"There," cried he, in a burst of grief, and letting it fall again upon
the insensible bosom of Helen--"there broke the noblest heart that ever
beat in the breast of man!"
The priests, the executioners crowded round him at this declaration.
But, while giving a command in a low tone to the warden, he took the
motionless Helen in his arms, and leaving the astonished group round
the noble dead, carried her from the scaffold back into the Tower.**
**The last words of Wallace were from the 71st Psalm--"My trust from my
youth! O Lord God, thou art my hope unto the end!"
Chapter LXXXV.
The Warden's Apartments.
On the evening of the fatal day in which the sun of William Wallace had
set forever on his country, the Earl of Gloucester was imparting to the
Warden of the Tower his last directions respecting the sacred remains,
when the door of the chamber suddenly opened, and a file of soldiers
entered. A man in armor, with his visor closed, was in the midst of
them. The captain of the band told the warden that the person before
him had behaved in a most seditious manner. He first demanded
admittance into the Tower; then, on the sentinel making answer that in
consequence of the recent execution of the Scottish chief, orders had
been given "to allow no strangers to approach the gates till the
following morning," he, the prisoner, burst into a passionate emotion,
uttering such threats against the King of England, that the captain
thought it his duty to have him seized and brought before the warden.
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