"I have thus spoken because dire forebodings have seized me of late. Thy
proud spirit ill brooks authority, and thou wilt soon be of an age when
if thy will should clash with thy father's, I trow not the consequences.
Therefore have I counseled thee. But of this no more."

For a time the two sat in silence, and then Francis broke the quiet:

"My mother, there is something that I would fain ask."

"Say on, my child."

"When I speak of it to Master Greville he calls me disloyal, but I mean
it not so. 'Tis only that I would know. My mother, why doth Elizabeth
reign as queen if our rightful queen is Mary of Scotland? Dost thou
believe her to be the true heiress to the crown?"

"Yes, child; as what true adherent of the faith doth not? Yet hath
Elizabeth been a good queen save and except that she hath made severe
laws against the exercise of our religion. But England hath truly
prospered under her."

"But there be some that would willingly raise Mary to the throne, are
there not?"

"'Tis treason to say so, but there be some in very truth. 'Tis because
the queen fears them that she hath kept Mary so long a prisoner."

"How long hath it been, mother?"

"Near nineteen years. It is a long, long time. She was full of youth and
beauty when she set foot upon English soil, but now she hath grown old
before her time with disease and confinement. Truly the queen hath dealt
harshly with her own kin."

"Master Greville saith that she is a cruel bad woman, and that if she
could compass the death of our queen she would do so."

"Greville speaks of that of which he knows naught," said Lady Stafford
sharply. "He hath let the gossip of the court fill him to repletion. It
hath been said that Mary was a wicked woman, yet I believe it not. That
she desireth her liberty is no crime, but rather the longing of all
nature to be free. Mary is the daughter and the granddaughter of a king.
Sometime queen of France, and crowned queen of Scotland. She is cousin
german to Elizabeth, and if common natures cannot brook confinement what
wonder is it that she sighs for freedom? This desire hath caused her to
attempt escape often by the aid of friends, and given rise to the belief
that many would raise her to the throne."

"Is Elizabeth beautiful, mother? Greville says that she is the most
lovely woman in the world. That none can compare with her for beauty, or
for learning."

Lady Stafford laughed and then checked herself.

"Child," she sai