by Jane Porter
Chapter III.
Ellerslie.
Halbert returned to the house; and entering the room softly, into whichMarion had withdrawn, beheld her on her knees before a crucifix; shewas praying for the safety of her husband.
"May he, O gracious Lord!" cried she, "soon return to his home. But ifI am to see him here no more, oh, may it please thee to grant me tomeet him within thy arms in heaven!"
"Hear her, blessed Son of Mary!" ejaculated the old man. She lookedround, and rising from her knees, demanded of him, in a kind butanxious voice, whether he had left her lord in security.
"In the way to it, my lady!" answered Halbert. He repeated all thatWallace had said at parting, and then tried to prevail on her to go torest. "Sleep cannot visit my eyes this night, my faithful creature,"replied she; "my spirit will follow Wallace in his mountain flight. Goyou to your chamber. After you have had repose, that will be timeenough to revisit the remains of the poor earl, and to bring them withthe box to the house. I will take a religious charge of both, for thesake of the dear intruster."
Halbert persuaded his aldy to lie down on the bed, that her limbs atleast might rest after the fatigue of so harassing a night; and she,little suspecting that he meant to do otherwise than to sleep also,kindly wished him repose and retired.
Her maids, during the late terror, had dispersed, and were nowhere tobe found; and the men, too, after their stout resistance at the gates,had all disappeared; some fled others were sent away prisoners toLanark, while the good Hambledon was conversing with their lady.Halbert, therefore, resigned himself to await with patience the risingof the sun, when he hoped some of the scared domestics would return; ifnot, he determined to go to the cotters who lived in the depths of theglen, and bring some of them to supply the place of the fugitives; anda few, with stouter hearts, to guard his lady.
Thus musing, he sat on a stone bench in the hall, watching anxiouslythe appearance of that orb, whose setting beams he hoped would lighthim back with tidings of William Wallace to comfort the lonely heart ofhis Marion. All seemed at peace. Nothing was hear but the sighing ofthe trees as they waved before the western window, which opened towardthe Lanark hills. The morning was yet gray, and the fresh air blowingin rather chilly, Halbert rose to close the wooden shutter; at thatmoment, his eyes were arrested by a party of armed men in quick marchdown the opposite declivity. In a few minutes more their heavy stepssounded in his ears, and he saw the platform before the house filledwith English. Alarmed at the sight, he was retreating across theapartment, toward his lady's room, when the great hall door was burstopen by a band of soldiers, who rushed forward and seized him.
"Tell me, dotard!" cried their leader, a man of low stature, with graylocks, but a fierce countenance, "where is the murderer? Where is SirWilliam Wallace? Speak, or the torture shall force you."
Halbert shuddered, but it was for his defenseless lady, not forhimself. "My master," said he, "is far from this."
"Where?"
"I know not."
"Thou shalt be made to know, thou hoary-headed villian!" cried the sameviolent interrogator. "Where is the assassin's wife? I will confrontye. Seek her out."
At that word the soldiers parted right and left, and in a momentafterward three of them appeared, with shouts, bringing in thetrembling Marion.
"Alas! my lady!" cried Halbert, struggling to approach her, as withterrified apprehension she looked around her; but they held her fast,and he saw her led up to the merciless wretch who had given the ordersto have her summoned.
"Woman!" cried he, "I am the Governor of Lanark. You now stand beforethe representative of the great King Edward, and on your allegiance tohim, and on the peril of your life, I command you to answer me threequestions. Where is Sir William Wallace, the murderer of my nephew?Who is that old Scot, for whom my nephew was slain? He and his wholefamily shall meet my vengeance! And tell me where is that box oftreasure which your husband stole from Douglas Castle? Answer me thesequestions on your life."
Lady Wallace remained silent.
"Speak, woman," demanded the governor. "If fear cannot move you, knowthat I can reward as well as avenge. I will endow you richly, if youdeclare the truth. If you persist to refuse, you die."
"Then I die," replied she, scarcely opening her half-closed eyes, asshe leaned, fainting and motionless, against the soldier who held her.
"What?" cried the governor, stifling his rage, in hopes to gain bypersuasion on a spirit he found threats could not intimidate; "can sogentle a lady reject the favor of England, large grants in thiscountry, and perhaps a fine English knight for a husband, when youmight have all for the trifling service of giving up a traitor to hisliege lord, and confessing where his robberies lie concealed? Speak,fair dame; give me this information, and the lands of the woundedchieftain whom Wallace brought here, with the hand of the handsome SirGilbert Hambledon, shall be your reward. Rich, and a beauty inEdward's court! Lady, can you now refuse to purchase all, by declaringthe hiding place of the traitor Wallace?"
"It is easier to die!"
"Fool!" cried Heselrigge, driven from his assumed temper by her steadydenial. "What? is it easier for these dainty limbs to be hacked topieces by my soldiers' axes? Is it easier for that fair bosom to betrodden underfoot by my horse's hoofs, and for that beauteous head ofthine to decorate my lance? Is all this easier than to tell me whereto find a murderer and his gold?"
Lady Wallace shuddered; she stretched her hands to heaven.
"Speak once for all!" cried the enraged governor, drawing his sword; "Iam no waxen-hearted Hambledon, to be cajoled by your beauty. Declarewhere Wallace is concealed, or dread my vengeance."
The horrid steel gleamed across the eyes of the unhappy Marion; unableto sustain herself, she sunk to the ground.
"Kneel not to me for mercy!" cried the fierce wretch; "I grant none,unless you confess your husband's hiding-place."
A momentary strength darted from the heart of Lady Wallace to hervoice, "I kneel to Heaven alone, and may it ever preserve my Wallacefrom the fangs of Edward and his tyrants!"
"Blasphemous wretch!" cried the infuriated Heselrigge; and in thatmoment he plunged his sword into her defenseless breast. Halbert, whohad all this time been held back by the soldiers, could not believethat the fierce governor would perpetrate the horrid deed hethreatened; but seeing it done, with a giant's strength and a terriblecry he burst from the hands that held him, and had thrown himself onthe bleeding Marion, before her murderer could strike his second blow.However, it fell, and pierced through the neck of the faithful servantbefore it reached her heart. She opened her dying eyes, and seeing whoit was that would have shielded her life, just articulated, "Halbert!my Wallace--to God--" and with that last unfinished sentence her puresoul took its flight to regions of eternal piece.
The good old man's heart almost burst when he felt that before--heavingbosom now motionless; and groaning with grief, and fainting with lossof blood, he lay senseless on her body.
A terrible stillness was now in the hall. Not a man spoke; all stoodlooking on each other, with a stern horror marking each palecountenance. Heselrigge, dropping his blood-stained sword on theground, perceived by the behavior of his men that he had gone too far,and fearful of arousing the indignation of awakened humanity, to someact against himself, he addressed the soldiers in an unusual accent ofcondescension: "My friends," said he, "we will now return to Lanark;to-morrow you may come back, for I reward your services of this nightwith the plunder of Ellerslie."
"May a curse light on him who carries a stick from its grounds!"exclaimed a veteran, from the further end of the hall. "Amen!"murmured all the soldiers, with one consent; and falling back, theydisappeared, one by one, out of the great door, leaving Heselriggealone with the soldier, who stood leaning on his sword, looking on themurdered lady.
"Grimsby, why stand you there?" demanded Heselrigge: "follow me."
"Never," returned the soldier.
"What!" exclaimed the g
overnor, momentarily forgetting his panic, "dareyou speak thus to your commander? March on before me this instant, orexpect to be treated as a rebel."
"I march at your command no more," replied the veteran, eying himresolutely: "the moment you perpetrated this bloody deed, you becameunworthy the name of man; and I should disgrace my own manhood, were Iever again to obey the word of such a monster!"
"Villian!" cried the enraged Heselrigge, "you shall die for this!"
"That may be," answered Grimsby, "by the hands of some tyrant likeyourself; but no brave man, not the royal Edward, would do otherwisethan acquit his soldier for refusing obedience to the murderer of aninnocent woman. It was not so he treated the wives and daughters ofthe slaughtered Saracens when I followed his banners over the fields ofPalestine!"
"Thou canting miscreant!" cried Heselrigge, springing on him suddenly,and aiming his dagger at his breast. But the soldier arrested theweapon, and at the same instant closing upon the assassin, with a turnof his foot threw him to the ground. Heselrigge, as he lay prostrate,seeing his dagger in his adversary's hand, with the most dastardlypromises implored for life.
"Monster!" cried the soldier, "I wold not pollute my honest hands withsuch unnatural blood. Neither, though thy hand has been lifted againstmy life, would I willingly take thine. It is not rebellion against mycommander that actuates me, but hatred of the vilest of murderers. Igo far from you, or your power; but if you forswear your voluntaryoath, and attempt to seek me out for vengeance, remember it is asoldier of the cross you pursue, and a dire retribution shall bedemanded by Heaven, at a moment you cannot avoid, and with a horrorcommensurate with your crimes."
There was a solemnity and determination in the voice and manner of thesoldier that paralyzed the intimidated soul of the governor; hetrembled violently, and repeating the oath of leaving Grimsbyunmolested, at last obtained his permission to return to Lanark. Themen, in obedience to the conscience-stricken orders of their commander,had mounted their horses and were now far out of sight. Heselrigge'scharger was still in the courtyard; he was hurrying toward it, but thesoldier, with a prudent suspicion, called out, "Stop, sir! you mustwalk to Lanark. The cruel are generally false; I cannot trust yourword, should you have the power to break it. Leave this horsehere: to-morrow you may send for it, I shall then be far away."
Heselrigge saw that remonstrance would be unavailing; and shaking withimpotent rage, he turned into the path which, after five weary miles,would lead him once more to his citadel.
For the moment the soldier's manly spirit had dared to deliver itsabhorrence of Lady Wallace's murder, he was aware that his life wouldno longer be safe within reach of the machinations of Heselrigge; anddetermined, alike by detestation of him and regard for his ownpreservation, resolved to take shelter in the mountains, till he couldhave an opportunity of going beyond sea to join his king's troops inthe Guienne wars.
Full of these thoughts he returned into the hall. As he approached thebleeding form on the floor, he perceived it to move; hoping thatperhaps the unhappy lady might not be dead, he drew near; but, alas! ashe bent to examine, he touched her hand and found it quite cold. Theblood which had streamed from the now exhausted heart, lay congealedupon her arms and bosom. Grimsby shuddered. Again he saw her move;but it was not with her own life; the recovering senses of her faithfulservant, as his arms clung around the body, had disturbed the remainsof her who would wake no more.
On seeing that existence yet struggled in one of these blamelessvictims, Grimsby did his utmost to revive the old man. He raised himfrom the ground, and poured some strong liquor he had in a flask into amouth. Halbert breathed freer; and his kind surgeon, with thevenerable harper's own plaid, bound up the wound in his neck. Halbertopened his eyes. When he fixed them on the rough features and Englishhelmet of the soldier, he closed them again with a deep groan.
"My honest Scot," said Grimsby, "trust in me. I am a man likeyourself; and though a Southron, am no enemy to age and helplessness."
The harper took courage at these words; he again looked at the soldier;but suddenly recollecting what had passed, he turned his eyes towardthe body of his mistress, on which the beams of the now rising sun wereshining. He started up, and staggering toward her, would have fallen,had not Grimsby supported him. "O what a sight is this!" cried he,wringing his hands. "My lady! my lovely lady! see how low she lies whowas once the delight of all eyes, the comforter of all hearts." Theold man's sobs suffocated him. The veteran turned away his face, atear dropped upon his hand. "Accursed Heselrigge," ejaculated he, "thyfate must come!"
"If there be a man's heart in all Scotland, it is not far distant!"cried Halbert. "My master lives, and will avenge this murder. Youweep, soldier; and you will not betray what has now escaped me."
"I have fought in Palestine," returned he, "and a soldier of the crossbetrays none who trust him. Saint Mary preserve your master andconduct you safely to him. We must both hasten hence. Heselrigge willsurely send in pursuit of me. He is too vile to forgive the truth Ihave spoken to him; and should I fall into his power, death is the bestI could expect at his hands. Let me assist you to put this poor lady'sremains into some decent place; and then, my honest Scot, we mustseparate."
Halbert, at these words, threw himself upon the bosom of his mistress,and wept with loud lamentations over her. In vain he attempted toraise her in his feeble arms. "I have carried thee scores of times inthy blooming infancy," cried he; "and now must I bear thee to thygrave? I had hoped that my eyes would have been closed by this dearhand." As he spoke, he pressed her cold hand to his lips with suchconvulsive sobs that the soldier, fearing he would expire in the agonyof his sorrow, took him almost motionless from the dead body, andexhorted him to suppress such self-destroying grief for the sake of hismaster. Halbert gradually revived; and listening to him, cast awistful look on the lifeless Marion.
"There sleeps the pride and hope of Ellerslie, the mother with herchild! O my master, my widowed master," cried he, "what will comfortthee!"
Fearing the ill consequence of further delay, the soldier againinterrupted his lamentations with arguments for flight; and Halbertrecollecting the oratory in which Wallace had ordered the body of LordMar to be deposited, named it for that of his dear lady. Grimsby,immediately wrapping the beauteous corpse in the white garments whichhung about it, raised it in his arms, and was conducted by Halbert to alittle chapel in the heart of a neighboring cliff.
The still weeping old man removed the altar; and Grimsby, laying theshrouded Marion upon its rocky platform, covered her with the pall,which he drew from the holy table, and laid the crucifix upon herbosom. Halbert, when his beloved mistress was thus hidden from hissight, threw himself on his knees beside her, and in the vehementlanguage of grief offered up a prayer for her departed soul.
"Hear me, righteous Judge of heaven and earth!" cried he; "as thoudidst avenge the blood of innocence shed in Bethlehem, so let the grayhairs of Heselrigge be brought down in blood to the grave for themurder of this innocent lady!" Halbert kissed the cross, and risingfrom his knees, went weeping out of the chapel, followed by the soldier.
Having closed the door, and carefully locked it, absorbed in meditationon what would be the agonized transports of his master, when he shouldtell him these grievous tidings, Halbert proceeded in silence, till heand his companion in passing the well were startled by a groan.
"Here is some one in extremity!" cried the soldier.
"Is it possible he lives!" exclaimed Halbert, bending down to the edgeof the well with the same inquiry.
"Yes," feebly answered the earl, "I still exist, but am very faint. Ifall be safe above, I pray remove me into the upward air!" Halbertreplied that it was indeed necessary he should ascend immediately; andlowering the rope, told him to tie the iron box to it and then himself.This done, with some difficulty, and the assistance of the wonderingsoldier (who now expected to see the husband of the unfortunate LadyWallace emerge to the knowledge of his loss), he at las
t effected theearl's release. For a few seconds the fainting nobleman supportedhimself on his countryman's shoulder, while the fresh morning breezegradually revived his exhausted frame. The soldier looked at his graylocks and furrowed brow, and marveled how such proofs of age couldbelong to the man whose resistless valor had discomfited the fiercedetermination of Arthus Heselrigge and his myrmidons. However, hisdoubts of the veteran before him being other than the brave Wallace,were soon satisfied by the earl himself, who asked for a draught of thewater which trickled down the opposite hill; and while Halbert went tobring it, Lord Mar raised his eyes to inquire for Sir William and LadyMarion. He started when he saw English armor on the man he would haveaccosted, and rising suddenly from the stone on which he sat, demanded,in a stern voice, "Who art thou?"
"An Englishman," answered the soldier; "one who does not, like themonster Heselrigge, disgrace the name. I would assist you, nobleWallace, to fly this spot. After that, I shall seek refuge abroad; andthere, on the fields of Guienne, demonstrate my fidelity to my king."
Mar looked at him steadily. "You mistake; I am not Sir WilliamWallace."
At that moment Halbert came up with the water. The earl drank it,though now, from the impulse surprise had given to his blood, he didnot require its efficacy; and turning to the venerable bearer, he askedof him whether his master were safe.
"I trust he is," replied the old man; "but you, my lord, must hastenhence. A foul murder has been committed here, since you left it."
"But where is Lady Wallace?" asked the earl; "if there be such dangerwe must not leave her to meet it."
"She will never meet danger more!" cried the old man, clasping hishand; "she is in the bosom of the Virgin; and no second assassin'ssteel can reach her there."
"What!" exclaimed the earl, hardly articulate with horror; "is LadyWallace murdered?" Halbert answered only by his tears.
"Yes," said the soldier; "and detestation of so unmanly an outrageprovoked me to desert his standard. But no time must now be lost inunavailing lamentation. Heselrigge will return; and if we also wouldnot be sacrificed to his rage, we must hence immediately."
The earl, struck dumb at this recital, gave the soldier time to recountthe particulars. When he had finished, Lord Mar saw the necessity forinstant flight, and ordered horses to be brought from the stables.Though he had fainted in the well, the present shock gave such tensionto his nerves, that he found, in spite of his wound, he could now ridewithout difficulty.
Halbert went as commanded, and returned with two horses. Havingamongst rocks and glens to go, he did not bring one for himself; andbegging the good soldier might attend the earl to Bothwell, he added,"He will guard you and this box, which Sir William Wallace holds as hislife. What it contains I know not: and none, he says, may dare tosearch into. But you will take care of it for his sake, till morepeaceful times allow him to reclaim his own!"
"Fatal box!" cried the soldier, regarding it with an abhorrent eye,"that was the leading cause which brought Heselrigge to Ellerslie."
"How?" inquired the earl. Grimsby then briefly related, thatimmediately after the return to Lanark of the detachment sent toEllerslie, under the English garrison in Douglas, and told the governorthat Sir William Wallace had that evening taken a quantity of treasurefrom the castle. His report was, that the English soldiers who stoodnear the Scottish knight when he mounted at the castle gate, saw a longiron coffer under his arm, but not suspecting its having belonged toDouglas, they thought not of it, till they overheard Sir John Monteith,as he passed through one of the galleries, muttering something aboutgold and a box. To intercept the robber amongst his native glens, thesoldiers deemed impracticable, and therefore their captain cameimmediately to lay the information before the Governor of Lanark. Asthe scabbard found in the affray with young Arthur had betrayed thevictor to have been Sir William Wallace, this intimation of his havingbeen also the instrument of wrestling from the grasp of Heselriggeperhaps the most valuable spoil in Douglas exasperated him to the mostvindictive excess. Inflamed with the double furies of revenge andavarice, he ordered out a new troop, and placing himself at its head,took the way to Ellerslie. One of the servants, whom some ofHambledon's men had seized for the sake of information, on beingthreatened with the torture, confessed to Heselrigge, that not only SirWilliam Wallace was in the house when it was attacked, but that theperson whom he had rescued in the streets of Lanark, and who proved tobe a wealthy nobleman, was there also. This whetted the eagerness ofthe governor to reach Ellerslie; and expecting to get a rich booty,without the most distant idea of the horrors he was going toperpetrate, a large detachment of men followed him.
"To extort money from you, my lord," continued the soldier, "and toobtain that fatal coffer, were his main objects; but disappointed inhis darling passion of avarice, he forgot he was a man, and the bloodof innocence glutted his barbarous vengeance."
"Hateful gold!" cried Lord Mar, spurning the box with his foot; "itcannot be for itself the noble Wallace so greatly prizes it; it must bea trust."
"I believe it is," returned Halbert, "for he enjoined my lady topreserve it for the sake of his honor. Take care of it, then, my lord,for the same sacred reason."
The Englishman made no objection to accompany the earl; and by asuggestion of his own, Halbert brought him a Scottish bonnet and cloakfrom the house. While he put them on, the earl observed that theharper held a drawn and blood-stained sword in his hand, on which hesteadfastly gazed. "Whence came that forried weapon?" cried Lord Mar.
"It is my lady's blood," replied Halbert, still looking on it. "Ifound it where she lay, in the hall, and I will carry it to my master.Was not every drop of her blood dear to him? and here are many." Asthe old man spoke he bent his head on the sword, and groaned heavily.
"England shall hear more of this!" cried Mar, as he threw himselfacross the horse. "Give me that fatal box; I will buckle it to mysaddle-bow. Inadequate will be my utmost care of it, to repay the vastsorrow its preservation and mine have brought upon the head of mydeliverer."
The Englishman in silence mounted his horse, and Halbert opened aback-gate that led to the hills which lay between Ellerslie andBothwell Castle. Lord Mar took a golden-trophied bugle from hisbreast: "Give this to your master, and tell him that by whatever handshe sends it, the sight of it shall always command the services ofDonald Mar. I go to Bothwell, in expectation that he will join methere. In making it his home he will render me happy, for myfriendship is now bound to him by bonds which only death can sever."
Halbert took the horn, and promising faithfully to repeat the earl'smessage, prayed God to bless him and the honest soldier. A rockypromontory soon excluded them from his sight, and in a few minutes moreeven the sound of their horses' hoofs was lost on the soft herbage ofthe winding dell.
"Now I am alone in this once happy spot. Not a voice, not a sound.Oh, Wallace!" cried he, throwing up his venerable arms, "thy house isleft unto thee desolate, and I am to be the fatal messenger." With thelast words he struck into a deep ravine which led to the remotestsolitudes of the glen, and pursued his way in dreadful silence. Nohuman face of Scot or English cheered or scared him as he passed along.The tumult had so alarmed the poor cottagers, that with one accordthey fled to their kindred on the hills, amid those fastnesses ofnature, to await tidings from the valley, of when all should be still,and they might return in peace. Halbert looked to the right and to theleft; no smoke, curling its gray mist from behind the intersectingrocks, reminded him of the gladsome morning hour, or invited him totake a moment's rest from his grievous journey. All was lonely andcomfortless; and sighing bitterly over the wide devastation, heconcealed the fatal sword and the horn under his cloak, and with astaff which he broke from a withered tree, took his way down thewinding craigs. Many a pointed flint pierced his aged feet, whileexploring the almost trackless paths, which by their direction he hopedwould lead him at length to the deep caves of Corie Lynn.