But he
caught not the triumphant exclamation of her soul, which spoke, though
her lips ceased to move, and cried to the attending angels:
"Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory?"
In this awful moment the Abbot of Inchaffray, believing the dying saint
was prostrate in prayer, laid his hand on the iron box, which stood at
the foot of Wallace's bier. "Before the sacred remains of the once
champion of Scotland, and in the presence of his royal successor,"
exclaimed the abbot, "let this mysterious coffer of St. Fillan's be
opened, to reward the deliverer of Scotland, according to its intent!"
"If it were to contain the relics of St. Fillan himself," returned the
king, "they could not meet a holier bosom than this!" and resting the
box on the coffin, he unclasped the lock, and the regalia of Scotland
was discovered! At this sight, Bruce exclaimed, in an agony of
grateful emotion, "Thus did this truest of human beings protect my
rights, even while the people I had deserted, and whom he had saved,
knelt to him to wear them all!"
"And thus Wallace crowns thee!" said Dunkeld, taking the diadem from
its coffer, and setting it on Bruce's head.
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