"A cruel deception brought him from the Isle of Bute, where you
imagined you had left him in security. Lord Aymer de Valence, escaping
a second time from your sword, fled under rapacious robber of all our
castles, found in him an apt coadjutor. They concerted how to avenge
your late successes; and Cressingham, eager to enrich himself, while he
flattered the resentments of his commander, suggested that you, Sir
William Wallace, our deliverer, and our enemy's scourge, would most
easily be made to feel through the bosoms of your friends. These cruel
men have therefore determined, by a mock trial, to condemn my father to
death, and thus, while they distress you, put themselves in possession
of his lands, with the semblance of justice.
"The substance of this most unrighteous debate was communicated to me
by De Valence himself; thinking to excuse his part in the affair by
proving to me how insensible he is to the principles which move alike a
patriot and a man of honor.
"Having learned from some too well-informed spy that Lord Mar had
retired in peaceful obscurity to Bute, these arch-enemies to our
country sent a body of men disguised as Scots to Gourock.
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