Scotland.
The eighth morning from the day in which the Red Reaver's ship was
relaunched from the Norman harbor, Wallace, now the representative of
that once formidable pirate, bearing the white flag of good faith,
entered between the castled shores of the Frith of Tay, and cast anchor
under the towers of Dundee.
When Bruce leaped upon the beach, he turned to Wallace and said with
exultation, though in a low voice, "Scotland now receives her king!
This earth shall cover me, or support my throne!"
"It shall support your throne, and bless it too," replied Wallace; "you
are come in the power of justice, and that is the power of God. I know
Him in whom I bid you confide; for He has been my shield and sword, and
never yet have I turned my back upon my enemies. Trust, my dear
prince, where I have trusted; and while virtue is your incense, you
need not doubt the issue of your prayers."
Had Wallace seen the face of Bruce at that moment, but the visor
concealed it, he would have beheld an answer in his eloquent eyes which
required not words to explain. He grasped the hand of Wallace with
fervor, and briefly replied, "Your trust shall be my trust!"
The chiefs did not stay longer at Dundee than was requisite to furnish
them with horses to convey them to Perth, where Ruthven still bore
sway. When they arrived, he was at Huntingtower, and thither they
went. The meeting was fraught with many mingled feelings. Helen had
not seen her uncle since the death of her father; and, as soon as the
first gratulations were over, she retired to an apartment to weep alone.
On Cummin's being presented to Lord Ruthven, the earl told him he must
now salute him as Lord Badenoch, his brother having been killed a few
days before in a skirmish on the skirts of Ettrick Forest. Ruthven
then turned to welcome the entrance of Bruce, who, raising his visor,
received from the loyal chief the homage due to his sovereign dignity.
Wallace and the prince soon engaged him in a discourse immediately
connected with the design of their return; and learned that Scotland
did indeed require the royal arm, and the counsel of its best and
lately almost banished friend. Much of the eastern part of the country
was again in possession of Edward's generals. They had seized on every
castle in the Lowlands; none having been considered too insignificant
to escape their hands. Nor could the quiet of reposing age elude the
general devastation; and after a dauntless defense of his castle, the
veteran Knight of Thirlestane had fallen, and with him his only son.
On hearing this disaster, the sage of Ercildown, having meanwhile
protected Lady Isabella mar at Learmont, conveyed her northward; but
falling sick at Roslyn, he had stopped there; and the messenger he
dispatched to Huntingtower with these calamitous tidings (who happened
to be that brave young Gordon whose borrowed breastplate had been that
of Bruce's, in his first battle for Scotland!), bore also information
that besides several parties of the enemy which were hovering on the
heights near Roslyn, an immense army was approaching from
Northumberland. Ercildown said he understood Sir Simon Fraser was
hastening forward with a small body to attempt cutting off these
advanced squadrons; but, he added, while the contentions continued
between Athol and Soulis for the vacant regency, no man could have hope
of any steady stand against England.
At this communication, Cummin bluntly proposed himself as the
terminator of this dispute. "If the regency were allowed to my brother
as head of the house of Cummin, that dignity now rests with me. Give
the word, my sovereign," said he, addressing Bruce, "and none there
shall dare oppose my rights." Ruthven approved this proposal; and
Wallace, deeming it not only the best way of silencing the pretensions
of those old disturbers of the public tranquility, but a happy
opportunity of putting the chief magistracy into the hands of a
confidant of their design, seconded the advice of Ruthven. Thus John
Cummin, Lord Badenoch, was invested with the regency, and immediately
dispatched to the army, to assume it as if in right of his being the
next heir to the throne in default of the Bruce.
Wallace sent Lord Douglas privately into Clydesdale, to inform Earl
Bothwell of his arrival, and to request his instant presence with the
Lanark division and his own troops on the banks of the Eske. Ruthven
ascended the Grampians, to call out the numerous clans of Perthshire,
and Wallace, with his prince, prepared themselves for meeting the
auxiliaries before the towers of Roslyn. Meanwhile, as Huntingtower
would be an insecure asylum for Helen, when it must be left to
domestics alone, Wallace proposed to Edwin that he should escort his
cousin to Braemar, and place her under the care of his mother and the
widowed countess. "Thither," continued he, "we will send Lady Isabella
also, should Heaven bless our arms at Roslyn." Edwin acquiesced, as he
was to return with all speed to join his friend on the southern bank of
the Forth; and Helen, aware that scenes of blood were no scenes for
her, while her heart was wrung to agony at the thought of relinquishing
Wallace to new dangers, yielded a reluctant assent, not merely to go,
but to take that look of him which might be the last.
The sight of her uncle, and the objects around, had so recalled the
image of her father, that ever since her arrival a foreboding sadness
had hung over her spirits. She remembered that a few months ago she
had seen that beloved parent go out to battle, whence he never
returned. Should the same doom await her with regard to Wallace! The
idea shook her frame with an agitation that sunk her, in spite of
herself, on the bosom of this trust of friends, when Edwin approached
to lead her to her horse. Her emotions penetrated the heart against
which she leaned.
"My gentle sister," said Wallace, "do not despair of our final success;
of the safety of all whom you regard."
"Ah! Wallace," faltered she, in a voice rendered hardly audible by
tears, "but did I not lose my father?"
"Sweet Helen," returned he, tenderly grasping her trembling hand, "you
lost him, but he gained by the exchange. And should the peace of
Scotland be purchased by the lives of your friends--if Bruce survives,
you must still think your prayers blessed. Were I to fall, my sister,
my sorrows would be over; and from the region of universal blessedness
I should enjoy the sight of Scotland's happiness."
"Were we all to enter those regions at one time," faintly replied
Helen, "there would be comfort in such thoughts; but as it is--" Here
she paused; tears stopped her utterance. "A few years is a short
separation," returned Wallace, "when we are hereafter to be united to
all eternity. This is my consolation, when I think of Marion--when
memory dwells with the friends lost in these dreadful conflicts; and
whatever may be the fate of those who now survive, call to remembrance
my words, dear Helen, and the God who was my instructor will send you
comfort."
"Then farewell, my friend, my brother!" cried she, forcibly tearing
herself away, and throwing herself into the arms of Edwin; "leave me
now; and the angel of the just will bring you in glory, here or
hereafter, to your sister Helen." Wallace fervently kissed the hand
she again extended to him; and, with an emotion which he had thought he
would never feel again for mortal woman, left the apartment.