murdered her brother!'
'Good God! how can you give utterance to a thought so shocking?'
'Aye, is it not so?—but yet it haunts me like a phantom: I know it is unsubstantial and vain; but it will be present—will intrude its horrors on my mind—will whisper that my brother, as volatile as ardent, would have divided his energies amid a hundred objects. It was I who taught him to concentrate them, and to gage all on this dreadful and desperate cast. Oh that I could recollect that I had but once said to him, "He that striketh with the sword shall die by the sword"; that I had but once said, Remain at home; reserve yourself, your vassals, your life, for enterprises within the reach of man. But oh, Mr. Waverley, I spurred his fiery temper, and half of his ruin at least lies with his sister.'
The horrid idea which she had intimated, Edward endeavoured to combat by every incoherent argument that occurred to him. He recalled to her the principles on which both thought it their duty to act, and in which they had been educated.