In consequence of this circumstance, I was made a closer prisoner.

But captivity could have no terrors for me, did it not divide me from my father.

And, grief on grief! what words have I to write it?
they have CONDEMNED HIM TO DIE! That fatal letter of my step-mother's was brought out against him, and as your adherent, Sir William Wallace, they have sentenced him to lose his head! "I have knelt to Earl de Valence; I have implored my father's life at his hands, but to no purpose.

He tells me that Cressingham, at his side, and Ormsby, by letters from Scone, declare it necessary that an execution of consequence should be made to appall the discontented Scots; and that as no lord is more esteemed in Scotland than the Earl of Mar, he must be the sacrifice.
"Hasten, then, my father's preserver and friend! hasten to save him! Oh, fly, for the sake of the country he loves; for the sake of the hapless beings dependent on his protection! I shall be on my knees till I hear your trumpet before the walls; for in you and Heaven now rest all the hopes of Helen Mar." A cold dew stood on the limbs of Wallace as he closed the letter.

It might be too late! The sentence was passed on the earl, and his executioners were prompt as cruel: the ax might already have fallen.
He called to Ker, for the messenger to be brought in.