His heart beat as it
was wont to do in turning his horse down the defile which led direct to
Lammington; but the scene was completely changed; the groves in which
he had so often wandered with her were gone; they had been cut down for
the very purpose of destroying that place, which had once been the
abode of beauty and innocence, and of all the tender charities.
One shattered tower alone remained of the house of Lammington. The
scathing of fire embrowned its sides, and the uprooted garden marked
where the ravager had been. While his army marched before him along
the heights of Crawford, Wallace slowly moved forward, musing on the
scene. In turning the angle of a shattered wall, his horse started;
and the next moment he perceived an aged figure, with a beard white as
snow, and wrapped in a dark plaid, emerging from the ground. At sight
of the apparition, Murray, who accompanied his friend, and had hitherto
kept silent, suddenly exclaimed, "I conjure you, honest Scot, ghost or
man, give us a subject for conversation! and, as a beginning, pray tell
me to whom this ruined tower belonged?"
The sight of two warriors in the Scottish garb encouraged the old man;
and stepping out on the ground, he drew near to Murray.
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