Part 3 (1/2)
The officer paused for a moment, and then, ordering his soldiers to fall further back, when they were at a sufficient distance, he offered to take Lady Wallace's hand. She withstood his motion with a reserved air, and said, ”Speak, sir, what you would say, or allow me to retire.”
”I mean not to offend you, n.o.ble lady,” continued he; ”had I a wife lovely as yourself, and I in like circ.u.mstances, I hope in the like manner would defend my life and honor. I knew not the particulars of the affair in which Arthur Heselrigge fell, till I heard it from your lips. I can easily credit them, for I know his unmanly character.
Wallace is a Scot, and acted in Scotland as Gilbert Hambledon would have done in England, were it possible for any vile foreigner to there put his foot upon the neck of a countryman of mine. Wherever you have concealed your husband, let it be a distant asylum. At present no tract within the jurisdiction of Lanark will be left unsearched by the governor's indefatigable revenge.”
Lady Wallace, overcome with grat.i.tude at this generous speech of the English officer, uttered some inarticulate words, expressive more in sound than clearness, of her grateful feelings. Hambledon continued, ”I will use my influence with Heselrigge, to prevent the interior of your house from being disturbed again; but it being in the course of military operations, I cannot free you from the disagreeable ceremony of a guard being placed to-morrow morning round the domains. This I know will be done to intercept Sir William Wallace should he attempt to return.”
”Oh! That he were indeed far distant!” thought the anxious Marion.
The officer then added, ”However, you shall be relieved of my detachment directly.” And as he spoke, he waved his sword to them who had seized the harper. They advanced, still holding their prisoner.
He ordered them to commit the man to him, and to sound. The trumpeter obeyed; and in a few seconds the whole detachment were a.s.sembled before their commander.
”Soldiers!” cried he, ”Sir William Wallace has escaped our hands.
Mount your horses, that we may return to Lanark, and search the other side of the town. Lead forth, and I will follow.”
The troops obeyed, and falling back through the open gates, left Sir Gilbert Hambledon alone with Lady Wallace and the wondering Halbert.
The brave young man took the now no longer withdrawn hand of the grateful Marion, who had stood trembling while so many of her husband's mortal enemies were a.s.sembled under the place of his concealment.
”n.o.ble Englishman,” said she, as the last body of soldiers pa.s.sed from her sight, ”I cannot enough thank you for this generous conduct; but should you or yours be ever in the like extremity with my beloved Wallace (and in these tyrannous times, what brave spirit can answer for its continued safety?) may the ear which has heard you this night, at that hour repay my grat.i.tude!”
”Sweet lady,” answered Hambledon, ”I thank you for your prayer. G.o.d is indeed the benefactor of a true soldier; and though I serve my king, and obey my commanders, yet it is only to the Lord of battles that I look for a sure reward. And whether he pay me here with victories and honors, or take my soul through a rent in my breast, to receive my laurel in paradise, it is all one to Gilbert Hambledon. But the night is cold: I must see you safe within your own doors, and then, lady, farewell!”
Lady Wallace yielded to the impulse of his hand, and with redoubled haste, as she heard another rustling in the tree above her head.
Hambledon did not notice it; but desiring Halbert to follow, in a few minutes disappeared with the agitated Marion into the house.
Wallace, whose spirit could ill brook the sight of his domains filled with hostile troops, and the wife of his bosom brought a prisoner before their commander, would instantly have braved all dangers, and have leaped down amongst them; but at the instant he placed his foot on a lower bough to make a spring, the courteous address of Hambledon to his wife had made him hesitate. He listened to the replies of his Marion with exultation; and when the Englishman ordered his men to withdraw, and delivered himself so generously respecting the safety of the man he came to seize, Wallace could hardly prevent a brave confidence in such virtue from compelling him to come from his concealment, and thank his n.o.ble enemy on the spot. But in consideration that such disclosure would put the military duty and the generous nature of the officer at variance, he desisted, with such an agitation of spirits that the boughs had again shaken under him, and reawakened the alarm of his trembling wife.
”Omnipotent virtue!” exclaimed Wallace to himself; ”if it were possible that thy generous spirit could animate the breast of an invading conqueror, how soon would the vanquished cease to forget their former freedom, and learn to love their va.s.salage! This man's n.o.bleness, how soon has it quenched the flame of vengeance with which, when I ascended this tree, I prayed for the extirpation of every follower of Edward!”
”Sir William! my master!” cried a well-known voice, in a suppressed tone, as if still fearful of being overheard. It was Halbert's.
”Speak, my dear lord; are you safe?”
”In heart and body!” returned Wallace, sliding from the tree, and leaping on the ground. ”One only of the arrows touched me; and that merely striking my bugle, fell back amongst the leaves. I must now hasten to the dearest, the n.o.blest of women!”
Halbert begged him to stay till they should hear the retreat from the English trumpets. ”Till their troops are out of sight,” added he, ”I cannot believe you safe.”
”Hark!” cried Wallace, ”the horses are now descending the craig. That must satisfy you, honest Halbert.” With these words he flew across the gra.s.s, and entering the house, met the returning Marion, who had just bade farewell to Hambledon. She rushed into his arms, and with the excess of a disturbed and uncertain joy, fainted on his neck. Her gentle spirit had been too powerfully excited by the preceding scenes.
Unaccustomed to tumult of any king, and nursed in the bosom of fondness till now, no blast had blown on her tender form, no harshness had ever ruffled the blissful serenity of her mind. What then was the shock of this evening's violence! Her husband pursued as a murderer; herself exposed to the midnight air, and dragged by the hands of merciless soldiers to betray the man she loved! All these scenes were new to her; and though a kind of preternatural strength had supported her over, when she fell once more into her husband's extended arms, she seemed there to have found again her shelter, and the pillow whereon her hara.s.sed soul might repose.
”My life! My best treasure! Preserver of thy Wallace! Look on him!”
exclaimed he; ”bless him with a smile from those dear eyes.”
His voice, his caresses, soon restored her to sensibility and recollection. She wept on his breast, and with love's own eloquence, thanked Heaven that he had escaped the search and the arrows of his enemies.
”But my dear lady,” interrupted Halbert, ”remember my master must not stay here. You know the English commander said he must fly far away.
Nay, spies may even now be lurking to betray him.”