her. "Thou
knowest how full of anxiety they must be, and how solicitously they await
thy return. Thou shouldst be willing to adopt any course that would allay
that uneasiness and restore thee to their arms."

"And I am willing," responded the girl with fervor. "Away, indecision!
Away, doubts! No longer will I listen to ye; for what says Will
Shakspeare:

"'Our doubts are traitors,
And make us lose the good we oft might win,
By fearing to attempt.'

Speak on, my lord. Unfold again thy plan, and I will follow it, be the
issue what it may."

"There spake the Stafford blood," exclaimed the nobleman approvingly.
"Listen, girl, then haste thee to the queen's gallery; for on the hazard
of this die depends thy fortune."

Francis gave heed to all of his instructions, and then made her way to
the queen's apartment. The chamber was unoccupied, and she looked about
in quest of some suitable hiding-place. At one end of the room the
mullioned window opened upon a long balcony which overlooked the private
garden. Francis resolved to place herself there rather than behind the
rich tapestries.

She had scarcely taken her position near an open window where she could
both see and hear without being herself seen when Elizabeth entered. To
the girl's consternation she was not alone, but attended by Walsingham,
Burleigh, Hatton and Leicester.

Elizabeth seemed much agitated, and Francis, unwilling to be a listener
in matters of state, looked about her for some means of retiring when her
attention was caught by a name.

"And thou art sure, Walsingham, of the truth of this matter? Hast thou
indisputable proofs that Anthony Babington is guilty of design to murder
us? Long have I known that he inclined toward the claims of our cousin,
Mary of Scotland, but so too do my Lord Stafford, my Lord Percy, and
other of our subjects. Yet none of these gentlemen would lift a hand
against the person of his queen. Art sure of what thou art saying?"

"I have here the proofs, Your Majesty," returned Walsingham. "Here is a
tablet upon which is painted the face of Babington and five others who
are associated with him in perilous enterprise, as thou seest engraved.
Further: here are letters which have passed between Mary of Scotland and
the conspirators in which she commends the performance of the deed. The
act was to be committed on thy way to chapel."

"Then, my lord, if this be true, why have you not a