other mode is so safe for conveying an answer to this suitor of mine!
Nay, little one, do not fear. He is not at hand, and if he be so
gout-ridden and stern as I have heard, we will find some way to
content him and make him do the service without giving thee a
stepfather, even though he be grandson to an emperor."

There was something perplexing and distressing to Cis in this sudden
mood of exultation at such a suitor. However, Parma's proposal might
mean liberty and a recovered throne, and who could wonder at the joy
that even the faintest gleam of light afforded to one whose captivity
had lasted longer than Cicely's young life?--and then once more there
was an alternation of feeling at the last moment, when Cicely,
dressed in her best, came to receive instructions.

"I ken not, I ken not," said Mary, speaking the Scottish tongue, to
which she recurred in her moments of deepest feeling, "I ought not to
let it go. I ought to tell the noble Prince to have naught to do
with a being like me. 'Tis not only the jettatura wherewith the
Queen Mother used to reproach me. Men need but bear me good will,
and misery overtakes them. Death is the best that befalls them! The
gentle husband of my girlhood--then the frantic Chastelar, my poor,
poor good Davie, Darnley, Bothwell, Geordie Douglas, young Willie,
and again Norfolk, and the noble and knightly Don John! One spark of
love and devotion to the wretched Mary, and all is over with them!
Give me back that paper, child, and warn Babington against ever
dreaming of aid to a wretch like me. I will perish alone! It is
enough! I will drag down no more generous spirits in the whirlpool
around me."

"Madam! madam!" exclaimed De Preaux the almoner, who was standing,