Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/526

 $10 kEIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 67. Mary Stuart possessed. Elizabeth, preferred a crooked road for its own sake ; Mary Stuart, because martyrdom was not to her taste so long as the world held other charms for her ; and she hated her rival too cordially to submit and acknowledge herself beaten. There was a third possibility to continue to treat with Elizabeth in the hope of obtaining her freedom, and per- haps her recognition as successor, and at the same time to persuade the Catholic Powers that she had no inten- tion of observing the obligations into which she might herself enter. She would have to swear a great many oaths. She would have to delude Mauvissiere, for Martelli had warned her, and she knew it already, that Mauvissiere was in the English interest ; but she was constitutionally an actress, and difficulties of this kind stood but little in her way ; and in perfect consistency with all her past character she entered again upon her career of deception. To the English Queen and to her new keepers she assumed the air of pathetic and trusting repentance. She described herself as weary of the struggle, and anxious only for peace and retire- ment. Sir Ralph Sadler had known her from her cradle, yet she convinced him that she was at last sincere. She wrote to Elizabeth, declaring that above all other things on earth she now desired her welfare and pros- perity. She again promised, if she was released, to re- main in England as a pledge of her good faith ; and she implored the Queen not to reject the hand of a kins- woman which was frankly and lovingly extended to