eorge, "we shall go to
Holyrood, and see the palace where she lived. While she was there a
great many extraordinary and curious events and incidents befell her."

"Tell us about them," said Waldron.

"No," said Mr. George. "It would take me too long. You must read her
history yourself. It is an exceedingly interesting story. She was
accused of some great crimes, but mankind have never been able to decide
whether she was guilty of them or not. Some are very sure that she was
innocent, and some are equally positive that she was guilty."

"What crimes were they?" asked Waldron.

"Why, one was," said Mr. George, "that of murdering her husband. It was
her second husband, one that she married after she came to Scotland.
They did not live happily together. He killed one of Mary's friends,
named Rizzio, and afterwards he was killed himself. The house that he
was in was blown up in the night with gunpowder."

"My!" exclaimed Waldron; "I should like to read about it."

"It is a very interesting and curious story," said Mr. George.

"And could not they find out who did it?" asked Waldron.

"Yes," said Mr. George, "they found out who did it; but what they could
not find out was, whether Mary herself took any part in the crime or
not. There was no direct proof. They could only judge from the
circumstances."

"What were the circumstances?" asked Waldron.

"O, I could not tell you very well," said Mr. George. "It would take me
half a day to tell the whole story. You must get some life of Mary,
Queen of Scots, and read it for yourself. You will have to begin at the
beginning, and read it all carefully through, and remember all the
persons that are mentioned, and consider their characters and motives,
and then you will be able to judge for yourself about it. There have
been a great many histories of her life written."

"And what about her being imprisoned in the castle that we are going to
see?" asked Waldron.

"O, you must read and find out for yourself about that, too," said Mr.
George. "The country got into great difficulty, and two parties were
formed, one of which was in favor of Mary, and one was against her. Her
enemies proved to be the strongest, and so they shut her up in this
castle. But she got away."

"How?" asked Waldron.

"You will learn all about it," replied Mr. George, "when you come to
read the history of her life. When we go to the castle you will see the
window where she climbed down into the boat."