ish
rebels, while her existence was a nightmare to the Protestants of
Scotland and a peril to Elizabeth.

After Mary's flight, Murray was, as has been said, Regent for the crowned
baby James. In his council were the sensual, brutal, but vigorous
Morton, with Mar, later himself Regent, a man of milder nature;
Glencairn; Ruthven, whom Mary detested--he had tried to make unwelcome
love to her at Lochleven; and "the necessary evil," Lethington. How a
man so wily became a party to the murder of Darnley cannot be known: now
he began to perceive that, if Mary were restored, as he believed that she
would be, his only safety lay in securing her gratitude by secret
services.

On the other side were the Hamiltons with their ablest man, the
Archbishop; the Border spears who were loyal to Bothwell; and two of the
conspirators in the murder of Darnley, Argyll and Huntly; with Fleming
and Herries, who were much attached to Mary. The two parties, influenced
by Elizabeth, did not now come to blows, but awaited the results of
English inquiries into Mary's guilt, and of Elizabeth's consequent
action.

CHAPTER XXI. MINORITY OF JAMES VI.

"Let none of them escape" was Elizabeth's message to the gaolers of Mary
and her companions at Carlisle. The unhappy queen prayed to see her in
whose hospitality she had confided, or to be allowed to depart free.
Elizabeth's policy was to lead her into consenting to reply to her
subjects' accusations, and Mary drifted into the shuffling English
inquiries at York in October, while she was lodged at Bolton Castle.
Murray, George Buchanan, Lethington (now distrusted by Murray), and
Morton produced, for Norfolk and other English Commissioners at York,
copies, at least, of the incriminating letters which horrified the Duke
of Norfolk. Yet, probably through the guile of Lethington, he changed
his mind, and became a suitor for Mary's hand. He bade her refuse
compromise, whereas compromise was Lethington's hope: a full and free
inquiry would reveal his own guilt in Darnley's murder. The inquiry was
shifted to London in December, Mary always being refused permission to
appear and speak for herself; nay, she was not allowed even to see the
letters which she was accused of having written. Her own Commissioners,
Lord Herries and Bishop Lesley, who (as Mary knew in Herries's case) had
no faith in her innocence, showed their want of confidence by proposing a
compromise; this was not admitted. Mort