The Carse of Stirling.
Daybreak gleamed over the sky before the wondering spectators of the
late extraordinary scene had dispersed to their quarters.
De Warenne was so well convinced by what had dropped from De Valence,
of his having been the assassin, that when they met at sunrise to take
horse for the borders, he made him no other salutation than an
exclamation of surprise, "not to find him under an arrest for the last
night's work!"
"The wily Scot knew better," replied De Valence, "than so to expose the
reputation of the lady. He knew that she received the wound in his
arms, and he durst not seize me, for fear I should proclaim it."
"He cannot fear that," replied De Warenne, "for he has proclaimed it
himself. He has told every particular of his meeting with Lady Helen
in the chapel, even her sheltering him with her arms; so there is
nothing for you to declare but your own infamy. For infamous I must
call it, Lord Aymer; and nothing but the respect I owe my country,
prevents me pointing the eyes of the indignant Scots to you; nothing
but the stigma your exposure would bring upon the English name, could
make me conceal the dead."
De Valence laughed at this speech of De Warenne's. "Why, my lord
warden," said he, "have you been taking lessons of this doughty Scot,
that you talk thus? It was not with such sentiments you overthrew the
princes of Wales, and made the kings of Ireland fly before you! You
would tell another story were your own interest in question; and I can
tell you that any vengeance is not satisfied, I will yet see the
brightness of those eyes on which the proud daughter of Mar hangs so
fondly, extinguished in death. Maid, or wife, Helen shall be torn from
his arms, and if I cannot make her a virgin bride, she shall at least
be mine as his widow; for I swear not to be disappointed."
"Shame, De Valence! I should blush to owe my courage to rivalry, or my
perseverance in the field to a licentious passion! You know what you
have confessed to me were once your designs on Helen Mar."
"Every man according to his nature!" returned De Valence; and shrugging
his shoulders, he mounted his horse.
The cavalcade of Southrons now appeared. They were met on the Carse by
the regent, who, not regarding the smart of a closing wound, advanced
at the head of ten thousand men to see his prisoners over the borders.
By Helen's desire, Lord Mar had informed Wallace what had been the
threats of De Valence, and that she suspected him to be the assassin.
But this suspicion was put beyond a doubt by the evidence of the
dagger, which Edwin had found in the chapel; its hilt was enameled with
the martlets of De Valence.
At sight of it a general indignation filled the Scottish chiefs, and
assembling round their regent, with one breath they demanded that the
false earl should be detained and punished as became the honor of
nations, for so execrable a breach of all laws, human and divine.
Wallace replied that he believed the attack to have been instigated by
a personal motive, and therefore, as he was the object, not the state
of Scotland, he should merely acquaint the earl that his villainy was
known, and let the shame of disgrace be his punishment.
"Ah," observed Lord Bothwell, "men who trample on conscience soon get
over shame."
"True," replied Wallace, "but I suit my actions to my mind, not to my
enemy's; and if he cannot feel dishonor, I will not so far disparage
myself as to think one so base worthy my resentment."
While he was quieting the reawakened indignation of his nobles, whose
blood began to boil afresh at sight of the assassin, the Southron
lords, conducted by Lord Mar, approached. When that nobleman drew
near, Wallace's first inquiry was for Lady Helen. The earl informed
him he had received intelligence of her having slept without fever, and
that she was not awake when the messenger came off with his good
tidings. That all was likely to be well with her was comfort to
Wallace; and, with an unruffled brow, riding up to the squadron of
Southrons which was headed by De Warenne and De Valence, he immediately
approached the latter, and drawing out the dagger, held it toward him:
"The next time, sir earl," said he, "that you draw this dagger, let it
be with a more knightly aim than assassination!"
De Valence, surprised, took it in confusion, and without answer; but
his countenance told the state of his mind. He was humbled by the man
he hated; and while a sense of the disgrace he had incurred tore his
proud soul, he had not dignity enough to acknowledge the generosity of
his enemy in again giving him a life which his treachery had so often
forfeited. Having taken the dagger, he wreaked the exasperated
vengeance of his malice upon the senseless steel, and breaking it
asunder, threw the pieces into the air; while turning from Wallace with
an affected disdain, he exclaimed to the shivered weapon, "You shall
not betray me again!"
"Nor you betray our honors, Lord de Valence," exclaimed Earl de
Warenne; "and therefore, though the nobleness of the William Wallace
leaves you at large after this outrage on his person, we will assent
our innocence of connivance with the deed; and, as lord warden of this
realm, I order you under arrest till we pass the Scottish lines."
"'Tis well," cried Hilton, "that such is your determination, my lord,
else no honest man could have continued in the same company with one
who has so tarnished the English name."
"No!" cried his brother baron, venerable Blenkinsopp, reining up his
steed; "I would forfeit house and lands first."
De Valence, with an ironical smile, looked toward the squadron, which
approached to obey De Warenne, and haughtily answered, "Though it be
dishonor to march with me out of Scotland, the proudest of you all will
deem it an honor to be allowed to return with me hither. I have an eye
on those who stand with cap in hand to rebellion. And for you, Sir
William Wallace," added he, turning to him, who was also curbing his
impatient charger, "I hold no terms with a rebel; and deem all honor
that would rid my sovereign and the earth of such low-born arrogance."
Before Wallace could answer he saw De Valence struck from his horse by
the Lochaberax of Edwin. Indignant at the insult offered to his
beloved commander, he had suddenly raised his arm, and aiming a blow
with all his strength, the earl was immediately stunned and
precipitated to the ground.
At sight of the fall of the Southron chief, the Scottish troops, aware
of there being some misunderstanding between their regent and the
English lords, uttered a shout. Wallace, to prevent accidents, sent
instantly to the lines, to appease the tumult, and throwing himself off
his horse, hastened to the prostrate earl. A fearful pause reigned
throughout the Southron ranks. They did not know but that the enraged
Scots would now fall on them, and, in spite of their regent,
exterminate them on the spot. The troops were running forward when
Wallace's messengers arrived and checked them, and himself, calling to
Edwin, stopped his further chastisement of the recovering earl.
"Edwin, you have done wrong," cried he; "give me that weapon which you
have sullied by raising it against a prisoner totally in our power."
With a vivid blush the noble boy resigned the weapon to his general;
yet, with an unappeased glance on the prostrate De Valence, he
exclaimed, "But have you not granted life twice to this prisoner? and
has he not, in return, raised his hand against his life and Lady Helen?
You pardon him again! and in the moment of your clemency, he insults
the Lord Regent of Scotland in the face of both nations! I could not
hear this and live without making him feel that you have those about
you who will not forgive such crimes."
"Edwin," returned Wallace, "had not the lord regent power to punish?
And if he see right to hold his hand, those who strike for him invade
his dignity. I should be unworthy the honor of protecting a brave
nation, did I stoop to tread on every reptile that stings me in my
path. Leave Lord de Valence to the sentence his commander has
pronounced, and as an expiation for your having offended both military
and moral law this day, you must remain at Stirling till I return into
Scotland."
De Valence, hardly awake from the stupor which the blow of the
battle-ax had occasioned (for indignation had given to the young
warrior the strength of manhood), was raised from the ground; and soon
after coming to himself and being made sensible of what had happened,
he was taken, foaming with rage and mortification, into the center of
the Southron lines.
Alarmed at the confusion he saw at a distance, Lord Montgomery ordered
his litter round from the rear to the front, and hearing all that had
passed, joined with De Warenne in pleading for the abashed Edwin.
"His youth and zeal," cried Montgomery, "are sufficient to excuse the
intemperance of the deed."
"No!" interrupted Edwin; "I have offended and I will explate. Only, my
honored lord," said he, approaching Wallace, while he checked the
emotion which would have flowed from his eyes, "when I am absent,
sometimes remember that it was Edwin's love which hurried him to this
disgrace."
"My dear Edwin," returned Wallace, "there are many impetuous spirits in
Scotland who need the lesson I now enforce upon you; and they will be
brought to maintain the law of honor when they see that their regent
spares not its slightest violation, even when committed by his best
beloved friend. Farewell till we meet again!"
Edwin kissed Wallace's hand in silence--it was not wet with his
tears--and drawing his bonnet hastily over his eyes, he retired into the
rear of Lord Mar's party. That nobleman soon after took leave of the
regent, who, placing himself at the head of his legions, the trumpets
blew the signal of march. Edwin, at the sound which a few minutes
before he would have greeted with so much joy, felt his grief-swollen
heart give way; he sobbed aloud, and striking his heel on the side of
his horse, galloped to a distance, to bide from all eyes the violence
of his regrets. The trampling of the departing troops rolled over the
ground like receding thunder. Edwin at last stole a look toward the
plain; he beheld a vast cloud of dust, but no more the squadrons of his
friend.