nner. A
bath was arranged for him in his apartment, and every thing was done
which could conduce to his comfort, according to the ideas which then
prevailed. Darnley was brought to Edinburgh, conveyed to this house,
and quietly established there.

The following is a plan of the house in which Darnley was lodged:

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE HOUSE AT THE KIRK O' FIELD.

M. Mary's room, below Darnley's. K. Kitchen; servants'
room above. O. Passage through the city wall into the kitchen. S.
Stair-case leading to the second story. P. Passage-way.]

The accommodations in this house do not seem to have been very
sumptuous, after all, for a royal guest; but royal dwellings in
Scotland, in those days, were not what they are now in Westminster
and at St. Cloud.

The day for the execution of the plan, which was to blow up the house
where the sick Darnley was lying with gunpowder, approached.
Bothwell selected a number of desperate characters to aid him in the
actual work to be done. One of these was a Frenchman, who had been
for a long time in his service, and who went commonly by the name of
French Paris. Bothwell contrived to get French Paris taken into
Mary's service a few days before the murder of Darnley, and, through
him, he got possession of some of the keys of the house which Darnley
was occupying, and thus had duplicates of them made, so that he had
access to every part of the house. The gunpowder was brought from
Bothwell's castle at Dunbar, and all was ready.

Mary spent much of her time at Darnley's house, and often slept in
the room beneath his, which had been allotted to her as her
apartment. One Sunday there was to be a wedding at Holyrood. The
bride and bridegroom were favorite servants of Mary's, and she was
intending to be present at the celebration of the nuptials. She was
to leave Darnley's early in the evening for this purpose. Her enemies
say that this was all a concerted arrangement between her and
Bothwell to give him the opportunity to execute his plan. Her
friends, on the other hand, insist that she knew nothing about it,
and that Bothwell had to watch and wait for such an opportunity of
blowing up the house without injuring Mary. Be this as it may, the
Sunday of this wedding was fixed upon for the consummation of the
deed.

The gunpowder had been secreted in Bothwell's rooms at the palace. On
Sunday evening, as soon as it was dark, Bothwell set the men at work
to transport the gunpowder. They b