I hope the first fortress he gains may be that of Dumbarton.
It has been always considered the key of the country."
"May Heaven grant it, holy father," returned Helen, "and whoever this
knight may be, I pray the blessed St. Andrew to guide his arms!"
"If I may venture to guess who he is," replied the hermit, "I would say
that noble brow was formed to some day wear a crown."
"What!" cried Helen, starting, "you think this knight is the royal
Bruce?"
"I am at a loss what to think," replied the hermit; "he has a most
princely air; and there is such an overflowing of soul toward his
country, when he speaks of it, that--Such love can spring from no other
than the royal heart, created to foster and to bless it."
"But is he not too young?" inquired Helen. "I have heard my father say
that Bruce, Lord of Annandale, the opponent of Baliol for the crown,
was much his senior; and that his son, the Earl of Carrick, must be now
fifty years of age. This knight, if I am any judge of looks, cannot be
twenty-five."
"True," answered the hermit; "and yet he may be a Bruce. For it is
neither of the two you have mentioned that I mean; but the grandson of
the one, and the son of the other.
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