Wallace listened in silence and when his
young friend ended, sighed heavily, "I will thank him," was all he
said; and rising, he proceeded to the chamber of Montgomery. Even at
that early hour it was filled with his officers come to inquire after
their late commander's health. Wallace advanced to the couch, and the
Southrons drew back. The expression of his countenance told the earl
that he now knew him.
"Noblest of Englishmen!" cried Wallace, in a low voice, "I come to
express a gratitude to you, as lasting as the memory of the action
which gave it birth. Your generous conduct to all that was dearest to
me on earth was that night in the garden of Ellerslie witnessed by
myself. I was in the tree above your head, and nothing but a
conviction that I should embarrass the honor of my wife's protector
could at that moment have prevented my springing from my covert and
declaring my gratitude on the spot.
"Receive my thanks now, inadequate as they are to express what I feel.
But you offered me your heart on the field of Cambus-Kenneth; I will
take that as a generous intimation how I may best acknowledge my debt.
Receive then my never-dying friendship, the eternal gratitude of my
immortal spirit.
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