Lord Bothwell found him encircled by his veterans, in whose breasts he was trying to allay3 the storm raging there against the injustice4 of the regent and the ingratitude5 of the Scottish lords. At sight of the young and ardent6 Bothwell, their clamor to be led instantly to revenge the indignity7 offered to their general redoubled, and Murray, not less incensed8, turning to them exclaimed:
“Yes, my friends, keep quiet for a few hours, and then, what honor commands we will do!” At this assurance they retired9 to their quarters, and Bothwell turned with Wallace into his tent.
“Before you utter a word concerning the present scenes,” cried Wallace, “tell me how is the hope of Scotland? the only earthly stiller of these horrid tumults10!”
“Alas!” replied Bothwell. “After regaining12, by a valor13 worthy14 of his destiny, every fortress15 north of the Forth16, his last and greatest achievement was making himself master of Scone17; but in storming its walls a fragment of stone falling heavily, terribly rent the muscles of his breast, and now — woe18 to Scotland! — he lies at Huntingtower reduced to infant weakness. All this you would have known had you received his letters; but villainy must have been widely at work, for none of yours have reached his hands.
This intelligence respecting Bruce was a more mortal blow to Wallace than all he had just sustained in his own person. He remained silent, but his mind was thronged19 with thoughts. Was Scotland to be indeed lost? Was all that he had suffered and achieved to have been done in vain? and should he be fated to behold20 her again made a sacrifice to the jealous rivalry21 of her selfish and contending nobles?
Bothwell continued to speak of the prince, and added, that it was with reluctance22 he had left him, even to share the anticipated success at Berwick. But Bruce, impatient to learn the issue of the siege (as still no letters arrived from that quarter), had dispatched him back to the borders. At Dunfermline he was stricken with horror by the information that treason had been alleged23 against Wallace, and turning his steps westward24, he flew to give that support to his friend’s innocence25 which the malignity26 of his enemies might render needful.
“The moment I heard how you were beset,” continued Bothwell, “I dispatched a messenger to Lord Ruthven, warning him not to alarm Bruce with such tidings, but to send hither all the spare forces in Perthshire, to maintain you in your rights.”
“No force, my dear Bothwell, must be used so hold me in a power which now would only keep alive a spirit of discord27 in my country. If I dare apply the words of my Divine Master, I would say, I came not to bring a sword but peace to the people of Scotland! Then, if they are weary of me, let me go. Bruce will recover, they will rally round his standard, and all be well.”
“Oh, Wallace! Wallace!” cried Bothwell, “the scene I have this day witnessed is enough to make a traitor28 of me. I could forswear my insensible country — I could immolate29 its ungrateful chieftains on those very lands which your generous arm restored to these worthless men!” He threw himself into a seat, and leaned his burning forehead against his hand.
“Cousin, you declare my sentiments,” rejoined Edwin; “my soul can never again associate with these sons of Envy. I cannot recognize a countryman in any one of them; and, should Sir William Wallace quit a land so unworthy of his virtues30, where he goes I will go — his asylum32 shall be my country, and Edwin Ruthven will forget that he ever was a Scot.”
“Never,” cried Wallace, turning on him one of those looks which struck conviction into the heart. “Is man more just than God? Though a thousand of your countrymen offend you by their crimes, yet while there remains33 one honest Scot, for his sake and his posterity34 it is your duty to be a patriot35. A nation is one great family, and every individual in it is as much bound to promote the general good as a brother or a father to maintain the welfare of his nearest kindred. And it the transgression36 of one son be no arouse for the omission37 of another, in like manner, the ruin these turbulent lords would bring upon Scotland is no excuse for your desertion of your interest. I would not leave the helm of my country did she not thrust me from it; but though cast by her into the waves, would you not blush for your friend should he wish her other than a peaceful haven38?” Edwin spoke39 not, but putting the hand of Wallace to his lips, left the tent.
“Oh!” cried Bothwell, looking after him, “that the breast of woman had but half that boy’s tenderness! And yet all of that dangerous sex are not like this hyena-hearted Lady Strathearn. Tell me, try friend, did she not, when she disappeared so strangely from Huntingtower, fly to you? I now suspect, from certain remembrances, that she and the Green Knight40 are one aid the same person. Acknowledge it, and I will unmask her at once to the court she has deceived.”
“She has deceived no one,” replied Wallace. “Before she spoke, the members of that court were determined41 to brand me with guilt42, and her charge merely supplied the place of others which they would have devised against me. Whatever she may be, my dear Bothwell, for the sake of whose name she once bore, let us not expose her to open shame. Her love or her hatred43 are alike indifferent to me now, for I neither of them do I owe that innate44 malice45 of my countrymen which has only made her calumny46 the occasion of manifesting their resolution to make me infamous47. But that, my friend, is beyond her compass. I have done my duty to Scotland, and that conviction must live in every honest heart — ay, and with dishonest too — for did they not fear my integrity, they would not have thought it necessary to deprive me of power. Heaven shield our prince! I dread48 that Badenoch’s next shaft49 may be at him!”
“No,” cried Bothwell, “all is leveled at his best friend. In a low voice, I taxed the regent with disloyalty for permitting this outrage50 on you, and his basely envious51 answer was: ‘Wallace’s removal is Bruce’s security; who will acknowledge him when they know that this man is his dictator?’”
Wallace sighed at this reply, which only confirmed him in his resolution, and he told Bothwell that he saw no alternative, if he wished to still the agitations52 of his country, and preserve its prince from premature53 discovery, but to indeed remove the subject of all these contentions54 from their sight.
“Attempt it not!” exclaimed Bothwell; “propose but a step toward that end, and you will determine me to avenge55 my country, at the peril56 of my own life, on all in that accursed assembly who have menaced yours!” In short, the young earl’s denunciations were so earnest against the lords in Stirling, that Wallace, thinking it dangerous to exasperate57 him further, consented to remain in his camp till the arrival of Ruthven should bring him the advantage of his counsel.
The issue showed that Bothwell was not mistaken. The majority of the Scottish nobles envied Wallace his glory, and hated him for that virtue31 which drew the eyes of the people to compare him with their selfish courses. The regent, hoping to become the first in Bruce’s favor, was not less urgent to ruin the man who so deservedly stood the highest in that prince’s esteem58. He had therefore entered warmly into the project of Lady Strathearn. But when, during a select conference between them, previous to her open charge of Wallace, she named Sir Thomas de Longueville as one of his foreign emissaries, Cummin observed:
“If you would have your accusation59 succeed, do not mention that knight at all. He is my friend. He is now ill near Perth, and must know nothing of this affair till it be over. Should he live, he will nobly thank you for your forbearance; should he die, I will repay you as becomes your nearest kinsman60.”
All were thus united in one determined effort to hurl61 Wallace from his station in the state. But when they believed that done, they quarreled amongst themselves in deciding who was to fill the great military office, which his prowess had now rendered a post rather of honor than of danger.
In the midst of these feuds62 Sir Simon Fraser abruptly63 appeared in the council-hall. His countenance64 proclaimed his tidings. Lennox and Loch-awe (who had duly attended, in hopes of bringing over some of the more pliable65 chiefs to embrace the cause of justice) listened with something like exultation66 to his suddenly disastrous67 information. When the English governor at Berwick learned the removal of Wallace from his command and the consequent consternation68 of the Scottish troops, instead of surrendering at sunset as was expected, he sallied out at the head of the whole garrison69, and attacking the Scots by surprise, gave them a total defeat. Every outpost around the town was retaken by the Southrons, the army of Fraser was cut to pieces or put to flight, and himself now arriving at Stirling, smarting with many a wound but more under his dishonor, to show to the Regent of Scotland the evil of having superseded70 the only man whom the enemy feared. The council stood in silence, staring on each other; and, to add to their dismay, Fraser had hardly completed his narration71, before a messenger from Tiviotdale arrived to inform the regent that King Edward was himself within a few miles of the Cheviots; and, from the recovered position of Berwick, must have even now poured his thousands over those hills upon the plains beneath. While all the citadel72 was indecision, tumult11, and alarm, Lennox hastened to Wallace’s camp with the news.
Lord Ruthven and the Perthshire chiefs were already there. They had arrived early in the morning, but with unpromising tidings of Bruce. The state of his wound had induced a constant delirium73. But still Wallace clung to the hope that his country was not doomed74 to perish — that its prince’s recovery was only protracted75. In the midst of this anxiety, Lennox entered; and relating what he had just heard, turned the whole current of the auditor’s ideas. Wallace started from his seat. His hand mechanically caught up his sword, which lay upon the table. Lennox gazed at him with animated76 veneration77. “There is not a man in the citadel,” cried he, “who does not appear at his wits’ end, and incapable78 of facing this often-beaten foe79. Will you, Wallace, again condescend80 to save a country that has treated you so ungratefully?”
“I would die in its trenches81!” cried the chief, with a generous forgiveness of all his injuries suffusing82 his magnanimous heart.
Lord Loch-awe soon after appeared, and corroborating83 the testimony84 of Lennox added, that on the regent’s sending word to the troops on the south of Stirling, that in consequence of the treason of Sir William Wallace the supreme85 command was taken from him, and they must immediately march out under the orders of Sir Simon Fraser, to face a new incursion of the enemy, they began to murmur86 among themselves, saying that since Wallace was found to be a traitor, they knew not whom to trust; but certainly it should not be a beaten general. With these whisperings, they slid away from their standards; and when Loch-awe left them they were dispersed87 on all sides, like an already discomfited88 army.
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1
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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3
allay
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| v.消除，减轻(恐惧、怀疑等) | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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ingratitude
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| n.忘恩负义 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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indignity
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| n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑 | |
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8
incensed
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| 盛怒的 | |
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9
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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10
tumults
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| 吵闹( tumult的名词复数 )； 喧哗； 激动的吵闹声； 心烦意乱 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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12
regaining
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| 复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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14
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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15
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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16
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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scone
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| n.圆饼，甜饼，司康饼 | |
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18
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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19
thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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22
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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23
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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25
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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malignity
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| n.极度的恶意，恶毒；（病的）恶性 | |
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27
discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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29
immolate
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| v.牺牲 | |
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30
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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32
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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33
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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34
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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35
patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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36
transgression
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| n.违背；犯规；罪过 | |
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37
omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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38
haven
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| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
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39
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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40
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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41
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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42
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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43
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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44
innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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45
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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46
calumny
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| n.诽谤，污蔑，中伤 | |
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47
infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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48
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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49
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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50
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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51
envious
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| adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的 | |
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52
agitations
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| （液体等的）摇动( agitation的名词复数 )； 鼓动； 激烈争论； （情绪等的）纷乱 | |
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53
premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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54
contentions
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| n.竞争( contention的名词复数 )；争夺；争论；论点 | |
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55
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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56
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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57
exasperate
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| v.激怒，使（疾病）加剧，使恶化 | |
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58
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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59
accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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60
kinsman
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| n.男亲属 | |
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61
hurl
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| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
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62
feuds
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| n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 ) | |
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63
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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64
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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65
pliable
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| adj.易受影响的；易弯的；柔顺的，易驾驭的 | |
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66
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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67
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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68
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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69
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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70
superseded
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| [医]被代替的，废弃的 | |
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71
narration
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| n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体 | |
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72
citadel
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| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
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73
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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74
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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75
protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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76
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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77
veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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78
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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79
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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80
condescend
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| v.俯就，屈尊；堕落，丢丑 | |
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81
trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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82
suffusing
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| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的现在分词 ) | |
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83
corroborating
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的现在分词 ) | |
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84
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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85
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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86
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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87
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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88
discomfited
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| v.使为难( discomfit的过去式和过去分词)；使狼狈；使挫折；挫败 | |
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