f arisen in her bed.

"You must have affairs of great moment, indeed," cried Elizabeth, testily,
"if they induce you to disturb me in this manner."

"Of great moment, indeed, your Majesty," replied Dorothy, endeavoring to
be calm, "of moment to you and to me. Mary Stuart is in England at this
instant trying to steal your crown and my lover. She is now sleeping
within five leagues of this place. God only knows what she is doing. Let
us waste no time, your Majesty."

The girl was growing wilder every second.

"Let us go--you and I--and seize this wanton creature. You to save your
crown; I to save my lover and--my life."

"Where is she?" demanded Elizabeth, sharply. "Cease prattling about your
lover. She would steal both my lover and my crown if she could. Where is
she?"

"She is at Rutland Castle, your Majesty," answered Dorothy.

"Ah, the Duke of Rutland and his son John," said Elizabeth. "I have been
warned of them. Send for my Lord Cecil and Sir William St. Loe."

Sir William was in command of the yeoman guards.

"Is Sir John Manners your lover?" asked Elizabeth, turning to Dorothy.

"Yes," answered the girl.

"You may soon seek another," replied the queen, significantly.

Her Majesty's words seemed to awaken Dorothy from her stupor of frenzy,
and she foresaw the result of her act. Then came upon her a reaction worse
than death.

"You may depart," said the queen to Dorothy, and the girl went back to
her room hardly conscious that she was moving.

At times we cannot help feeling that love came to the human breast through
a drop of venom shot from the serpent's tongue into the heart of Eve.
Again we believe it to be a spark from God's own soul. Who will solve me
this riddle?

Soon the hard, cold ringing of arms, and the tramp of mailed feet
resounded through Haddon Hall, and the doom-like din reached Dorothy's
room in the tones of a clanging knell. There seemed to be a frightful
rhythm in the chaos of sounds which repeated over and over again the
words: "John will die, John will die," though the full import of her act
and its results did nor for a little time entirely penetrate her
consciousness. She remembered the queen's words, "You may soon seek
another." Elizabeth plainly meant that John was a traitor, and that John
would die for his treason. The clanking words, "John will die, John will
die," bore upon the girl's ears in ever increasing volume until the agony
she suffered deadened her power to thin