rrounding the castle: Bothwell and Mary suspected that
they were aimed at, and as they had no means of resistance, Bothwell
dressed himself as a squire, Mary as a page, and both immediately taking
horse, escaped by one door just as the Confederates were coming in by the
other. The fugitives withdrew to Dunbar.

There they called together all Bothwell's friends, and made them sign a
kind of treaty by which they undertook to defend the queen and her
husband. In the midst of all this, Murray arrived from France, and
Bothwell offered the document to him as to the others; but Murray refused
to put his signature to it, saying that it was insulting him to think he
need be bound by a written agreement when it was a question of defending
his sister and his queen. This refusal having led to an altercation
between him and Bothwell, Murray, true to his system of neutrality,
withdrew into his earldom, and let affairs follow without him the fatal
decline they had taken.

In the meantime the Confederates, after having failed at Borthwick, not
feeling strong enough to attack Bothwell at Dunbar, marched upon
Edinburgh, where they had an understanding with a man of whom Bothwell
thought himself sure. This man was James Balfour, governor of the
citadel, the same who had presided over the preparation of the mine which
had blown up Darnley, and whom Bothwell had, met on entering the garden
at Kirk of Field. Not only did Balfour deliver Edinburgh Castle into the
hands of the Confederates, but he also gave them a little silver coffer
of which the cipher, an "F" crowned, showed that it had belonged to
Francis II; and in fact it was a gift from her first husband, which the
queen had presented to Bothwell. Balfour stated that this coffer
contained precious papers, which in the present circumstances might be of
great use to Mary's enemies. The Confederate lords opened it, and found
inside the three genuine or spurious letters that we have quoted, the
marriage contract of Mary and Bothwell, and twelve poems in the queen's
handwriting. As Balfour had said, therein lay, for her enemies, a rich
and precious find, which was worth more than a victory; for a victory
would yield them only the queen's life, while Balfour's treachery yielded
them her honour.

CHAPTER IV

Meanwhile Bothwell had levied some troops, and thought himself in a
position to hold the country: accordingly, he set out with his army,
without even waiting for the Hamilt