On the entrance of the soldiers, Gloucester had retired5 into the shadow of the room. He turned round on hearing these particulars. When the captain ceased speaking, the stranger fearlessly threw up his visor and exclaimed:
“Take me, not to our warden alone, but to your king; let me pierce his conscience with his infamy6 — would it were to stab him ere I die!”
In this frantic7 adjuration8, Gloucester discovered the gallant9 Bruce. And hastening toward him to prevent his apparently10 determined11 exposure of himself, with a few words he dismissed the officer and his guard; and then, turning to the warden, “Sir Edward,” said he, “this stranger is not less my friend than he that was Sir William Wallace!”
“Then far be it from me, earl, to denounce him to our enraged12 monarch13. I have seen enough of noble blood shed already. And though we, the subjects of King Edward, may not call your late friend a martyr14, yet we must think his country honored in so steady a patriot16, and may surely wish we had many the like in our own!” With these words the worthy17 old knight18 bowed and withdrew.
Bruce, who had hardly heard the observation of the warden, on his departure turned upon the earl, and, with a bursting heart, exclaimed:
“Tell me, is it true? Am I so lost a wretch19 as to be deprived of my best, my dearest friend? And is it true, as I am told, that every infernal rigor20 of the sentence has been executed on that brave and breathless body! Answer me to the fact, that I may speedily take my course!”
Alarmed at the direful expression of his countenance21, with a quivering lip, but in silence, Gloucester laid his hand upon his arm. Bruce too well understood what he durst not speak, and, shaking it off, frantically22:
“I have no friend!” cried he. “Wallace! my dauntless, my only Wallace, thou art rifled from me! And shall I have fellowship with these? No, all mankind are my enemies, and soon will I leave their detested23 sojourn24!”
Gloucester attempted to interrupt him; but he broke out afresh and with redoubled violence:
“And you, earl,” cried he, “lived in this realm, and suffered such a sacrilege on God’s most perfect work! Ungrateful, worthless man! fill up the measure of your baseness; deliver me to Edward, and let me brave him to his face. Oh! let me die, covered with the blood of thy enemies, my murdered Wallace! my more than brother, that shall be the royal robe thy Bruce will bring to thee!”
Gloucester stood in dignified25 forbearance under the invectives and stormy grief of the Scottish prince; but when exhausted26 nature seemed to take rest in momentary27 silence, he approached him. Bruce cast on him a lurid28 glance of suspicion.
“Leave me!” cried he; “I hate the whole world, and you the worst in it; for you might have saved him, and you did not — you might have preserved his sacred limbs from being made the gazing-stock of traitors29, and you did not. Away from me, apt son of a tyrant31, lest I tear you in piecemeal32!”
“By the heroic spirit of him whom this outrage33 on me dishonors, hear my answer, Bruce! And, if not on this spot, let me then exculpate34 myself by the side of his body, yet uninvaded by a sacrilegious touch.”
“How?” interrupted Bruce. Gloucester continued:
“All that was mortal in our friend now lies in a distant chamber of this quadrangle. When I could not prevail on Edward, either by entreaty35 or reproaches, to remit36 the last gloomy vengeance37 of tyrants38, I determined to wrest39 its object from his hands. A notorious murderer died yesterday under the torture. After the inanimate corpse40 of our friend was brought into this house, to be conveyed to the scene of its last horrors, by the assistance of the warden the malefactor’s body was conveyed here also, and placed on the traitor30’s sledge41, in the stead of his who was no traitor, and on that murderer most justly fell the rigor of so dreadful a sentence.”
The whole aspect of Bruce changed during this explanation, which was followed by a brief account from Gloucester of their friend’s heroic suffering and death.
“Can you pardon my reproaches to you?” cried the prince, stretching out his hand. “Forgive, generous Gloucester, the distraction42 of a severely43 wounded spirit!”
This pardon was immediately accorded; and Bruce impetuously added:
“Lead me to these dear remains, that with redoubled certainty I may strike his murderer’s heart! I came to succor45 him. I now stay to die — but not unrevenged!”
“I will lead you,” returned the earl, “where you shall learn a different lesson. His soul will speak to you by the lips of his bride, now watching by those sacred relics46. Feeble is now her lamp of life; but a saint’s vigilance keeps it burning, till it may expire in the grave with him she so chastely48 loved.”
A few words gave Bruce to understand that he meant Lady Helen Mar15; and with a deepened grief when he heard in what an awful hour their hands were plighted49, he followed his conductor through the quadrangle.
When Gloucester gently opened the door, which contained the remains of the bravest and the best, Bruce stood for a moment on the threshold. At the further end of the apartment, lighted by a solitary50 taper51, lay the body of Wallace on a bier, covered with a soldier’s cloak. Kneeling by its side, with her head on its bosom52, was Helen. Her hair hung disordered over her shoulders, and shrouded53 with its dark locks the marble features of her beloved. Bruce scarcely breathed. He attempted to advance, but he staggered and fell against the wall. She looked up at the noise; but her momentary alarm ceased when she saw Gloucester. He spoke54 in a tender voice.
“Be not agitated55, lady; but here is the Earl of Carrick.”
“Nothing can agitate56 me more,” replied she, turning mournfully toward the prince; who, raised from his momentary dizziness, beheld57 her regarding him with the look of one already an inhabitant of the grave. “Helen!” faintly articulated Bruce; “I come to share your sorrows, and to avenge58 them.”
“Avenge them!” repeated she, after a pause; “is there aught in vengeance that can awaken59 life in these cold veins60 again? Let the murderers live in the world they have made a desert by the destruction of its brightest glory, and then our home will be his tomb!” Again she bent61 her head upon Wallace’s cold breast; and seemed to forget that she had been spoken to — that Bruce was present.
“May I not look upon him?” cried he, grasping her hand. “Oh! Helen, show me that heroic face from whose beams my heart first caught the fire of virtue62!” She moved; and the clay-hued features of all that was ever perfect in manly63 beauty met his sight. But the bright eyes were shut; the radiance of his smile was dimmed in death, yet still that smile was there. Bruce precipitated64 his lips to his, and sinking on his knees, remained in a silence only broken by his sighs.
It was an awful and heart-breaking pause, for the voice which in all scenes of weal or woe65 had ever mingled66 sweetly with theirs, was silent. Helen, who had not wept since the tremendous hour of the morning, now burst into an agony of tears; and the vehemence67 of her feelings tearing so delicate a frame (now rendered weak unto death by a consuming sickness, which her late exertions68 and present griefs had made seize on her very vitals), seemed to threaten the immediate44 extinction69 of her being. Bruce, aroused by her smothered70 cries, as she lay almost expiring, upheld by Gloucester, hurried to her side. By degrees she recovered to life and observance; but finding herself removed from the bier, she sprang wildly toward it. Bruce caught her arm to support her tottering71 steps. She looked steadfastly72 at him, and then at the motionless body. “He is there,” cried she, “and yet he speaks not! He soothes73 not my grief — I weep, and he does not comfort me! And there he lies! O! Bruce, can this be possible? Do I really see him dead? And what is death?” added she, grasping the cold hand of Wallace to her heart. “Didst thou not tell me, when this hand pressed mine and blessed me, that it was only a translation from grief to joy? And is it not so, Bruce? Behold74 how we mourn and he is happy! I will obey thee, my immortal75 Wallace!” cried she, casting her arms about him; “I will obey thee, and weep no more!”
She was silent and calm. And Bruce, kneeling on the opposite side of his friend, listened, without interrupting him, to the arguments which Gloucester adduced to persuade him to abstain76 from discovering himself to Edward, or even uttering resentment77 against him till he could do both as became the man for whom Wallace had sacrificed so much, even till he was King of Scotland. “To that end,” said Gloucester, “did this gallant chieftain live. For, in restoring you to the people of Scotland, he believed he was setting a seal to their liberties and their peace. To that end did he die, and in the direful moment, uttered prayers for your establishment. Think then of this, and let him not look down from his heavenly dwelling78 and see that Bruce despises the country for which he bled; that the now only hope of Scotland has sacrificed himself in a moment of inconsiderate revenge to the cruel hand which broke his dauntless heart!”
Bruce did not oppose this counsel; and as the fumes79 of passion passed away, leaving a manly sorrow to steady his determination of revenge, he listened with approbation80, and finally resolved, whatever violence he might do his nature, not to allow Edward the last triumph of finding him in his power.
The earl’s next essay was with Helen. He feared that a rumor81 of the stranger’s indignation at the late execution, and that the Earl of Gloucester had taken him in charge, might, when associated with the fact of the widow of Sir William Wallace still remaining under his protection, awaken some dangerous suspicion and direct investigations82, too likely to discover the imposition he had put on the executioners of the last clause in his royal father’s most iniquitous83 sentence. He therefore explained his new alarm to Helen, and conjured84 her, if she would yet preserve the hallowed remains before her from any chance of violence (which her lingering near them might induce by attracting notice to her movements), she must consent to immediately leave the kingdom. The valiant85 and ever faithful heart of Wallace should be her companion; and an English captain, who had partaken of his clemency86 at Berwick, be her trusty conductor to her native land. To meet every objection, he added, “Bruce shall be protected by me with strict fidelity87 till some safe opportunity may offer for his bearing to Scotland the sacred corpse that must ever be considered the most precious relic47 in his country.”
“As Heaven wills the trials of my heart,” returned she, “so let it be!” and bending her aching head on the dear pillow of her rest — the bosom which, though cold and deserted88 by its heavenly inhabitant, was still the bosom of her Wallace! the ravaged89 temple rendered sacred by the footsteps of a god! For, had not virtue, and the soul of Wallace, dwelt there? and where virtue is, there abides90 the Spirit of the Holy One! With these thoughts, she passed the remainder of the night in vigils; and they were not less devoutly91 shared by the chastened heart of the Prince of Scotland.
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1
warden
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| n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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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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4
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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infamy
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| n.声名狼藉，出丑，恶行 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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adjuration
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| n.祈求，命令 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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mar
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| vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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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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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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rigor
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| n.严酷，严格，严厉 | |
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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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frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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29
traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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piecemeal
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| adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块 | |
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outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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exculpate
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| v.开脱，使无罪 | |
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entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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remit
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| v.汇款，汇寄；豁免（债务），免除（处罚等） | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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wrest
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| n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲 | |
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40
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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41
sledge
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| n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往 | |
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42
distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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45
succor
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| n.援助，帮助；v.给予帮助 | |
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46
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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48
chastely
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| adv.贞洁地，清高地，纯正地 | |
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49
plighted
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| vt.保证，约定（plight的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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50
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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51
taper
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| n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小 | |
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52
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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53
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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54
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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55
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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56
agitate
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| vi.(for,against)煽动，鼓动；vt.搅动 | |
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57
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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58
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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59
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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60
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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61
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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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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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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64
precipitated
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| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
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65
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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66
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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67
vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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68
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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69
extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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70
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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71
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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72
steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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soothes
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| v.安慰( soothe的第三人称单数 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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74
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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76
abstain
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| v.自制，戒绝，弃权，避免 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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78
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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79
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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80
approbation
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| n.称赞；认可 | |
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81
rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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82
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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83
iniquitous
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| adj.不公正的；邪恶的；高得出奇的 | |
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84
conjured
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| 用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现 | |
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85
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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86
clemency
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| n.温和，仁慈，宽厚 | |
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87
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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88
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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89
ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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90
abides
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| 容忍( abide的第三人称单数 )； 等候； 逗留； 停留 | |
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91
devoutly
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| adv.虔诚地，虔敬地，衷心地 | |
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