e the unhappy fugitive
with the honors becoming her rank, though such honors must have
seemed little else than a mockery in her present condition.

Mary was received at the castle as an honored guest. It is, however,
a curious circumstance, that, in respect to the reception of princes
and queens in royal castles, there is little or no distinction
between the ceremonies which mark the honored guest and those which
attend the helpless captive. Mary had a great many friends at first,
who came out of Scotland to visit her. The authorities ordered
repairs to be commenced upon the castle, to fit it more suitably for
so distinguished an inmate, and, in consequence of the making of
these repairs, they found it inconvenient to admit visitors. Of
course, Mary, being a mere guest, could not complain. She wanted to
take a walk beyond the limits of the castle, upon a green to which
there was access through a postern gate. Certainly: the governor made
no objection to such a walk, but sent twenty or thirty armed men to
accompany her. They might be considered either as an honorary escort,
or as a guard to watch her movements, to prevent her escape, and to
secure her return. At one time she proposed to go a-hunting. They
allowed her to go, _properly attended_. On her return, however, the
officer reported to his superior that she was so admirable in her
horsemanship, and could ride with so much fearlessness and speed,
that he thought it might be possible for a body of her friends to
come and carry her off, on some such occasion, back across the
frontier. So they determined to tell Mary, when she wished to hunt
again, that they thought it not safe for her to go out on such
excursions, as her _enemies_ might make a sudden invasion and carry
her away. The precautions would be just the same to protect Mary from
her enemies as to keep her from her friends.

Elizabeth sent her captive cousin very kind and condoling messages,
dispatching, however, by the same messenger stringent orders to the
commander of the castle to be sure and keep her safely. Mary asked
for an interview with Elizabeth. Elizabeth's officers replied that
she could not properly admit Mary to a personal interview until she
had been, in some way or other, cleared of the suspicion which
attached to her in respect to the murder of Darnley. They proposed,
moreover, that Mary should consent to have that question examined
before some sort of court which Elizabeth might constitute