There they
dispatched a messenger into the island to inform Lord Mar that Sir
William Wallace was on the banks of the Frith waiting to converse with
him. My noble father, unsuspicious of treachery, hurried to the
summons. Lady Mar accompanied him, and so both fell into the snare.
"They were brought prisoners to Stirling, where another affliction
awaited him;-he was to see his daughter and his sister in captivity.
"After I had been betrayed from St. Fillian's monastery by the
falsehoods of one Scottish knight, and were rescued from his power by
the gallantry of another, I sought the protection of my aunt, Lady
Ruthven, who then dwelt at Alloa, on the banks of the Forth. Her
husband had been invited to Ayr by some treacherous requisition of the
governor, Arnuf; and with many other lords was thrown into prison.
Report says, bravest of men, that you have given freedom to my betrayed
uncle.
"The moment Lord Ruthven's person was secured, his estates were seized,
and my aunt and myself being found at Alloa, we were carried prisoners
to this city. Alas! we had then no valiant arm to preserve us from our
enemies! Lady Ruthven's first born son was slain in the fatal day of
Dunbar, and in terror of the like fate, she placed her eldest surviving
boy in a convent.
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