Sir Walter humorously suggested George Cranstoun as the real offender.

After the secret was publicly confessed, Lady Louisa Stuart reminded Scott of all the amusement it had given them.
"Old Mortality" had been pronounced "too good" for Scott, and free from his "wearisome descriptions of scenery." Clever people had detected several separate hands in "Old Mortality," as in the Iliad.

All this was diverting.

Moreover, Scott was in some degree protected from the bores who pester a successful author.

He could deny the facts very stoutly, though always, as he insists, With the reservation implied in alleging that, if he had been the author, he would still have declined to confess.
In the notes to later novels we shall see some of his "great denials." The reception of "Waverley" was enthusiastic.