It was before then that I saw that matchless woman; and
offended with my want of severity in the scrutiny I had made at
Ellerslie for its chief. Heselrigge sent me back to Ayr. Arnuf
quarreled with me there, on the same subject; and I immediately retired
in disgust to England."
"Then how? you ought to be Sir Gilbert Hambledon?" replied Edwin; "but
whoever you are, as you were kind to the Lady Marion, I cannot but
regret my late hasty charge; and for which I beseech your pardon."
Montgomery took his hand, and pressed it. "Generous Ruthven, your
warmth is too honorable to need forgiveness. I am that Sir Gilbert
Hambledon; and had I remained so, I should not now be in Scotland. But
in my first interview with the Prince of Wales, after my accession to
the Earldom of Montgomery, his highness told me, it had been rumored
from Scotland that I was disloyal in my heart to my king. 'And to
prove the falsehood of such calumniators,' continued the prince, 'I
appoint you second in command there to the Earl de Warenne.' To have
refused to fight against Sir William Wallace, would have been to have
accused myself of treason. And while I respected the husband of the
murdered Lady Marion, I yet condemned him as an insurgent; and with the
same spirit you follow him in the field, I obeyed the commands of my
sovereign.
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