"
Athol resumed. "I am not your only accuser, proudly-confident man; you
shall see one whose truth cannot be doubted, and whose first glance
will bow that haughty spirit, and cover that bold front with the livery
of shame! My lord," cried he, turning to the regent, "I shall bring a
most illustrious witness before you; one who will prove on oath that it
was the intention of this arch-hypocrite, this angler for women's
hearts, this perverter of men's understandings, before another moon to
bury deep in blood the very people whom he now insidiously affects to
protect! But to open your and the nation's eyes at once, to overwhelm
him with his fate, I now call forth the evidence."
The marshals opened a door in the side of the hall, and led a lady
forward, habited in regal splendor, and covered from head to foot with
a veil of so transparent a texture, that her costly apparel and
majestic contour were distinctly seen through it. She was conducted to
a chair on an elevated platform a few paces from where Wallace stood.
On her being seated the regent rose, and in a tremulous voice addressed
her:
"Joanna, Countess of Strathearn and Mar, Princess of the Orkneys, we
adjure thee by thy princely dignity, and in the name of the King of
kings, to bear a just witness to the truth or falsehood, of the charges
of treason and conspiracy now brought against Sir William Wallace.
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