Murray gently advanced, and kneeling down by her, respectfully took her hand.

"He speaks truth, my dear madam.

It is your son Edwin.

He left his convent, to be a volunteer with Sir William Wallace.

He has covered himself with honor on the walls of Dumbarton; and here also a sharer in his leader's victories, he is come to set you free." At this explanation, which, being given in the sober language of reason, Lady Ruthven believed, she gave way to the full happiness of her soul, and falling on the neck of her son, embraced him with a flood of tears: "And thy father, Edwin, where is he?
Did not the noble Wallace rescue him from Ayr ?" "He did, and he is here." Edwin then repeated to his mother the affectionate message of his father, and the particulars of his release.
Perceiving how happily they were engaged, Murray, now with a flutter in his own bosom, rose from his knees, and requested the lieutenant to conduct him to Lady Helen Mar.
His guide led the way by a winding staircase into a stone gallery, where letting Lord Andrew into a spacious apartment, divided in the midst by a vast screen of carved cedar-wood, he pointed to a curtained entrance.