was very intimate.
Accordingly she went into the drawing-room and delivered him the letter,
which he received very graciously. He could not read it then, as he was
at cards with the Prince; but as soon as ever the game was over he read
it, and behaved (as I afterwards learned) with the warmest zeal for my
interest, and was seconded by the Duke of Montrose, who had seen me in
the ante-chamber and wanted to speak to me. But I made him a sign not to
come near me, lest his acquaintance might thwart my designs. They read
over the petition several times, but without any success; but it became
the topic of their conversation the rest of the evening, and the
harshness with which I had been treated soon spread abroad--not much to
the honour of the king."

This painful scene happened on Monday, February 13th, and seems to have
produced no result, unless it may be supposed to have hastened the fate
of the prisoners; for, on the following Friday, it was decided in
council that the sentence against them should be carried into effect.

In the meanwhile Lady Derwentwater and other ladies of high rank were
strenuous in their efforts to avert the execution of the sentence. They
succeeded in obtaining an interview with the king, though without any
favourable issue. They also attended at both Houses of Parliament to
present petitions to the members as they went in. These exertions had a
decided influence on the feelings of both Houses. In the Commons a
motion to petition the king in favour of the delinquents was lost by
only seven votes, and among the Lords a still stronger personal feeling
and interest was excited; but all proved unavailing, and Lady Nithsdale,
after joining with the other ladies in this ineffectual attendance, at
length found that all her hope and dependence must rest on her
long-formed scheme of bringing about her husband's escape. She had less
than twenty-four hours for arranging it in all its details, and for
persuading the accomplices who would be necessary to her to enter into
so hazardous a project. In these she seems to have been peculiarly
fortunate; but the history of this remarkable escape can only be given
in her own words, taken from the interesting and spirited narrative she
wrote of it:--

"As the motion had passed generally (that the petitions should be read
in the Lords, which had only been carried after a warm debate) I thought
I would draw some advantage in favour of my design. Accordingly I
immedi