hs of his selfish soul by her tears, her
clinging caresses, and her protestations of affection, answered with
an oath and a sob that no better or more loyal and devoted subject than
himself could all Scotland yield her.

"And, as for this killing of Davie," he ended vehemently, "I swear by my
soul's salvation that I have had no part in it, nor any knowledge of it
until my return!"

"I know--I know!" she moaned. "Should I make you welcome, else? Be my
friend, Jamie; be my friend!"

He swore it readily, for he was very greedy of power, and saw the door
of his return to it opening wider than he could have hoped. Then he
spoke of Darnley, begging her to receive him, and hear what he might
have to say, protesting that the King swore that he had not desired the
murder, and that the lords had carried the matter out of his hands and
much beyond all that he had intended.

Because it suited her deep purpose, Mary consented, feigning to be
persuaded. She had realized that before she could deal with Darnley, and
the rebel lords who held her a prisoner, she must first win free from
Holyrood.

Darnley came. He was sullen now, mindful of his recent treatment, and in
fear--notwithstanding Murray's reassurance--of further similar rebuffs.
She announced herself ready to hear what he might have to say, and she
listened attentively while he spoke, her elbow on the carved arm of her
chair, her chin in her hand. When he had done, she sat long in thought,
gazing out through the window at the grey March sky. At length she
turned and looked at him.

"Do you pretend, my lord, to regret for what has passed?" she challenged
him.

"You tempt me to hypocrisy," he said. "Yet I will be frank as at an
Easter shrift. Since that fellow Davie fell into credit and familiarity
with Your Majesty, you no longer treated me nor entertained me after
your wonted fashion, nor would you ever bear me company save this Davie
were the third. Can I pretend, then, to regret that one who deprived
me of what I prized most highly upon earth should have been removed? I
cannot. Yet I can and do proclaim my innocence of any part or share in
the deed that has removed him."

She lowered her eyes an instant, then raised them again to meet his own.

"You had commerce with these traitor lords," she reminded him. "It is
by your decree that they are returned from exile. What was your aim in
this?"

"To win back the things of which this fellow Davie had robbed me, a
sha