"Lo! you see," said Macbriar, "again hath his mouth spoken it.--And didst
thou not do this for the sake of a Midianitish woman, one of the spawn of
prelacy, a toy with which the arch-enemy's trap is baited? Didst thou not
do all this for the sake of Edith Bellenden?"
"You are incapable," answered Morton, boldly, "of appreciating my
feelings towards that young lady; but all that I have done I would have
done had she never existed."
"Thou art a hardy rebel to the truth," said another dark-brow'd man; "and
didst thou not so act, that, by conveying away the aged woman, Margaret
Bellenden, and her grand-daughter, thou mightest thwart the wise and
godly project of John Balfour of Burley for bringing forth to battle
Basil Olifant, who had agreed to take the field if he were insured
possession of these women's worldly endowments?"
"I never heard of such a scheme," said Morton, "and therefore I could not
thwart it.--But does your religion permit you to take such uncreditable
and immoral modes of recruiting?"
"Peace," said Macbriar, somewhat disconcerted; "it is not for thee to
instruct tender professors, or to construe Covenant obligations. For the
rest, you have acknowledged enough of sin and sorrowful defection, to
draw down defeat on a host, were it as numerous as the sands on the
sea-shore.
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