r.'
{53}

Were the locks that 'chekit to' spring locks, and was James unaware that
he was locked in? But Ramsay, before the affray, had wandered into 'a
gallery, very fair,' and unless there were two galleries, he could not do
this, if the gallery door was locked. Lennox and Mar and the rest speak
of opposition from only one door.

While we cannot explain these things, _that_ door, at least, between the
gallery and the gallery chamber, excluded James from most of his friends.
Can the reader believe that he purposely had that door locked, we know
not how, or by whom, on the system of compelling Gowrie to 'come and be
killed' by way of the narrow staircase? Could we see Gowrie House, and
its 'secret ways,' as it then was, we might understand this problem of
the locked doors. Contemporary criticism, as minutely recorded by
Calderwood, found no fault with the number of locked doors, but only
asked 'how could the King's fear but increase, perceiving Mr. Alexander'
(the Master) 'ever to lock the doors behind them?' If the doors closed
with spring locks (of which the principle had long been understood and
used), the King may not have been aware of the locking. The problem
cannot be solved; we only disbelieve that the King himself had the door
locked, to keep his friends out, and let Gowrie in.

NOTE.--_The Abbey of Scone_. On page 48 we have quoted the statement
that James had bestowed on Gowrie the Abbey of Scone 'during his life.'
This was done in 1580 (_Registrum Magni Sigilli_, vol. iii. No. 3011).
On May 25, 1584, William Fullarton got this gift, the first Earl of
Gowrie and his children being then forfeited. But on July 23, 1586, the
Gowrie of the day was restored to all his lands, and the Earldom of
Gowrie included the old church lands of Scone (_Reg. Mag. Sig._ iv. No.
695, No. 1044). How, then, did John, third Earl of Gowrie, hold only
'for his life' the Commendatorship of the Abbey of Scone, as is stated in
S. P. Scot. (Eliz.) vol. lxvi. No. 50?

IV. THE KING'S NARRATIVE--II. THE MAN IN THE TURRET

We left James entering the little 'round,' or 'study,' the turret
chamber. Here, at last, he expected to find the captive and the pot of
gold. And here the central mystery of his adventure began. His Majesty
saw standing, 'with a very abased countenance, not a bondman but a
freeman, with a dagger at his girdle.' Ruthven locked the door, put on
his hat, drew the man's dagger, and held the poin