it were Leicester, and if he wished to marry Dorothy, Sir George thought the match certainly would be illustrious.  Halting between the questions, “Is he Leicester?” and “Is he not Leicester?” Sir George did not press the Stanley nuptials, nor did he insist upon the signing of the contract.  Dorothy received from her father full permission to go where and when she wished.  But her father’s willingness to give her liberty excited her suspicions.  She knew he would permit her to leave the Hall only that he might watch her, and, if possible, entrap her and John.  Therefore, she rode out only with Madge and me, and sought no opportunity to see her lover.  It may be that her passiveness was partly due to the fact that she knew her next meeting with John would mean farewell to Haddon Hall.  She well knew she was void of resistance when in John’s hands.  And his letter had told her frankly what he would expect from her when next they should meet.  She was eager to go to him; but the old habit of love for home and its sweet associations and her returning affection for her father, now that he was kind to her, were strong cords entwining her tender heart, which she could not break suddenly even for the sake of the greater joy.

One day Dorothy received from John a letter telling her he would on the following morning start for the Scottish border with the purpose of meeting the queen of Scotland.  A plan had been formed among Mary’s friends in Scotland to rescue her from Lochleven Castle, where she was a prisoner, and to bring her incognito to Rutland.  John had been chosen to escort her from the English border to his father’s castle.  From thence, when the opportunity should arise, she was to escape to France, or make her peace with Elizabeth.  The adventure was full of peril both for her Scottish and English friends.  The Scottish regent Murray surely would hang all the conspirators whom he might capture, and Elizabeth would probably inflict summary punishment upon any of her subjects whom she could convict of complicity in the plot.

In connection with this scheme to rescue Mary it was said there was also another conspiracy.  There appeared to be a plot within a plot which had for its end the enthronement of Mary in Elizabeth’s stead.

The Rutlands knew nothing of this subplot.

Elizabeth had once or twice expressed sympathy with her Scottish cousin.  She had said in John’s presence that while she could not for reasons of state invite Mary to seek refuge in England, still if Mary would come uninvited she would be welcomed.  Therefore, John thought he was acting in accord with the English queen’s secret wish when he went to Rutland with the purpose of being in readiness to meet Mary at the Scottish border.