“And how has he been able to get her back again?” Mary asked.  “I thought that in the division of my spoils Rosabelle had fallen to the fair Alice, my brother’s favourite sultana?”

“Yes, yes,” said Mary Seyton, “it was so; and as her value was known, she was kept under lock and key by an army of grooms; but Douglas is the man of miracles, and, as I have told you, Rosabelle awaits your Majesty.”

“Noble Douglas!” murmured the queen, with eyes full of tears; then, as if speaking to herself, “And this is precisely one of those devotions that we can never repay.  The others will be happy with honours, places, money; but to Douglas what matter all these things?”

“Come, madam, come,” said Mary Seyton, “God takes on Himself the debts of kings; He will reward Douglas.  As to your Majesty, reflect that they are waiting dinner for you.  I hope,” added she, smiling, “that you will not affront my father as you did Lord Douglas yesterday in refusing to partake of his feast on his fortunate home-coming.”

“And luck has come to me for it, I hope,” replied Mary.  “But you are right, darling:  no more sad thoughts; we will consider when we have indeed become queen again what we can do for Douglas.”

The queen dressed and went down.  As Mary Seyton had told her, the chief noblemen of her party, already gathered round her, were waiting for her in the great hall of the castle.  Her arrival was greeted with acclamations of the liveliest enthusiasm, and she sat down to table, with Lord Seyton on her right hand, Douglas on her left, and behind her Little William, who the same day was beginning his duties as page.

Next morning the queen was awakened by the sound of trumpets and bugles:  it had been decided the day before that she should set out that day for Hamilton, where reinforcements were looked for.  The queen donned an elegant riding-habit, and soon, mounted on Rosabelle, appeared amid her defenders.  The shouts of joy redoubled:  her beauty, her grace, and her courage were admired by everyone.  Mary Stuart became her own self once more, and she felt spring up in her again the power of fascination she had always exercised on those who came near her.  Everyone was in good humour, and the happiest of all was perhaps Little William, who for the first time in his life had such a fine dress and such a fine horse.

Two or three thousand men were awaiting the queen at Hamilton, which she reached the same evening; and during the night following her arrival the troops increased to six thousand.  The 2nd of May she was a prisoner, without another friend but a child in her prison, without other means of communication with her adherents than the flickering and uncertain light of a lamp, and three days afterwards—­that is to say, between the Sunday and the Wednesday—­she found herself not only free, but also at the head of a powerful confederacy, which counted at its head nine earls, eight peers, nine bishops, and a number of barons and nobles renowned among the bravest of Scotland.