ssible fault, calling her
their mother and bidding her farewell. Finding, no doubt, that this
scene was lasting too long, the sheriff made a sign, and the soldiers
pushed the men and women back into the room and shut the door on them;
still, fast as was the door, the queen none the less heard their cries
and lamentations, which seemed, in spite of the guards, as if they would
accompany her to the scaffold.

At the stair-head, the queen found Andrew Melville awaiting her: he was
the Master of her Household, who had been secluded from her for some
time, and who was at last permitted to see her once more to say farewell.
The queen, hastening her steps, approached him, and kneeling down to
receive his blessing, which he gave her, weeping--

"Melville," said she, without rising, and addressing him as "thou" for
the first time, "as thou hast been an honest servant to me, be the same
to my son: seek him out directly after my death, and tell him of it in
every detail; tell him that I wish him well, and that I beseech God to
send him His Holy Spirit."

"Madam," replied Melville, "this is certainly the saddest message with
which a man can be charged: no matter, I shall faithfully fulfil it, I
swear to you."

"What sayest thou, Melville?" responded the queen, rising; "and what
better news canst thou bear, on the contrary, than that I am delivered
from all my ills? Tell him that he should rejoice, since the sufferings
of Mary Stuart are at an end; tell him that I die a Catholic, constant in
my religion, faithful to Scotland and France, and that I forgive those
who put me to death. Tell him that I have always desired the union of
England and Scotland; tell him, finally, that I have done nothing
injurious to his kingdom, to his honour, or to his rights. And thus,
good Melville, till we meet again in heaven."

Then, leaning on the old man, whose face was bathed in tears, she
descended the staircase, at the foot of which she found the two earls,
Sir Henry Talbot, Lord Shrewsbury's son, Amyas Paulet, Drue Drury, Robert
Beale, and many gentlemen of the neighbourhood: the queen, advancing
towards them without pride, but without humility, complained that her
servants had been refused permission to follow her, and asked that it
should be granted. The lords conferred together; and a moment after the
Earl of Kent inquired which ones she desired to have, saying she might be
allowed six. So the queen chose from among the men Bourgoin