It was at this moment that the assassin
appeared. I heard Lady Helen scream, I felt her fall on my breast, and
at that instant the dagger entered my back.
"This is the history of our meeting; and the assassin, whomsoever he
may be, and how long soever he was in the church, before he sought to
perpetrate the deed-were he to speak, and capable of uttering truth,
could declare no other."
"But where is he to be found?" intemperately and suspiciously demanded
Lady mar.
"If his testimony be necessary to validate mine," returned Wallace,
with dignity, "I believe the Lady Helen can point to his name."
"Name him, Helen; name him, my dear cousin," cried Murray, "that I may
have some link with thee. O! let me avenge this deed! Tell me his
name! and so yield to me all that thou canst now bestow on Andrew
Murray!"
There was something in the tone of Murray's voice that penetrated to
the heart of Helen. "I cannot name him whom I suspect to any but Sir
William Wallace; and I would not do it to him," replied she, "were it
not to warn him against future danger. I did not see the assassin's
face, therefore, how dare I set you to take vengeance on one who
perchance may be innocent? I forgive him, my blood, since Heaven has
spared to Scotland its protector.
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