Then, far
indeed had proceeded that communication of hearts, which was now the
aim of her life-and she was undone! Helen glanced at the face of Lady
mar, and observing its changes, regarded them as corroborations of her
having been the betrayer. "If conscience disturbs you thus," thought
Helen, "let it rend your heart, and perhaps remorse may follow!"
As the tide of success seemed so full for the patriot Scots, Helen no
longer feared that her cousin would rashly seek a precarious vengeance
on the traitor Soulis, when he might probably soon have an opportunity
of making it certain at the head of an army. She therefore commenced
her narrative from the time of Murray's leaving her at the priory, and
continued it to the hour in which she had met her father, a prisoner in
the streets of Stirling. As she proceeded, the indignation of the earl
and of Murray against Soulis became vehement. The nephew was full of
immediate personal revenge. But the father, with arguments similar to
those which had suggested themselves to his daughter, calmed the
lover's rage, for Murray now felt that fire as well as a kinsman's; and
reseated himself with repressed, though burning resentment, to listen
to the remainder of her relation.
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