Bothwell not less eager to preserve Wallace to the world, with an intent to persuade him to at least abandon his monastic project, set off direct for France, hoping to arrive before his friend, and engage the French monarch6 to assist in preventing so grievous a sacrifice. Ruthven, meanwhile, fearful that the unarmed Wallace and the self-regardless Edwin might fall into the hands of the venal7 wretches8 now widely dispersed9 to seize the chief and his adherents10, sent out the veterans, in divers11 disguises, to pursue the roads it was probable he might take, and finding him, guard him safely to the coast. Till Ruthven should receive accounts of their success, he forbore to forward the letter which Wallace had left for Bruce, or to increase the solicitude12 of the already anxious inhabitants of Huntingtower with any intimation of what had happened. But on the fourth day, Scrymgeour and his party returned with the horrible narrative13 of Lumloch.
receive accounts of their success, he forbore to forward the letter which Wallace had left for Bruce, or to increase the solicitude of the already anxious inhabitants of Huntingtower with any intimation of what had happened. But on the fourth day, Scrymgeour and his party returned with the horrible narrative of Lumloch.
After the murder of his youthful friend, Wallace had been loaded with irons, and conveyed, so unresistingly that he seemed in a stupor14, on board a vessel15, to be carried without loss of time to the Tower of London. Sir John Monteith, though he never ventured into his sight, attended as the accuser, who, to put a visor on cruelty, was to swear away his victim’s life. The horror and grief of Ruthven at these tidings were unutterable; and Scrymgeour, to turn the tide of the bereaved16 father’s thoughts to the inspiring recollection of the early glory of his son, proceeded to narrate17, that he found the beauteous remains18 in the hovel, but bedecked with flowers by the village girls. They were weeping over it, and lamenting19 the pitiless heart which could slay20 such youth and loveliness. To bury him in so obscure a spot, Scrymgeour would not allow, and he had sent Stephen Ireland with the sacred corpse21 to Dumbarton, with orders to see him entombed in the chapel22 of that fortress23.
“It is done,” continued the worthy24 knight25, “and those towers he so bravely scaled with stand forever the monument of Edwin Ruthven.”
“Scrymgeour,” said the stricken father, “the shafts26 fall thick upon us, but we must fulfill27 our duty.”
Cautious of inflicting28 too heavy a blow on the fortitude29 of his wife and of Helen, he commanded Grimsby and Hay to withhold30 from everybody at Huntingtower the tidings of its young lord’s fate; but he believed it his duty not to delay the letter of Wallace to Bruce, and the dreadful information to him of Monteith’s treachery. Ruthven ended his short epistle to his wife by saying he should soon follow his messenger; but that at present he could not bring himself to entirely31 abandon the Lowlands to even a temporary empire of the seditious chiefs.
Ruthven ended his short epistle to his wife by saying he should soon follow his messenger; but that at present he could not bring himself to entirely abandon the Lowlands to even a temporary empire of the seditious chiefs.
On Grimsby’s arrival at Huntingtower he was conducted immediately to Bruce. Some cheering symptoms having appeared that morning, he had just exchanged his bed for a couch when Grimsby entered the room. The countenance32 of the honest Southron was the harbinger of his news. Lady Helen started from her seat, and Bruce, stretching out his arms, eagerly caught the packets the soldier presented. Isabella inquired if all were well with Sir William Wallace; but ere he could make an answer, Lady Ruthven ran breathless into the room, holding out the open letter brought by Hay to her. Bruce had just read the first line of his, which announced the captivity33 of Wallace; and, with a groan34 that pierced through the souls of every one present, he made an attempt to spring from the couch; but in the act he reeled, and fell back in a fearful but mute mental agony. The apprehensive36 heart of Helen guessed some direful explanation; she looked with speechless inquiry37 upon her aunt and Grimsby. Isabella and Ercildown hastened to Bruce; and Lady Ruthven being too much appalled38 in her own feelings to think for a moment on the aghast Helen, hurriedly read to her from Lord Ruthven’s letter the brief but decisive account of Wallace’s dangerous situation — his seizure39 and conveyance40 to the Tower of England. Helen listened without a word; her heart seemed locked within her; her brain was on fire; and gazing fixedly41 on the floor while she listened, all else that was transacted42 around her passed unnoticed.
The pangs43 of a convulsion fit did not long shackle44 the determined Bruce. The energy of his spirit struggling to gain the side of Wallace in this his extreme need (for he well knew Edward’s implacable soul), roused him from his worse than swoon. With his extended arms dashing away the restoratives with which both Isabella and Ercildown hung over him, he would have leaped on the floor had not the latter held him down.
“Withhold me not!” cried he; “this is not the time for sickness and indulgence. My friend is in the fangs45 of the tyrant46, and shall I lie here? No, not for all the empires in the globe will I be detained another hour.”
Isabella, affrighted at the furies which raged in his eyes, but yet more terrified at the perils47 attendant on his desperate resolution, threw herself at his feet, and implored48 him to stay for her sake.
“No,” cried Bruce, “not for thy life, Isabella, which is dearer to me than my own! not to save this ungrateful country from the doom49 it merits would I linger one moment from the side of him who has fought, bled, and suffered for me and mine, who is now treated with ignominy, and sentenced to die, for my delinquency! Had I consented to proclaim myself on my landing, secure with Bruce the king envy would have feared to strike; but I must first win a fame like his! And while I lay here, they tore him from the vain and impotent Bruce! But, Almighty50 pardoner of my sins!” cried he, with vehemence51, “grant me strength to wrest52 him from their grip, and I will go barefoot to Palestine, to utter all my gratitude53!”
Isabella sunk weeping into the arms of her aunt. And the venerable Ercildown, wishing to curb54 an impetuosity which could only involve its generous agent in a ruin deeper than that it sought to revenge, with more zeal55 than judgment56, urged to the prince the danger into which such boundless57 resentment58 would precipitate59 his own person. At this intimation the impassioned Bruce, stung to the soul that such an argument could be expected to have weight with him, solemnly bent60 his knees, and clasping his sword, vowed61 before Heaven “either to release Wallace or —” to share his fate! he would have added; but Isabella, watchful62 of his words, suddenly interrupted him, by throwing herself wildly on his neck, and exclaiming:
“Oh, say not so! Rather swear to pluck the tyrant from his throne; that the scepter of my Bruce may bless England, as it will yet do this unhappy land!”
“She says right!” ejaculated Ercildown, in a prophetic transport; “and the scepter of Bruce, in the hands of his offspring, shall bless the united countries to the latest generations! The walls of separation shall then be thrown down, and England and Scotland be one people.”
Bruce looked steadfastly63 on the sage64: “Then if thy voice utter holy verity65, it will not again deny my call to wield66 the power that Heaven bestows67! I follow my fate! To-morrow’s dawn sees me in the path to snatch my best treasure, my counselor68, my guide, from the judgment of his enemies — or woe69 to England, woe to all Scotland born who have breathed one hostile word against his sacred life! Helen dost thou hear me?” cried he: “Wilt thou not assist me to persuade thy too timid sister that her Bruce’s honor, his happiness, lives in the preservation70 of his friend? Speak to her, counsel her, sweet Helen, and, and, please the Almighty arm of Heaven, I will reward thy tenderness with the return of Wallace!”
Helen gazed intently on him while he spoke71. She smiled when he ended, but she did not answer, and there was a wild vacancy72 in the smile that seemed to say she knew not what had been spoken, and that her thoughts were far away. Without further regarding him or any present, she arose and left the room. At this moment of fearful abstraction, her whole soul was bent with an intensity73 that touched on madness, on the execution of a project which had rushed into her mind in the moment she heard of Wallace’s deathful captivity and destination.
Helen gazed intently on him while he spoke. She smiled when he ended, but she did not answer, and there was a wild vacancy in the smile that seemed to say she knew not what had been spoken, and that her thoughts were far away. Without further regarding him or any present, she arose and left the room. At this moment of fearful abstraction, her whole soul was bent with an intensity that touched on madness, on the execution of a project which had rushed into her mind in the moment she heard of Wallace’s deathful captivity and destination.
The approach of night favored her design. Hurrying to her chamber74, she dismissed her maids with the prompt excuse that she was ill, and desired not to be disturbed until morning, then bolting the door, she quickly habited herself as the dear memorial of her happy days in France, and dropping from her window into the pleasance beneath, ran swiftly through its woody precincts toward Dundee.
Before she arrived at the suburbs of Ferth, her tender feet became so blistered75, she found the necessity of stopping at the first cottage. But her perturbed76 spirits rendered it impossible for her to take rest, and she answered the hospitable77 offer of its humble78 owner, with a request that he would go into the town and immediately purchase a horse, to carry her that night to Dundee. She put her purse into the man’s hand, who without further discussion obeyed. When the animal was brought and the honest Scot returned her the purse with its remaining contents, she divided them with him, and turning from his thanks, mounted the horse, and rode away.
About an hour before dawn, she arrived within view of the ships lying in the harbor at Dundee. At this sight she threw herself off the panting animal, and leaving it to rest and liberty, hastened to the beach. A gentle breeze blew freshly from the northwest, and several vessels79 were heaving their anchors to get under weigh.
“Are any,” demanded she, “bound for the Tower of London?”
“None,” were the replies. Despair was now in her heart and gesture. But suddenly recollecting80 that in dressing81 herself for flight she had not taken off the jewels she usually wore, she exclaimed with renovated82 hope, “Will not gold tempt35 some one to carry me thither83?” A rough Norwegian sailor jumped from the side of the nearest vessel, and readily answered in the affirmative. “My life,” rejoined she, “or a necklace of pearls shall be yours, in the moment you land me at the Tower of London.” The man seeing the youth and agitation84 of the seeming boy, doubted his power to perform so magnificent a promise, and was half inclined to retract85 his assent86; but Helen pointing to a jewel on her finger as a proof that she did not speak of things beyond her read, he no longer hesitated; and pledging his word that wind and tide in his favor, he would land her at the Tower Stairs, she, as if all happiness must meet her at that point, sprung into his vessel. The sails were unfurled, the voices of the men chanted forth87 their cheering responses on clearing the harbor, and Helen throwing herself along the floor of her little cabin, in that prostration88 of body and soul, silently breathed her thanks to God for being indeed launched on the ocean, whose waves she trusted would soon convey her to Wallace; to sooth, to serve — to die, or to compass the release of him who had sacrificed more than his life for her father’s preservation — for him who had saved herself from worse than death.
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1
musing
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| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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recitals
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| n.独唱会( recital的名词复数 )；独奏会；小型音乐会、舞蹈表演会等；一系列事件等的详述 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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7
venal
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| adj.唯利是图的，贪脏枉法的 | |
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wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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16
bereaved
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| adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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narrate
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| v.讲，叙述 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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lamenting
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| adj.悲伤的，悲哀的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的现在分词 ) | |
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20
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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27
fulfill
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| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
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28
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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29
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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30
withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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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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captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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34
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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35
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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39
seizure
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| n.没收；占有；抵押 | |
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40
conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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41
fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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42
transacted
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| v.办理（业务等）( transact的过去式和过去分词 )；交易，谈判 | |
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43
pangs
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| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
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44
shackle
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| n.桎梏，束缚物；v.加桎梏，加枷锁，束缚 | |
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45
fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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46
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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47
perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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48
implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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50
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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51
vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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52
wrest
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| n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲 | |
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53
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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54
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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55
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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56
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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57
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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58
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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59
precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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60
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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61
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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63
steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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64
sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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verity
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| n.真实性 | |
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66
wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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bestows
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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68
counselor
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| n.顾问，法律顾问 | |
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69
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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70
preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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71
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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72
vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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73
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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74
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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75
blistered
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| adj.水疮状的，泡状的v.（使）起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 )；（使表皮等）涨破，爆裂 | |
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76
perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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77
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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78
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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79
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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80
recollecting
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| v.记起，想起( recollect的现在分词 ) | |
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81
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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82
renovated
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| 翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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83
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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84
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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85
retract
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| vt.缩回，撤回收回，取消 | |
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86
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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87
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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88
prostration
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| n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳 | |
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