There is something in his very look, did you meet him on the heath without better barg than a shepherd's plaid, sufficient to declare him the noblest of men; and, methinks, would excuse the gentlest lady in the land for leaving hall and bower to share his sheep-cote.

But, alas!" and then the playful expression of her countenance altered, "he is now for none on earth!" With these words she turned the subject to the confidential hours he passed with the young adopted brother of his heart.

Every fond emotion seemed then centered in his wife and child.

When Lady Ruthven repeated his pathetic words to Edwin, she wept; she even sobbed, and paused to recover; while the deep and silent tears which flowed from the heart to the eyes of Lady Helen bathed the side of the couch on which she leaned.

"Alas!" cried Lady Ruthven, "that a man, so formed to grace every relation in life--so noble a creature in all respects--so fond of a husband--so full of parental tenderness--that he should be deprived of the wife on whom he doted; that he should be cut off from all hope of posterity; that when he shall die, nothing will be left of William Wallace--breaks my heart!" "Ah, my aunt," cried Helen, raising her head with animation, "will he not leave behind him the liberty of Scotland?
That is an offspring worthy of his god-like soul." "True, my dear Helen; but had you ever been a parent, you would know that no achievements, however great, can heal the wound made in a father's heart by the loss of a beloved child.