g some blame on me. Still, I cannot think of rejecting
altogether his humble suit, so prettily preferred; and, if he would
promise to conduct himself with becoming gravity and reserve in all
matters, and at all times, I should have no objection that he was
attached to our court. I will, at all events, make trial of him for a
short space."

Having said this, the queen, now addressing the ladies present
generally, went on--

"Ladies, I will shortly introduce to you a new gallant; but I pray ye
take care of your hearts; for he is, I warrant ye, one especially given
to purloining these little commodities. He is handsome, accomplished,
and a poet; so mind ye, ladies, I have warned you--be on your guard.
Kerr," she now called out to a page in waiting, "go to the hostelry
whence this letter came, and say to the gentleman by whom it has been
sent, that we desire to see him forthwith. Let him accompany you, Kerr."

The page instantly departed; and we will avail ourselves of his short
absence on this mission, to say briefly who Chatelard was--what was his
object in coming to the Scottish court--and of what nature were the
fears which the queen expressed regarding him.

Chatelard, then, was a young French gentleman of rank, of rare
accomplishments, and a poet of very considerable excellence. His seeking
to attach himself to Mary's court, was the result of a violent and
unhappy attachment to her person; and her fears for him, proceeding from
a suspicion of this attachment, were, that he would commit himself by
some rash expression of his feelings. She was displeased with his
presumptuous love, yet found she could not, as a woman, but look on it
with pity and compassion and hence her disposition to treat with
kindness and affability its unhappy victim. Prudence, indeed, would
certainly have dictated another course than what Mary pursued with
Chatelard, in thus admitting him to her presence; but Mary's error here
was an error of the heart, and more to be regretted than blamed.

In a short while after the messenger had been despatched with the
invitation to Chatelard, the door of the queen's apartment was thrown
wide open, and that person entered. His bow to the queen was exceedingly
graceful; and not less so, though measured with scrupulous exactness in
their expression of deference, were those he directed to her ladies.
Chatelard's countenance was at this instant suffused with a blush, and
it was evident he was under the excite