y Seyton that instrument which
he judged unworthy to touch the queen's hands, "and this evening I shall
bring your Majesty cords to construct a ladder. You will cut through one
of the bars of this window, it is only at a height of twenty feet; I
shall come up to you, as much to try it as to support you; one of the
garrison is in my pay, he will give us passage by the door it is his duty
to guard, and you will be free."

"And when will that be?" cried the queen.

"We must wait for two things, madam," replied Douglas: "the first, to
collect at Kinross an escort sufficient for your Majesty's safety; the
second, that the turn for night watch of Thomas Warden should happen to
be at an isolated door that we can reach without being seen."

"And how will you know that? Do you stay at the castle, then?"

"Alas! no, madam," replied George; "at the castle I am a useless and even
a dangerous fried for you, while once beyond the lake I can serve you in
an effectual manner."

"And how will you know when Warden's turn to mount guard has come?"

"The weathercock in the north tower, instead of turning in the wind with
the others, will remain fixed against it."

"But I, how shall I be warned?"

"Everything is already provided for on that side: the light which shines
each night in the little house in Kinross incessantly tells you that your
friends keep watch for you; but when you would like to know if the hour
of your deliverance approaches or recedes, in your turn place a light in
this window. The other will immediately disappear; then, placing your
hand on your breast, count your heartbeats: if you reach the number
twenty without the light reappearing, nothing is yet settled; if you only
reach ten, the moment approaches; if the light does not leave you time to
count beyond five, your escape is fixed for the following night; if it
reappears no more, it is fixed for the same evening; then the owl's cry,
repeated thrice in the courtyard, will be the signal; let down the ladder
when you hear it".

"Oh, Douglas," cried the queen, "you alone could foresee and calculate
everything thus. Thank you, thank you a hundred times!" And she gave him
her hand to kiss.

A vivid red flushed the young man's cheeks; but almost directly mastering
his emotion, he kneeled down, and, restraining the expression of that
love of which he had once spoken to the queen, while promising her never
more to speak of it, he took the hand that Mary extended