Everything is a cause of conjecture to a prisoner:  it seemed to Mary that this young man’s face was not unknown to her, and that he had seen her already; but though great the care with which she questioned her memory, she could not recall any distinct remembrance, so much so that the queen ended in thinking it the play of her imagination, or that some vague and distinct resemblance had deceived her.

However, in spite of Mary, this idea had taken an important place in her mind:  she incessantly saw this little boat skimming the water, and the young man and the child who were in it drawing near her, as if to bring her help.  It followed that, although there had been nothing real in all these captive’s dreams, she slept that night a calmer sleep than she had yet done since she had been in Lochleven Castle.

Next day, on rising, Mary ran to her window:  the weather was fine, and everything seemed to smile on her, the water, the heavens and the earth.  But, without being able to account for the restraining motive, she did not want to go down into the ga den before breakfast.  When the door opened, ’she turned quickly round:  it was, as on the day before, William Douglas, who came to fulfil his duty as taster.

The breakfast was a short and silent one; then, as soon as Douglas had withdrawn, Mary descended in her turn:  in crossing the courtyard she saw two horses ready saddled, which pointed to the near departure of a master and a squire.  Was it the young man with the black hair already setting out again?  This is what Mary did not dare or did not wish to ask.  She consequently went her way, and entered the garden:  at the first glance she took it in in its full extent; it was deserted.

Mary walked there a moment; then, soon tiring of the promenade, she went up again to her room:  in passing back through the courtyard she had noticed that the horses were no longer there.  Directly she returned into her apartment, she went then to the window to see if she could discover anything upon the lake to guide her in her conjectures:  a boat was in fact receding, and in this boat were the two horses and the two horsemen; one was William Douglas, the other a simple squire from the house.

Mary continued watching the boat until it had touched the shore.  Arrived there, the two horsemen got out, disembarked their horses, and went away at full gallop, taking the same road by which the queen had come; so that, as the horses were prepared for a long journey, Mary thought that William Douglas was going to Edinburgh.  As to the boat, scarcely had it landed its two passengers on the opposite shore than it returned towards the castle.

At that moment Mary Seyton announced to the queen that Lady Douglas was asking permission to visit her.