Page:Scott - Tales of my Landlord - 3rd series, vol. 4 - 1819.djvu/50

 would have pre-supposed their acquaintance with the maxim of the great and godlike Gustavus Adolphus, that a flag of truce should be half a messenger half a spy?" And, having finished burnishing his arms, he sate down patiently to compute how much half a dollar per diem would amount to at the end of a six months campaign; and, when he had settled that problem, proceeded to the more abstruse calculations necessary for drawing up a battalion of two thousand men on the principle of extracting the square root.

From his musings, he was roused by the joyful sound of the dinner-bell, at the sound of which, the Highlander, lately his guard, became his gentleman-usher, and marshalled him to the hall, where a table with four covers bore ample proofs of Highland hospitality. Sir Duncan entered, conducting his lady, a tall, faded, melancholy female, dressed in deep mourning. They were followed by a presbyterian clergyman in his Geneva cloak, and wearing a black silk scull-cap, covering his short hair