Helen, slowly
raising her head at these words, regarded her sister with a look of
awful tenderness, then turning her eyes back upon the coffin, gazed on
it as if they would have pierced its confines, and clasping the urn
earnestly to her heart, she exclaimed, "'Tis come! the promise--Thy
bridal bed shall be William Wallace's grave!"
Bruce and Isabella, not aware that she repeated words which Wallace had
said to her, turned to her with portentous emotion. She understood the
terrified glance of her sister, and with a smile which bespoke her
kindred to the soul she was panting to rejoin, she answered, "I speak
of my own espousals. But ere that moment is--and I feel it near--let
my Wallace's hallowed presence bless your nuptials! Thou wilt breathe
thy benediction through my lips," added she, laying her hand on the
coffin, and looking down on it as if she were conversing with its
inhabitant.
"O, no, no" returned Isabella, throwing herself on her knees before the
almost unembodied aspect of her sister; "let me ever be the sharer of
your cell, or take me with you to the kingdom of Heaven!"
"It is thy sister's spirit that speaks," cried Dunkeld, observing the
awe which not only shook the tender frame of Isabella, but had
communicated itself to Bruce, who stood in heart-struck veneration
before the yet unascended angel, "holy inspiration," continued the
bishop, "beams from her eyes, and as ye hope for further blessings,
obey its dictates!"
Isabella bowed her head in acquiescence.
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