transmitting it?"

"Madam," answered Ruthven, "I am not of a family, as you know, which
ever hesitates to perform a duty, painful as it may be; besides, we hope
that your captivity has prepared you to hear what we have to tell you on
the part of the Secret Council."

"The Secret Council!" said the queen. "Instituted by me, by what right
does it act without me? No matter, I am waiting for this message: I
suppose it is a petition to implore my mercy for the men who have dared
to reach to a power that I hold only from God."

"Madam," replied Ruthven, who appeared to have undertaken the painful
role of spokesman, while Lindsay, mute and impatient, fidgeted with the
hilt of his long sword, "it is distressing to me to have to undeceive
you on this point: it is not your mercy that I come to ask; it is, on
the contrary, the pardon of the Secret Council that I come to offer
you."

"To me, my lord, to me!" cried Mary: "subjects offer pardon to their
queen! Oh! it is such a new and wonderful thing, that my amazement
outweighs my indignation, and that I beg you to continue, instead of
stopping you there, as perhaps I ought to do."

"And I obey you so much the more willingly, madam," went on Ruthven
imperturbably, "that this pardon is only granted on certain conditions,
stated in these documents, destined to re-establish the tranquillity of
the State, so cruelly compromised by the errors that they are going to
repair."

"And shall I be permitted, my lord, to read these documents, or must I,
allured by my confidence in those who present them to me, sign them with
my eyes shut?"

"No, madam," Ruthven returned; "the Secret Council desire, on the
contrary, that you acquaint yourself with them, for you must sign them
freely."

"Read me these documents, my lord; for such a reading is, I think,
included in the strange duties you have accepted."

Lord Ruthven took one of the two papers that he had in his hand, and
read with the impassiveness of his usual voice the following:

"Summoned from my tenderest youth to the government of the kingdom
and to the crown of Scotland, I have carefully attended to the
administration; but I have experienced so much fatigue and trouble that
I no longer find my mind free enough nor my strength great enough to
support the burden of affairs of State: accordingly, and as Divine
favour has granted us a son whom we desire to see during our lifetime
bear the crown which he has acquired by right of b