Wallace remarked on the indisposition of Mar, and the attention of his daughter, with tenderness. And Edwin, with the unrestrained vivacity6 of happy friendship, proceeded sportively to describe the regal style which the countess had affected7, and the absurd group with which she had welcomed the Earls Badenoch and Athol to their native country. “Indeed,” continued he, “I cannot guess what vain idea has taken possession of her; but when I went to Snawdoun, to receive her commands for you, I found her seated on a kind of throne, with ladies standing8 in her presence, and our younger chieftains thronging9 the gallery, as if she were the regent himself. Helen entered for a moment, but, amazed, started back, never before having witnessed the morning courts of stepmother.”
But Edwin did not relate to his friend all that had passed in the succeeding conference between him and his gentle cousin.
Blushing for her father’s wife, Helen would have retired10 immediately to her own apartments, but Edwin drew her into one of Lady Mar’s rooms, and seating her beside him, began to speak of his anticipated meeting with Wallace. He held her hand in his. “My dearest cousin,” said he, “will not this tender hand, which has suffered so much for our brave friend, write him one word of kind remembrance? Our queen here will send him volumes.”
“Then he would hardly have time to attend to one of mine,” replied Helen, with a smile. “Besides, he requires no new assurance to convince him that Helen Mar can never cease to remember her benefactor11 with the most grateful thoughts.”
“And is this all I am to say to him, Helen?”
“All, my Edwin.”
“What! not one word of the life you have led since he quitted Stirling? Shall I not tell him that, when this lovely arm no longer wore the livery of its heroism12 in his behalf, instead of your appearing at the gay assemblies of the countess, you remained immured13 within your oratory14? Shall I not tell him that since the sickness of my uncle you have sat days and nights by his couch-side, listening to the dispatches from the borders-subscribing, with smiles and tears, to his praises of our matchless regent? Shall I not tell him of the sweet maid who lives here the life of a nun15 for him? Or, must I entertain him with the pomps and vanities of my most unsaintly aunt?”
Helen had in vain attempted to stop him, while, with an arch glance at her mantling16 blushes, he half whispered these insidious17 questions. “Ah, my sweet cousin, there is something more at the bottom of that beating heart than you will allow your faithful Edwin to peep into.”
Helen’s heart did beat violently, both before and after this remark; but conscious, whatever might be there, of the determined18 purpose of her soul, she turned on him a steady look. “Edwin,” said she, “there is nothing in my heart that you may not see. That it reveres19 Sir William Wallace beyond all other men, I do not deny. But class not my deep veneration20 with a sentiment which may be jested on! He has spoken to me the language of friendship-you know what it is to be his friend-and having tasted of heaven, I cannot stoop to earth. What pleasure can I find in pageants21?-what interest in the admiration22 of men? Is not his esteem23 of a value that puts to naught24 the homages of all else in the world? Do me then justice, my Edwin! believe me, I am no gloomy, no sighing, recluse25. I am happy with my thoughts, and thrice happy at the side of my father’s couch; for there I meet the image of the most exemplary of human beings, and there I perform the duties of a child to a parent deserving all my love and honor.”
“Ah, Helen! Helen!” cried Edwin; “dare I speak the wish of my heart! But you and Sir William Wallace would frown on me, and I may not!”
“Then, never utter it!” exclaimed Helen, turning pale, and trembling from head to foot; too well guessing, by the generous glow in his countenance26, what would have been that wish.
At this instant the door opened, and Lady Mar appeared. Both rose at her entrance. She bowed her head coldly to Helen. To Edwin she graciously extended her hand. “Why, my dear nephew, did you not come into the audience-hall?”
Edwin answered, smiling, that as he “did not know the Governor of Stirling’s lady lived in the state of a queen, he hoped he should be excused for mistaking lords and ladies in waiting for company; and for that reason, having retired till he could bid her adieu in a less public scene.”
Lady mar, with much stateliness, replied, “Perhaps it is necessary to remind you, Edwin, that I am more than Lord Mar’s wife. I am not only heiress to the sovereignty of the northern isles28, but, like Badenoch, am of the blood of the Scottish kings.”
To conceal29 an irrepressible laugh at this proud folly30 in a woman, otherwise of shrewd understanding, Edwin turned toward the window; but not before the countess had observed the ridicule31 which played on his lips. Vexed32, but afraid to reprimand one who might so soon resent it, by speaking of her disparagingly33 to Wallace, she unburdened the swelling34 of her anger upon the unoffending Helen. Not doubting that she felt as Edwin did, and fancying that she saw the same expression in her countenance. “Lady Helen,” cried she, “I request an explanation of that look of derision which I now see on your face. I wish to know whether the intoxication35 of your vanity dare impel36 you to despise claims which may one day be established to your confusion.”
This attack surprised Helen, who, absorbed in other meditations37, had scarcely heard her mother’s words to Edwin. “I neither deride38 you, Lady Mar, nor despise the claims of your kinsman39, Badenoch. But since you have condescended40 to speak to me on the subject, I must, out of respect to yourself, and duty to my father, frankly41 say, that the assumption of honors not legally in your possession may excite ridicule on him, and even trouble to our cause.”
Provoked at the just reasoning of this reply and at being misapprehended with regard to the object with whom she hoped to share all the reflected splendors42 of a throne, Lady Mar answered, rather inconsiderately, “Your father is an old man, and has outlived every noble emulation43. He neither understands my actions, nor shall he control them.” Struck dumb by this unexpected declaration, Helen suffered her to proceed. “And as to Lord Badenoch giving me the rank to which my birth entitled me, that is a foolish dream-I look to a greater hand.”
“What!” inquired Edwin, with a playful bow, “does my highness aunt expect my uncle to die, and that Bruce will come hither to lay the crown of Scotland at her feet?”
“I expect nothing of Bruce, nor of your uncle,” returned she, with a haughty44 rearing of her head; “but I look for respect from the daughter of Lord Mar, and from the friend of Sir William Wallace.”
She rose from her chair, and presenting Edwin with a packet for Wallace, told Helen she might retire to her own room.
“To my father’s I will, madam,” returned she.
Lady Mar colored at this reproof45, and, turning to Edwin, more gently said, “You know that the dignity of his situation must be maintained; and while others attend his couch, I must his reputation.”
“I have often heard that ‘Fame is better than life!’” replied Edwin, still smiling; “and I thank Lady mar for showing me how differently people may translate the same lesson. Adieu, dear Helen!” said he, touching46 her mantling cheek with his lips.
“Farewell,” returned she, “may good angels guard you!”
The substance of the latter part of this scene Edwin did relate to Wallace. He smiled at the vain follies47 of the countess, and broke the seal of her letter. It was in the same style with her conversation; at one moment declaring herself his disinterested48 friend, in the next, uttering wild professions of neverending attachment49. She deplored50 the sacrifice which had been made of her, when quite a child, to the doting51 passion of Lord Mar; and complained of his want of sympathy with any of her feelings. Then picturing the happiness which must result from the reciprocal love of congenial hearts, she ventured to show how truly hers would unite with Wallace’s. The conclusion of this strange epistle told him that the devoted52 gratitude53 of all her relations of the house of Cummin was ready, at any moment, to relinquish54 their claims on the crown, to place it on brows so worthy55 to wear it.
The words of this letter were so artfully and so persuasively56 penned, that had not Edwin described the inebriated57 vanity of Lady Mar, Wallace might have believed that she was ambitious only for him, and that could she share his heart, his throne would be a secondary object. To establish this deception58 in his mind, she added, “I live here as at the head of a court, and fools around me think I take pleasure in it; but did they look into my actions, they would see that I serve while I seem to reign27. I am working in the hearts of men for your advancement59.”
But whether this were her real motive60 or not, it was the same to Wallace; he felt that she would always be, were she even free, not merely the last object in his thoughts, but the first in his aversion. Therefore, hastily running over her letter, he recurred61 to a second perusal62 of Lord Mar’s. In this he found satisfactory details of the success of his dispositions63. Lord Lochawe had possessed64 himself of the western coast of Scotland, from the Mull of Kintyre, to the furthest mountains of Glenmore. There the victorious65 Lord Ruthven had met him, having completed the recovery of the Highlands, by a range of conquests from the Spey to the Murray frith and Inverness-shire. Lord Bothwell, also, as his colleague, had brought from the shore of Ross and the hills of Caithness, every Southron banner which had disgraced their embattled towers.
Graham was sent for by Wallace to hear these pleasant tidings.
“Ah!” cried Edwin, in triumph, “not a spot north of the Forth66 now remains67, that does not acknowledge the supremacy68 of the Scottish lion!”
“Nor south of it either,” returned Graham; “from the Mull of Galloway to my gallant69 father’s government on the Tweed; from the Cheviots to the Northern Ocean, all now is our own. The door is locked against England, and Scotland must prove unfaithful to herself before the Southrons can again set feet on her borders.”
The more private accounts were not less gratifying to Wallace; for he found that his plans for disciplining and bringing the people into order were everywhere adopted, and that in consequence, alarm and penury70 had given way to peace and abundance. To witness the success of his comprehensive designs, and to settle a dispute between Lord Ruthven and the Earl of Athol, relative to the government of Perth, Lord Mar strongly urged him (since he had driven the enemy so many hundred miles into their own country) to repair immediately to the scene of controversy71. “Go,” added the earl, “through the Lothians, and across the Queens ferry, directly into Perthshire. I would not have you come to Stirling, lest it should be supposed that you are influenced in your judgment72 either my myself or my wife. But I think there cannot be a question that Lord Ruthven’s services to the great cause invest him with a claim which his opponent does not possess. Lord Athol has none beyond that of superior rank; but being the near relation of my wife, I believe she is anxious for his elevation73. Therefore come not near us, if you would avoid female importunity74, and spare me the pain of hearing what I must condemn75.”
Wallace now recollected76 a passage in Lady Mar’s letter which, though not speaking out, insinuated77 how she expected he would decide. She said: “As your interest is mine, my noble friend, all that belongs to me is yours. My kindred are not withheld78 in the gift my devoted heart bestows79 on you. Use them as your own; make them bulwarks80 around your power, the creatures of your will, the instruments of your benevolence81, the defenders82 of your rights.”
Well pleased to avoid another rencounter with this lady’s love and ambition, Wallace sent off the substance of these dispatches to Murray; and next morning, taking a tender leave of the venerable Gregory and his family, with Edwin and Sir John Graham, he set off for the Frith of Forth.
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1
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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mar
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| vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟 | |
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blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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6
vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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7
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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thronging
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的现在分词 ) | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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13
immured
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| v.禁闭，监禁( immure的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
oratory
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| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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15
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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16
mantling
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| 覆巾 | |
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insidious
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| adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧 | |
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18
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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19
reveres
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| v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的第三人称单数 ) | |
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20
veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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21
pageants
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| n.盛装的游行( pageant的名词复数 )；穿古代服装的游行；再现历史场景的娱乐活动；盛会 | |
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22
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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23
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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24
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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recluse
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| n.隐居者 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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32
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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disparagingly
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| adv.以贬抑的口吻，以轻视的态度 | |
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34
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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35
intoxication
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| n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning | |
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impel
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| v.推动；激励，迫使 | |
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meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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38
deride
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| v.嘲弄，愚弄 | |
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39
kinsman
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| n.男亲属 | |
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40
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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41
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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42
splendors
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| n.华丽( splendor的名词复数 )；壮丽；光辉；显赫 | |
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43
emulation
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| n.竞争；仿效 | |
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44
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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45
reproof
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| n.斥责，责备 | |
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46
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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47
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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48
disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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49
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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50
deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
doting
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| adj.溺爱的，宠爱的 | |
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52
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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53
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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54
relinquish
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| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
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55
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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56
persuasively
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| adv.口才好地；令人信服地 | |
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57
inebriated
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| adj.酒醉的 | |
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58
deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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59
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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60
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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61
recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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62
perusal
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| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
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63
dispositions
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| 安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质 | |
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64
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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65
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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66
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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67
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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68
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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69
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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70
penury
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| n.贫穷，拮据 | |
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71
controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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72
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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73
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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74
importunity
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| n.硬要，强求 | |
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75
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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76
recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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77
insinuated
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| v.暗示( insinuate的过去式和过去分词 )；巧妙或迂回地潜入；（使）缓慢进入；慢慢伸入 | |
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78
withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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79
bestows
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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80
bulwarks
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| n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 )；保障；支柱；舷墙 | |
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81
benevolence
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| n.慈悲，捐助 | |
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82
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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