Chapter XXXIX.
Stirling Castle and Council Hall.
The countess' chivalric tribute from the window gave Wallace reason to
anticipate her company in his visit to Lady Ruthven; and on finding the
room vacant, he dispatched Edwin for his mother, that he might not be
distressed by the unchecked advances of a woman whom, as the wife of
Lord Mar, he was obliged to see, and whose weakness he pitied, as she
belonged to a sex for which, in consideration of the felicity once
bestowed on him by woman, he felt a peculiar tenderness. Respect the
countess he could not; nor, indeed, could he feel any gratitude for a
preference which seemed to him to have no foundations in the only true
basis of love-the virtues of the object. For, as she acted against
every moral law, against his declared sentiments, it was evident that
she placed little value on his esteem; and therefore he despised, while
he pitied, a human creature ungovernably yielding herself to the sway
of her passions.
In the midst of thoughts so little to her advantage, Lady Mar entered
the room. Wallace turned to meet her; while she, hastening toward him,
and dropping on one knee, exclaimed, "Let me be the first woman in
Scotland to acknowledge its king!"
Wallace put forth both his hands to raise her; and smiling, replied,
"Lady Mar, you would do me an honor I can never claim.
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