old chain round his neck and
his ivory stick in his hand. The servants' placed the dishes on the
table, and waited in silence for the moment when it should please the
queen to come out of her room; but at this moment the door opened, and in
place of the queen Mary Seyton appeared.

"Madam," said she on entering, "her grace was indisposed during the day,
and will take nothing this evening; it will be useless, then, for you to
wait longer."

"Permit me to hope," replied Lady Lochleven, "that she will change her
decision; in any case, see me perform my office."

At these words, a servant handed Lady Lochleven bread and salt on a
silver salver, while the old steward, who, in the absence of William
Douglas, fulfilled the duties of carver, served to her on a plate of the
same metal a morsel from each of the dishes that had been brought; then,
this transaction ended.

"So the queen will not appear to-day?" Lady Lochleven inquired.

"It is her Majesty's resolve," replied Mary Seyton.

"Our presence is then needless," said the old lady; "but in any case the
table is served, and if her grace should have need of anything else, she
would have but to name it."

With these words, Lady Lochleven, with the same stiffness and the same
dignity with which she had come, withdrew, followed by her four servants
and her steward.

As Lady Lochleven had foreseen, the queen, yielding to the entreaties of
Mary Seyton, came out of her room at last, towards eight o'clock in the
evening, sat down to table, and, served by the only maid of honour left
her, ate a little; then, getting up, she went to the window.

It was one of those magnificent summer evenings on which the whole of
nature seems making holiday: the sky was studded with stars, which were
reflected in the lake, and in their midst, like a more fiery star, the
flame of the chafing-dish shone, burning at the stern of a little boat:
the queen, by the gleam of the light it shed, perceived George Douglas
and Little Douglas, who were fishing. However great her wish to profit
by this fine evening to breathe the pure night air, the sight of this
young man who had so grossly insulted her this very day made such a keen
impression on her that she shut her window directly, and, retiring into
her room, went to bed, and made her companion in captivity read several
prayers aloud; then, not being able to sleep, so greatly was she
agitated, she rose, and throwing on a mantle went again to the w