Oh, my gracious lord, if it be her attachment to
Scotland which alone militates against me, I will promise that her time
shall be passed between the two countries. Her marriage with me may
facilitate that peace with England which must be the wish of us all;
and perhaps the lord wardenship which De Warenne now holds may be
transferred to me. I have reasons for expecting that it will be so;
and then she, as a queen in Scotland, and you as her father, may claim
every distinction from her fond husband, every indulgence for the
Scots, which your patriot heart can dictate. This would be a certain
benefit to Scotland; while the ignis fatuus you are now following,
however brilliant may be its career during Edward's absence, must on
his return be extinguished in disaster and infamy."
The silence of the Earl of Mar, who, willing to hear all that was in
the mind of De Valence, had let him proceed uninterrupted, encouraged
the Southron lord to say more than he had at first intended to reveal;
but when he made a pause, and seemed to expect an answer, the earl
spoke:
"I am fully sensible of the honor you would bestow upon my daughter and
myself by your alliance; but, as I have said before, her heart is too
devoted to Scotland to marry any man whose birth does not make it his
duty to prefer the liberty of her native land, even before his love for
her.
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