nts at the locked door of the gallery chamber, whereat Mar,
Lennox, and the rest so long and so vainly battered. Who locked that
door, and why? The subject is entirely omitted by the apologist. On the
other hand, the apologist never alludes to the Murrays, who were in the
town. Other writers soon after the events, and in our own day, allege
that James had arranged his plot so as to coincide with the presence of
the Murrays in Perth. What they did to serve him we have heard. John
Murray was wounded by a Ruthven partisan after the Earl and Master were
dead. Some Murrays jostled Gowrie, before he rushed to his death. Young
Tullibardine helped to pacify the populace. That is all. Nothing more
is attributed to the Murrays, and the contemporary apologist did not try
to make capital out of them.

Though the narrative of the contemporary apologist for the Ruthvens
appears absolutely to lack evidence for its assertions, it reveals, on
analysis, a consistent theory of the King's plot. It may not be
verifiable; in fact it cannot be true, but there is a theory, a system,
which we do not find in most contemporary, or in more recent arguments.
James, by the theory, is intent on the destruction of the Ruthvens. His
plan was to bring the Master to Falkland, and induce the world to believe
that it was the Master who brought _him_ to Perth. The Master refuses
several invitations; at last, on his way to Dirleton, he goes to
Falkland, taking with him Andrew Ruthven and Andrew Henderson. The old
apologist asserts, what modern vindicators deny, that Henderson was at
Falkland.

Then the Master sends Henderson first, Andrew Ruthven later, to warn
Gowrie that, for some unknown reason, the King is coming. To conceal his
bloody project (though the apologist does not mention the circumstance),
James next passes four hours in hunting. _To omit this certain fact is
necessary for the apologist's purpose_. The King sends thirty horsemen
in front of him, and follows with thirty more. After dinner he leaves
the hall with the Master, but sends him back for Erskine, Wilson, and
Ramsay. James having secured their help, and next lured the Master into
a turret, the minions kill Ruthven and throw his body downstairs; one of
them, simultaneously, is in the street. James has previously arranged
that one of his servants shall give out that the King has ridden away.
This he does announce at the nick of time (though Gowrie's servant did
it), s