‘You will subdue the English, I know it. I am proud to have spoken to you.’
‘I have never seen a girl as beautiful as you,’ he replied.
She smiled, well pleased. ‘It is my fortune the Sheriff wants for his son.’
‘I have heard that you resist him.’
‘Yes, but I fear him very much. I believe he killed my brother.’
‘I had heard this too.’
‘I wonder what ruse he will employ to trick me.’
‘You are surrounded by good servants?’
‘Yes, they have been with my family for many years. They hate the English oppressors.’
‘Has he threatened you?’
‘No. I have warded him off with crafty talk. I have not said I will not marry his son – but I am determined not to.’
‘I shall gather together a force and march into the town.’
‘Have you such a force?’
‘I have followers … as yet not enough. But the time will come when I have an army behind me.’
She put out her hand: he took it and kissed it.
‘How glad I am that you came. I feel less afraid already.’
She had risen, implying that it was time he went. She did not wish the servants to gossip – even though she trusted them.
He saw that he must take his leave though he longed to stay.
‘I will be back,’ he said. ‘May I come tomorrow? We will discuss this matter further and if you should need me urgently send a man you can trust to the Lanark woods. There he will find me.’
He was amazed that he had trusted her so deeply. But afterwards he understood, for he could not stop thinking of her.
On the next day he called again and they discussed her affairs at length. He talked glowingly of his plans and recounted his past adventures.
She listened entranced. So these legends she had heard of William Wallace were true.
By the end of the week they were in love.
They walked together in the enclosed garden.
He said, ‘You know I love you.’
She nodded.
‘And you?’ he asked.
‘I love you,’ she answered.
‘What bliss this is … to be together! I would we could be together always, but failing that we must make the most of what time there is together.’
But she was no Ellen.
‘If we were married you could not live as you do now,’ she reminded him.
Marriage! He had not thought of marriage. How could a man dedicated as he was, settle down to a normal married life with a wife and family?
He was silent and she said, ‘Ah, I see you do not want to marry me.’
He said, ‘I would I could. But I am a man dedicated to a cause and it would be no good life for the woman who married me.’
‘Then,’ she replied firmly, ‘we must say goodbye, for though I love you truly I would never be your leman. If we cannot marry then that is the end for us. We cannot meet like this if our love is to be unfulfilled.’
William was plunged into deepest melancholy. ‘Oh, my God,’ he cried, ‘if I had not vowed to drive the English from my country … how happy I should be to marry you. But I have vowed solemnly that I shall not rest until I have saved my country.’
‘I understand well,’ she said sadly. ‘Marriage is not for you, William Wallace, and as no other course will do for me, let us say goodbye. Let us make it short. There is no point in lingering.’
‘I shall never leave you to the Sheriff’s son.’
She laughed bitterly. ‘It is strange that he whom I hate should be so eager to marry me and he whom I love reject me for a cause. Goodbye, William.’
‘Nay,’ he cried. ‘It is not goodbye. I shall watch over you. If you are in need you have only to send for me. I am going to avenge your brother. I am going to capture Lanark and drive Sheriff Heselrig out of it. I will be back.’
She shook her head in melancholy and he left her and galloped back to the woods.
He was wretched. He was melancholy. He had lost his interest in life.
Stephen and Karlé were worried about him. They begged him to tell them what was on his mind.
Accustomed as he was to letting them share his confidences he told them the whole story, how he had heard of Marion and had gone to the kirk to see her, had spoken to her and fallen in love with her.
‘’Tis dangerous to adventure with women,’ Stephen reminded him. ‘Remember Ellen.’
‘Ah, I remember Ellen. Ellen was a wonderful woman. I could never regret my friendship with her.’
‘And now there is Marion Bradfute. You trifle with danger, William.’
‘I act as I must. Having heard of a beautiful woman in distress what could I have done? Her brother slain at the instigation of this villain Heselrig. I tell you this: I shall not rest until I have his blood.’
‘You have said that it is unwise to concern yourself with these small adventures. You have said you will stay in hiding until we can gather a force to work with us. That is coming to pass … gradually. William Douglas has sent word that he is on his way to join us and has a considerable force. Sir John Menteith has sent word that he will come to us. We have to be patient, William, and ere long we shall have a strong enough force to go against the English.’
‘This is no small adventure. I love Marion Bradfute.’
‘It is but a short time ago that you loved Ellen and most indiscreetly visited her and came within an inch of losing your life.’
‘Marion is no Ellen. She refuses to be my mistress. She wants marriage … or nothing.’
‘How could you marry?’
‘That is what I told her. I should be constantly leaving her.’
‘Perhaps,’ said Stephen, ‘she could be made to understand that.’
The other two looked at him in amazement.
‘Yes,’ he went on, ‘suppose William married this woman. It would solve her problem and his. The Sheriff’s son then could not have her, and how could he complain because she already had a husband. She knows who William is. She will understand that he has a mission to perform. I am coming to the opinion that it might be good for William to have a wife. She would be a woman he could trust, as he could not trust some leman he might otherwise take up with.’
William was wild with joy. Of course it was possible. She would understand that being who he was he could not settle down to a normal married life. It would not be for long. When Scotland was free then they could make plans together, raise a family and return to the quiet life.
They discussed it together and the more they did the more plausible it seemed.
The very next day William rode over to the Bradfute mansion and asked Marion to marry him.
By the end of that week they were married. A priest had been brought into the house and there in the solarium where they had talked together so recently, the ceremony was performed with only a few faithful servants as witnesses.
For several days he stayed in the mansion. He was a proud and happy husband. He had for a bride the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and she adored him. He was the great Wallace, already a hero. She told him that she wanted to join with him in the struggle, she wanted to do everything she could to help. She knew that there would be times when he would have to leave her. She would bear his absence with fortitude; she would do everything she could to help. She was growing as enthusiastic for the cause as he was. And she was proud of him. She was sure he was going to be the general whose name would go down in history as the man who had brought freedom to his country.
He was loath to leave her but he knew he must return to the woods and while he stayed in her house it was important that his presence should be kept as secret as possible. Who knew what would happen if Heselrig discovered that not only was William Wallace in their midst, but he had married the heiress he wanted for his son?