They imprisoned Wallace! He groaned
within their confines! and their presence paralyzed her heart.
"Shall I die before I reach thee, Wallace?" was the question her almost
flitting soul uttered, as she, trembling, yet with swift steps,
ascended the stone stairs which led from the water's edge to the
entrance to the Tower. She flew through the different courts to the
one in which stood the prison of Wallace. One of the boatmen, being
bargeman to the Governor of the Tower, as a privileged person,
conducted her unmolested through every ward till she reached the place
of her destination. There she dismissed him with a ring from her
finger as his reward; and passing a body of soldiers, who kept guard
before a large porch that led to the dungeons, she entered, and found
herself in an immense paved room. A single sentinel stood at the end
near to an iron grating, or small portcullis; there, then, was Wallace!
Forgetting her disguise and situation, in the frantic eagerness of her
pursuit, she hastily advanced to the man:
"Let me pass to Sir William Wallace," cried she, "and treasures shall
be your reward."
"Whose treasures, my pretty page?" demanded the soldier; "I dare not,
were it at the suit of the Countess of Gloucester herself.
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