window in it. It contained very little furniture. There were two tall,
carved stands, to hold the candlesticks, on each side of the altar, and
several very ancient-looking chairs. There was also a small and very
peculiar-shaped old mirror hanging upon the wall. It had no frame, but
the glass itself was cut into an ornamental form. This mirror was a
great curiosity, it must be confessed; but it was past performing any
useful function, for the silver was worn off to such an extent that it
was very difficult to see one's face in it.

After looking some time longer at Queen Mary's rooms, Mr. George and the
boys went back again to Lord Darnley's apartments below. There they saw
a picture of Queen Mary which they had not observed before. It
represented her, the man said, in the dress she wore the day that she
was beheaded. The dress was of dark silk or velvet, plain, but very
rich. It fitted close to the form, and came up high in the neck. The
countenance evinced the changes produced by time and grief, but it wore
the same sweet expression that was seen in the portrait painted in her
earlier years.

"What was she beheaded for?" asked Rollo, while they were looking at
this portrait.

"She was beheaded by the government of Queen Elizabeth of England,"
replied Mr. George. "They charged her with forming plots to dethrone
Elizabeth, and make herself Queen of England in her place."

"And did she really form the plots?" asked Waldron.

"Why--yes," said Mr. George, speaking, however, in a somewhat doubtful
tone, "yes--I suppose she did; or, at least, her friends and party did;
she herself consenting. You see she was herself descended from an
English king, just as Elizabeth was, and it was extremely doubtful which
was the rightful heir. Mary, and all her friends and party, claimed that
she was; and Elizabeth, on the other hand, insisted that _her_ claim was
clear and unquestionable."

"Which was right?" asked Waldron.

"It is impossible to say," replied Mr. George. "It was such a
complicated case that you could not decide it either way. The question
was like a piece of changeable silk. You could make it look green or
brown, just according to the way you looked at it. When you come to read
the history you will see just how it was."

"Yes," said Waldron, "I mean to read all about it."

"After the difficulties in Scotland," continued Mr. George, "Mary's
armies were driven across the line into England, and there Mary was
seized