upon to fulfil those obligations by service to his lord.

There had been another act in the great Scottish tragedy. Queen Mary
had effected her escape from Lochleven, but only to be at once
defeated, and then to cross the Solway and throw herself into the
hands of the English Queen.

Bolton Castle had been proved to be too perilously near the Border to
serve as her residence, and the inquiry at York, and afterwards at
Westminster, having proved unsatisfactory, Elizabeth had decided on
detaining her in the kingdom, and committed her to the charge of the
Earl of Shrewsbury.

To go into the history of that ill-managed investigation is not the
purpose of this tale. It is probable that Elizabeth believed her
cousin guilty, and wished to shield that guilt from being proclaimed,
while her councillors, in their dread of the captive, wished to
enhance the crime in Elizabeth's eyes, and were by no means
scrupulous as to the kind of evidence they adduced. However, this
lies outside our story; all that concerns it is that Lord Shrewsbury
sent a summons to his trusty and well-beloved cousin, Richard Talbot
of Bridgefield, to come and form part of the guard of honour which
was to escort the Queen of Scots to Tutbury Castle, and there attend
upon her.

All this time no hint had been given that the little Cicely was of
alien blood. The old squire and his lady had been in no state to
hear of the death of their own grandchild, or of the adoption of the
orphan and Susan was too reserved a woman to speak needlessly of her
griefs to one so unsympathising as the Countess or so flighty as the