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"Who touches the keys?" said the lady; and while the page answered that the sleeve of his cloak had stirred them, she looked round, possessed herself of the bunch which now occupied the place of the genuine keys, and 5 again turned to gaze at the supposed corpse candles.

"I hold these gleams," she said, after a moment's consideration, “to come, not from the churchyard, but from the hut of the old gardener, Blinkhoolie. I wonder what

thrift that churl drives, that of late he hath ever had light 10 in his house till the night grew deep. I thought him an industrious, peaceful man. If he turns resetter of idle companions and night walkers, the place must be rid of him."

"He may work his baskets, perchance," said the page, 15 desirous to stop the train of her suspicion.

"Or nets, may he not?" answered the lady.

"Aye, madam," said Roland, "for trout and salmon." "Or for fools and knaves," replied the lady; "but this shall be looked after to-morrow. I wish your grace and 20 your company a good evening. Randal, attend us." And

Randal, who waited in the antechamber after having surrendered his bunch of keys, gave his escort to his mistress as usual, while leaving the queen's apartments, she retired to her own.

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III

"To-morrow," said the page, rubbing his hands with glee as he repeated the lady's last words. "Fools look

to to-morrow, and wise folk use to-night. May I pray you, my gracious liege, to retire for one hour, until all the castle is composed to rest? I must go and

rub with oil these blessed implements of our freedom. Courage and constancy, and all will go well, provided our friends on the shore fail not to send the boat you spoke of."

"Fear them not," said Catherine, "they are true as 5 steel; if our dear mistress do but maintain her noble and royal courage."

"Doubt me not, Catherine," replied the queen; "a while since I was overborne, but I have recalled the spirit of my earlier and more sprightly days, when I used to 10 accompany my armed nobles, and wished to be myself a man, to know what life it was to be in the fields with sword and buckler.”

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Oh, the lark lives not a gayer life, nor sings a lighter and gayer song than the merry soldier," answered Cath- 15 erine. "Your grace shall be in the midst of them soon, and the look of such a liege sovereign will make each of your host worth three in the hour of need; but I must to my task."

"We have but brief time," said Queen Mary; "one of 20 the two lights of the cottage is extinguished. That shows the boat is put off."

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They will row very slow," said the page, "or kent where depth permits, to avoid noise. To our several tasks. I will communicate with the good father."

At the dead hour of midnight, when all was silent in the castle, the page put the key into the lock of the wicket which opened into the garden, and which was at the bottom of a staircase that descended from the queen's apart

ment.

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"Now, turn smooth and softly, thou good bolt,” 30 said he, "if ever oil softened rust!" and his precautions

had been so effectual that the bolt revolved with little or no sound of resistance. He ventured not to cross the threshold, but, exchanging a word with the disguised abbot, asked if the boat were ready.

5 "This half hour," said the sentinel. "She lies beneath the wall, too close under the islet to be seen by the warder, but I fear she will hardly escape his notice in putting off again."

"The darkness," said the page, "and our profound 10 silence may take her off unobserved, as she came in. Hildebrand has the watch on the tower- a heavy-headed knave, who holds a can of ale to be the best headpiece upon a night watch. He sleeps for a wager."

"Then bring the queen," said the abbot, "and I will 15 call Henry Seyton to assist them to the boat."

On tiptoe, with noiseless step and suppressed breath, trembling at every rustle of their own apparel, one after another the fair prisoners glided down the winding stair, under the guidance of Roland Graeme, and were received 20 at the wicket by Henry Seyton and the churchman. The former seemed instantly to take upon himself the whole direction of the enterprise.

"My lord abbot," he said, "give my sister your arm. I will conduct the queen, and that youth will have the 25 honor to guide Lady Fleming."

This was no time to dispute the arrangement, although it was not that which Roland Graeme would have chosen. Catherine Seyton, who well knew the garden path, tripped on before like a sylph, rather leading the abbot than. 30 receiving assistance; the queen, her native spirit prevailing over female fear and a thousand painful reflec

tions, moved steadily forward by the assistance of Henry Seyton; while the Lady Fleming encumbered with her fears and her helplessness Roland Graeme, who followed in the rear, and who bore under the other arm a packet of necessaries belonging to the queen. The door of the garden, which communicated with the shore of the islet, yielded to one of the keys of which Roland had possessed himself, although not until he had tried several, -a moment of anxious terror and expectation. The ladies were then partly led, partly carried, to the side of the 10 lake, where a boat with six rowers attended them, the men couched along the bottom to secure them from observation.

Henry Seyton placed the queen in the stern; the abbot offered to assist Catherine, but she was seated by the 15 queen's side before he could utter his proffer of help; and Roland Graeme was just lifting Lady Fleming over the boat side, when a thought suddenly occurred to him, and exclaiming, "Forgotten, forgotten! wait for me but one half minute," he replaced on the shore the helpless 20 lady of the bedchamber, threw the queen's packet into the boat, and sped back through the garden with the noiseless speed of a bird on the wing.

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By Heaven, he is false at last!" said Seyton. "I ever feared it."

"He is as true," said Catherine, "as Heaven itself, and that I will maintain."

"Be silent," said her brother. "Fellows, put off, and row for your lives!

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Help me, help me on board!" said the deserted Lady 30 Fleming, and that louder than prudence warranted.

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