Douglas standing near the table he was going to fulfil about the queen
the duties of carver and taster.

In spite of their hatred for Mary, the Douglases would have considered it
an eternal blemish on their honour if any accident should have befallen
the queen while she was dwelling in their castle; and it was in order
that the queen herself should not entertain any fear in this respect that
William Douglas, in his quality of lord of the manor, had not only
desired to carve before the queen, but even to taste first in her
presence, all the dishes served to her, as well as the water and the
several wines to be brought her. This precaution saddened Mary more than
it reassured her; for she understood that, while she stayed in the
castle, this ceremony would prevent any intimacy at table. However, it
proceeded from too noble an intention for her to impute it as a crime to
her hosts: she resigned herself, then, to this company, insupportable as
it was to her; only, from that day forward, she so cut short her meals
that all the time she was at Lochleven her longest dinners barely lasted
more than a quarter of an hour.

Two days after her arrival, Mary, on sitting down to table for breakfast,
found on her plate a letter addressed to her which had been put there by
William Douglas. Mary recognised Murray's handwriting, and her first
feeling was one of joy; for if a ray of hope remained to her, it came
from her brother, to whom she had always been perfectly kind, whom from
Prior of St. Andrew's she had made an earl in bestowing on him the
splendid estates which formed part of the old earldom of Murray, and to
whom, which was of more importance, she had since pardoned, or pretended
to pardon, the part he had taken in Rizzio's assassination.

Her astonishment was great, then, when, having opened the letter, she