Composed by this mental arrangement, her disturbed features became
smooth, and with even a sedate air she received her lord and his brave
friends, when they soon after entered the chamber.
But the object of her wishes did not appear. Wallace had taken Lord
Lennox to view the dispositions of the fortress. Ill satisfied as she
was with his prolonged absence, she did not fail to turn it to
advantage; and while her lord and his friends were examining a draft of
Scotland (which Wallace had sketched after she left the
banqueting-room), she took Lord Andrew aside, to converse with him on
the subject now nearest to her heart.
"It certainly belongs to me alone, her kinsman and friend, to protect
Helen to the Tweed, if there she must go," returned Murray; "but, my
good lady, I cannot comprehend why I am to lead my fair cousin such a
pilgrimage. She is not afraid of heroes! you are safe in Dumbarton,
and why not bring her here also?"
"Not for worlds!" exclaimed the countess, thrown off her guard. Murray
looked at her with surprise. It recalled her to self-possession, and
she resumed: "So lovely a creature in this castle would be a dangerous
magnet.
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