Men may say when they hear this, that I do not merit the crown you will
put upon my head; that I have lain on a couch while you fought for me;
but I will bear all obloquy rather than deserve its slightest charge,
by withholding you an hour from the great work of Scotland's peace."
"It is not for the breath of men, my dear prince," returned Wallace,
"that either you or I act. It is sufficient for us that we effect
their good, and whether the agent be one or the other, the end is the
same. Our deeds and intentions have one great Judge, and He will award
the only true glory."
Such were the principles which filled the hearts of these two friends,
worthy of each other, and alike honorable to the country that gave them
birth. Gordon had won their confidence, and watched by his prince's
pillow.
Though the wounded John Cummin remained possessed of the title of
regent, Wallace was virtually endowed with the authority. Whatever he
suggested was acted upon as by a decree--all eyes looked to him as to
the cynosure by which every order of men in Scotland were to shape
their course. The jealousies which had driven him from his former
supreme seat, seemed to have died with their prime instigator, the late
regent; and no chief of any consequence, excepting Soulis and Athol,
who had retired in disgust to their castles, breathed a word of
opposition to the general gratitude.
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