"There is an attack," cried the earl.

"Nay, who would venture to attack such a fortress as this?" answered
Lady Mar.

"Hark! it is the slogan of Sir William Wallace. Oh, for a sword!"
exclaimed the earl.

A voice was heard begging for mercy--the voice of De Valence, the
governor.

"You shall die!" was the stern answer.

"Nay, Kirkpatrick, I give him life." The accents were Wallace's.

A battering-ram broke down the prison-door. There stood Wallace and his
men, their weapons and armour covered with blood. De Valence, evading
the clutch of Kirkpatrick, thrust his dagger into Wallace's side and
fled.

"It is nothing," said Wallace, as he staunched the wound with his scarf.

"So is your mercy rewarded," muttered the grim Kirkpatrick.

"So am I true to my duty," returned Wallace, "though De Valence is a
traitor to his."

The Countess of Mar looked for the first time upon Wallace's
countenance. He was the enemy of her kinsmen of the house of Cummin;