h the
hilt of his long sword, "it is distressing to me to have to undeceive you
on this point: it is not your mercy that I come to ask; it is, on the
contrary, the pardon of the Secret Council that I come to offer you."

"To me, my lord, to me!" cried Mary: "subjects offer pardon to their
queen! Oh! it is such a new and wonderful thing, that my amazement
outweighs my indignation, and that I beg you to continue, instead of
stopping you there, as perhaps I ought to do."

"And I obey you so much the more willingly, madam," went on Ruthven
imperturbably, "that this pardon is only granted on certain conditions,
stated in these documents, destined to re-establish the tranquillity of
the State, so cruelly compromised by the errors that they are going to
repair."

"And shall I be permitted, my lord, to read these documents, or must I,
allured by my confidence in those who present them to me, sign them with
my eyes shut?"

"No, madam," Ruthven returned; "the Secret Council desire, on the
contrary, that you acquaint yourself with them, for you must sign them
freely."

"Read me these documents, my lord; for such a reading is, I think,
included in the strange duties you have accepted."

Lord Ruthven took one of the two papers that he had in his hand, and read
with the impassiveness of his usual voice the following:

"Summoned from my tenderest youth to the government of the kingdom and to
the crown of Scotland, I have carefully attended to the administration;
but I have experienced so much fatigue and trouble that I no longer find
my mind free enough nor my strength great enough to support the burden of
affairs of State: accordingly, and as Divine favour has granted us a son
whom we desire to see during our lifetime bear the crown which he has
acquired by right of birth, we have resolved to abdicate, and we abdicate
in his favour, by these presents, freely and voluntarily, all our rights
to the crown and to the government of Scotland, desiring that he may
immediately ascend the throne, as if he were called to it by our natural
death, and not as the effect of our own will; and that our present
abdication may have a more complete and solemn effect, and that no one
should put forward the claim of ignorance, we give full powers to our
trusty and faithful cousins, the lords Lindsay of Byres and William
Ruthven, to appear in our name before the nobility, the clergy, and the
burgesses of Scotland, of whom they will convoke an asse