placed mattresses on the floor, in the
angle of an alcove, upon which the children lay down, and after some
time fell asleep. "The poor children were hungry, and asked for supper,
but there was nothing to give them; and from two in the afternoon of the
7th, till eight in the morning of the 8th, they did not taste food."
What a curious picture is this! Isabel de Borbon, queen of Spain and the
Indies, lying on a mattress upon the floor, terrified and a-hungered,
her governess, the widow of an ex-peasant and guerilla, keeping watch
beside her; nineteen intrepid soldiers defending her against troops sent
by her own mother to attack her palace and carry off herself!

Nor was this all. There was a private staircase leading from the
_entresol_ of the palace to the royal apartments; and although it had
been blocked up some time previously, the rebels were aware of its
existence, and were heard sawing at the barrier that closed it. "At this
time, the countess told me, she felt it her duty to rouse the queen and
prepare her for the worst, dictating to her the manner in which those
who should enter were to be addressed. The intention was, when they
should arrive at the inner door, to open it for fear of greater
violence, and admit them." If the conspirators could have got possession
of the queen's person, their plan was to wrap her in a cloak and mount
her behind one Fulgosio, who had been a colonel in the Carlist service,
but was included in the convention of Bergara. In this Tartar fashion
she was to have been carried off to the north of Spain.

Captain Widdrington evidently considers that this daring attempt on the
part of Christina's faction, as well as subsequent almost equally
strange events that have occurred in Spain, were in great measure
concerted and organized in France, the money proceeding partly from the
French treasury and partly from the coffers of Christina--coffers which
she had taken excellent care to fill during the period of her regency.
We have been rather amused at the diplomatic caution displayed by the
Captain when alluding to French intrigues. The French are always "our
neighbours," and Louis Philippe "a certain personage." His meaning,
however, is plain enough, and we fully agree with him, that French gold
and French counsels and influence have been at the bottom of most of the
disturbances that have taken place in Spain since the year 1840. But
enough, for the present, of plots and plotters; we shall p