am a mourner; these ornaments must not
be worn by me."
The ladies obeyed her wish, to have
them taken off: and, with thoughts divided between her father and her
father’s friend, she was conducted towards the palfrey. Wallace
approached her; and Bruce flew forward, with his usual haste, to assist
her :—but it was no longer the beautiful little page, that met his view,
the confidential and frank glance of a youthful brother !—It was a
lovely woman, arrayed in all the charms of female apparel; trembling, and
blushing, as she again appeared as a woman before the eyes of the man she
loved. Wallace sighed as he touched her hand; for there was something in
her air, which seemed to say, "I am not what I was a few minutes
ago."—It was the aspect of the world’s austerity; the decorum of
rank and situation !—but not of the heart;— that had never been absent
from the conduct of Helen: had she been
in the wilds of Africa, with no other companion than Wallace, still would
those chaste reserves, which lived in her soul, have been there the
guardians of her actions; for modesty was as much the attribute of her
person, as magnanimity the character of her mind.
Her more distant air at this time,
was the effect of reflections, while in the abbey, where he had lodged
her. She saw that the frank intercourse between them, was to be
interrupted by the forms of a court; and her manner insensibly assumed the
demeanour she was so soon to wear. Bruce looked at her with delighted
wonder. He had before admired her as beautiful; he now gazed on her as
transcendently so.—He checked himself in his swift step—he paused to
look on her and Wallace; and contemplating them with sentiments of
unmingled admiration, this exclamation unconsciously escaped him—"How
lovely !" He could not but wish to see two such perfectly amiable,
and perfectly beautiful beings, united as closely by the bonds of the
altar, as he believed they were in heart; and he longed for the hour, when
he might endow them with those proofs
of his fraternal love, which should class them with the first of Scottish
princes. "But how," thought he, "can I ever sufficiently
reward thee, Wallace, for what thou hast done for me and mine? Thy
services are beyond all price: thy soul is above even empires. Then how
can I show thee all that is in my heart for thee?" While he thus
apostrophised his friend, Wallace and Helen advanced towards him. Bruce
held out his hand to her, with a cordial smile: "Lady Helen, we are
still to be the same! Robes of no kind, must ever separate the affections
born in our pilgrimage!" She put her hand into his, with a glow of
delight; "While Sir William Wallace allows me to call him
brother:" answered she, "that will ever be a sanction to our
friendship: but courts are formal places, and I now go to
one."—"And I will soon remove you to another:" replied
he, "where—" he hesitated—looked at Wallace, and then
resumed; "where every wish of my sister Helen’s heart, shall be
gratified, or I be no king." Helen blushed deeply, and hastened
towards the palfrey. Wallace placed her on the embroidered saddle; and
Prince Louis preceding the cavalcade, it moved on.
As Bruce vaulted into his
seat, he said something to his friend, of the perfectly feminine beauty of
Helen. "But her soul is fairer!" returned Wallace. The prince of
Scotland, with a gay, but tender smile, softly whispered, "Fair,
doubly fair to you!" Wallace drew a deep sigh: "I never knew but
one woman who resembled her; and she did indeed excel all of created
mould. From infancy to manhood, I read every thought of her angelic heart:
I became the purer by the study; and I loved my model with an idolatrous
adoration. There was my error! But those sympathies, those hours are past.
My heart will never throb, as it has throbbed; never rejoice, as it has
rejoiced; for she who lived but for me, who doubled all my joys, is
gone!—Oh! my Prince, though blest with friendship, there are times when
I feel that I am solitary !"—Bruce looked at him with some
surprise: "Solitary! Wallace! can you ever be solitary, and near
Helen Mar ? "—"Perhaps more so then, than at any other time;
for her beauties, her excellencies, remind me of what were once mine, and
recall every regret. O! Bruce! thou canst not comprehend my loss! To
mingle thought with thought, and soul with soul, for years; and then,
after blending our very beings, and feeling as if indeed made one,—to be
separated—and by a stroke of violence! This was a trial of the spirit,
which, but for Heaven’s mercy, would have crushed me. I live, but still
my heart will mourn; mourn her I have lost; and mourn, that my rebellious
nature will not be more resigned to the judgments of its God."
"And is love so
constant? so tenacious?" exclaimed Bruce: "Is it to consume your
youth, Wallace? Is it to wed such a heart as yours to the tomb ?—Ah! am
I not to hope, that the throne of my children may be upheld by a race of
thine ?" Wallace shook his head; but with a placid firmness replied,
"Your throne, and your children’s, if they follow your example,
will be upheld by Heaven: but should they pervert themselves, a host of
mortal supports would not be sufficient to stay their downfall."
In discourse like this, the
youthful Prince of Scotland caught a clearer view of the inmost thoughts
of his friend, than he had been able to discern before; for war, or
Bruce’s own interests, having particularly engaged them in all their
former conversations, Wallace had never been induced to glance at the
private circumstances of his history. While Bruce sighed in tender pity
for the captivated heart of Helen, he the more deeply revered, more
intensely loved, his suffering and heroic friend.
A few hours brought the
royal escort to the Louvre; and, through a train of. nobles, Lady Helen
was led by Prince Louis into the regal saloon. The Scottish chiefs
followed. The Queen and the Count D’Evereux, received Bruce and Helen;
while De Valois conducted Wallace to the King; who had retired, for the
purpose of this conference, to his closet.
At sight of the armour, which he had
sent to the preserver of his son, Philip instantly recognised the Scottish
hero, and, rising from his seat, hastened forward, and clasped him in his
arms: "Wonder not, august chief;" exclaimed he, "at the
weakness exhibited in these eyes! It is the tribute of nature, to a virtue
which loads even kings with benefits. You have saved my son’s life; you
have preserved from, taint, the honour of my sister !"—Philip then
proceeded to inform his auditor, that he had heard from a confessor of
Queen Margaret’s, just arrived from England, all that had lately
happened at Edward’s court; and of Wallace’s letter, to clear the
innocence of that injured Princess. "She is perfectly reinstated in
the King’s confidence," added Philip; "but I can never pardon
the infamy with which he would have overwhelmed her; nay, it has already
dishonoured her; for the blasting effects of slander, no time or labour
can erase. I yield to the prayers of my too gentle sister, not to openly
resent this wrong, but in private, he shall feel a brother’s
indignation. I do not declare war against him; but ask what you will,
bravest of men, and were it to place the crown of Scotland on your head,
demand it of me, and by my concealed agency it shall be effected."
The reply of Wallace was simple. He claimed no merit in the justice he had
done the Queen of England; neither in his rescue of Prince Louis; but as a
proof of King Philip’s friendship, he gladly embraced his offered
services with regard to Scotland.—"Not," added he, "to
send troops into that country, against England. Scotland
is now free of its Southron invaders; all I require is, that you will use
your royal influence with Edward, to allow it to
remain so. Pledge your faith, most gracious monarch, with my master the
royally descended Bruce, who is now in your palace. He will soon assume
the crown that is his right; and with such an ally as France to hold the
ambition of Edward in check, we may certainly hope, that the bloody feuds
between Scotland and England may at last be laid at rest."
Wallace explained to
Philip, the dispositions of the Scots, the nature of Bruce’s claims, and
the transcendent virtues of his youthful character. The monarch took fire
at the speaker’s enthusiasm, and giving him his hand, exclaimed,
"Wallace, I know not what manner of man you are! You seem born to
dictate to kings, while you put aside as things of no moment, the crowns
offered to yourself. You are young; and, marvelling! I would say, without
ambition, did I not know that your deeds, and your virtues, have set you
above all earthly titles. But to convince me, that you do not disdain the
gratitude we pay, at least accept a name in my country! and know, that the
armour you wear, the coronet around your helmet, invested you with the
rank of a Prince of France, and the title of Count of Gascony." [Blinde
Harrie, a writer almost contemporary with my hero, is the authority for
this investiture. He comprehends in the province with which Philip endowed
Wallace, both Guienne and Gascony. But the division made here, is more
consonant with history.] To have refused this mark of the monarch’s
esteem, would have been an act of churlish pride, foreign from the
character of Wallace. He graciously accepted the offered distinction; and
bowing his head, allowed the King to throw the brilliant collar of Gascony
over his neck.
This act was performed by
Philip, with all the emotions of disinterested esteem. But when he had
proposed it to his brother D’Evereux, as the only way he could devise of
rewarding Wallace, for the preservation of his son, and the honour of
their sister; he was obliged to urge in support of his wish, the desire he
had to take the first opportunity of being revenged on Edward, by the
re-seizure of Guienne. To have Sir William Wallace Lord of Gascony, would
then be of the greatest advantage, as no doubt could be entertained of his
arms soon restoring the sister province to the French monarchy. In such a
case, Philip promised to bestow Guienne on his brother D’Evereux.
To attach his new Count to
France, was now all the wish of Philip; and he closed the conference, with
every expression of friendship which man could deliver to man. Wallace
lost not the opportunity of pleading for the abdicated King of Scots; and
Philip, eager as well to evince his resentment to Edward, as to oblige
Wallace, promised to send immediate orders to Normandy, that De Valence
should leave Chateau Galliard, and Baliol be attended with his former
state.
The King then led his guest
into the royal saloon, where they found the Queen seated between Bruce and
Helen. At sight of the Scottish chief, her Majesty rose. Philip led him up
to her; and Wallace, bending his knee, put the fair hand she extended, to
his lips.—"Welcome," said she, "bravest of knights!
receive a mother’s thanks." Tears of gratitude stood in her eyes.
She clasped the hand of her son, and his together, and added, "Louis,
wherever our Count of Gascony advises you to pledge this hand, give
it."—"Then it will follow mine!" cried the King, putting
his into that of Bruce: "You are Wallace’s acknowledged sovereign,
young prince, and you shall ever find brothers in me and my son!—Sweet
lady," added he, turning to the glowing Helen, "thanks to your
charms, for having drawn this friend of mankind, to bless our
shores!"
The court knew Wallace,
merely as Count of Gascony: and to preserve an equal concealment, Bruce
assumed the name of the young De Longueville; whom Prince Louis had, in
fact, allowed to leave him on the road to Paris, to retire to Chartres;
there to pass a year of mourning within its penitential monastery. Only
two persons ever came to the Louvre, who could recognise Bruce to be other
than he seemed; and they were John Cummin, the elder twin brother of the
present Regent of Scotland—and James Lord Douglas. The former had
remained in France, out of dislike to his brother’s proceedings; and as
Bruce knew him in Guienne, and believed him to be a blunt well-meaning
young man, he saw no danger in trusting him. The brave son of William
Douglas, was altogether of a nobler mettle; and both Wallace and his
Prince rejoiced at the prospect of receiving him to their friendship.
Philip opened the affair to
the two lords; and having declared his designs in favour of Bruce,
conducted them into the queen’s room, and pointing where he stood,
"There," cried he, "is the King of Scotland." Douglas
and Cummin would have bent their knees to their young monarch, but Bruce
hastily caught their hands, and prevented them: "My friends,"
said he, "regard me as your fellow-soldier only, till you see me on
the throne of my fathers. Till then, that is our Prince," added he,
looking on Wallace; "he is my leader, my counsellor, my example! And,
if you love me, he must be yours." Douglas and Cummin turned towards
Wallace, at these words. Royalty did indeed sit on his brow, but with a
tempered majesty which spoke only in love and honour. From the resplendent
countenance of Bruce, it smiled and threatened; for the blaze of his
impassioned nature was not yet subdued. The Queen looked from the one to
the other. The divinely composed air of Wallace, seemed to her the
celestial port of some heaven-descended being, lent awhile to earth to
guide the steps of the Prince of Scotland. She had read in Homer’s song,
of the deity of wisdom assuming the form of Mentor, to protect the son of
Ulysses; and had it not been for the youth of the Scottish chief, she
would have said, here is the realisation of the tale.
Helen had eyes for none but
Wallace. Nobles, princes, kings, were all involved in one uninteresting
mass to her, when he was present. Yet she smiled on Douglas, when she
heard him express his gratitude to the champion of Scotland, for the
services he had done a country for which his own father had died. Cummin,
when he paid his respects to Wallace, told him, that he did so with double
pleasure: since he had two unquestionable evidences of his unequalled
merit; the confidence of his father the Lord Badenoch, and the hatred of
his brother, the present usurper of that title.
The King, soon after, led
his guests to the council-room; where a secret cabinet was to be held, to
settle the future bonds between the two kingdoms; and Helen, looking long
after the departing figure of Wallace, with a pensive step followed the
Queen to her apartment.