To hang about Court, and be found secretly wedded to some base groom!"

"No, madam. I give you my solemn word as a Queen's daughter that I
will never wed, save by your consent, if my mother's life be granted.
The King of Scots knows not that there is such a being. He need never
know it. I will thank and bless you whether you throw me into the
Tower, or let me abide as the humblest of your serving-women, under the
name I have always borne, Cicely Talbot."

"Foolish maid, thou mayest purpose as thou sayest, but I know what
wenches are made of too well to trust thee."

"Ah madam, pardon me, but you know not how strong a maiden's heart can
be for a mother's sake. Madam! you have never seen my mother. If you
but knew her patience and her tenderness, you would know how not only
I, but every man or woman in her train, would gladly lay down life and
liberty for her, could we but break her bonds, and win her a shelter
among those of her own faith."

"Art a Papist?" asked the Queen, observing the pronoun.

"Not so, an't please your Majesty. This gentleman bred me up in our
own Church, nor would I leave it."

"Strange--strange matters," muttered Elizabeth, "and they need to be
duly considered."

"I will then abide your Majesty's pleasure," said Cicely, "craving
license that it may be at Fotheringhay with my mother. Then can I bear
her the tidings, and she will write in full her consent to these terms.
O madam, I see mercy in your looks. Receive a daughter's blessing and
thanks!"

"Over fast, over fast, maiden. Who told thee that I had consented?"

"Your Majesty's own countenance," replied Cicely readily. "I see pity
in it, and the recollection that all posterity for evermore will speak
of the clemency of Elizabeth as the crown of all her glories!"

"Child, child," said the Queen, really moved, "Heaven knows that I
would gladly practise clemency if my people would suffer it, but they
fear for my life, and still more for themselves, were I removed, nor
can I blame them."

"Your Majesty, I know that. But my mother would be dead to the world,
leaving her rights solemnly made over to her son. None would know
where to find her, and she would leave in your hands, and those of the
Parliament, a resignation of all her claims."

"And would she do this? Am I to take it on thy word, girl?"

"Your Majesty knows this ring, sent to her at Lochleven," said Cicely,
holding it up. "It is the pledge that she binds herself