At sight
of him Edwin dropped the point of his yet unlifted sword; and Wallace,
stepping back, "Monteith," said he, "I am sorry for this rencounter.
If you would be safe from the destiny which pursues me, you must retire
immediately, and forget that we have met."
"Never," cried Monteith; "I know the ingratitude of an envious country
drives the bravest of her champions from our borders, but I also know
what belongs to myself! To serve you at all hazards! And by conjuring
you to become my guest, in my castle on the Frith of Clyde, I would
demonstrate my grateful sense of the dangers you once incurred for me,
and I therefore thank fortune for this rencounter."
In vain Wallace expressed his determination not to bring peril on any
of his countrymen, by sojourning under any roof till he were far away
from Scotland. In vain he urged to Monteith the outlawry which would
await him should the infuriated abthanes discover that he had given
shelter to the man whom they had chosen to suppose a traitor, and
denounce as one. Monteith, after equally unsuccessful persuasion on
his side, at last said, that he knew a vessel was lying at Newark, near
his castle, in which Wallace might immediately embark: and he implored
him, by past friendship, to allow him to be his guide to its anchorage.
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