who was
to exercise the government until Murray should return, followed with
the scepter, and a third bore the infant king, who gazed about
unconsciously upon the scene, regardless alike of his mother's lonely
wretchedness and of his own new scepter and crown.

In the mean time, Murray was drawing near toward the confines of
Scotland. He was somewhat uncertain how to act. Having been absent
for some time in France and on the Continent, he was not certain how
far the people of Scotland were really and cordially in favor of the
revolution which had been effected. Mary's friends might claim that
her acts of abdication, having been obtained while she was under
duress, were null and void, and if they were strong enough they
might attempt to reinstate her upon the throne. In this case, it
would be better for him not to have acted with the insurgent
government at all. To gain information on these points, Murray sent
to Melville to come and meet him on the border. Melville came. The
result of their conferences was, that Murray resolved to visit Mary
in her tower before he adopted any decisive course.

Murray accordingly journeyed northward to Loch Leven, and, embarking
in the boat which plied between the castle and the shore, he crossed
the sheet of water, and was admitted into the fortress. He had a long
interview with Mary alone. At the sight of her long-absent brother,
who had been her friend and guide in her early days of prosperity and
happiness, and who had accompanied her through so many changing
scenes, and who now returned, after his long separation from her, to
find her a lonely and wretched captive, involved in irretrievable
ruin, if not in acknowledged guilt, she was entirely overcome by her
emotions. She burst into tears and could not speak. What further
passed at this interview was never precisely known. They parted
tolerably good friends, however, and yet Murray immediately assumed
the government, by which it is supposed that he succeeded in
persuading Mary that such a step was now best for her sake as well as
for that of all others concerned.

Murray, however, did not fail to warn her, as he himself states, in a
very serious manner, against any attempt to change her situation.
"Madam," said he, "I will plainly declare to you what the sources of
danger are from which I think you have most to apprehend. First, any
attempt, of whatever kind, that you may make to create disturbance in
the country, through frien