Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/463

 1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 443 clasped hands like a skilled actress on the stage, ' Speak/ she said, ' speak ; say what you complain of ; if the blame is with me do not spare me/ The lords followed, assuring him with icy polite- ness that if he had any fault to find they would see it remedied. Du Croq implored him to take no step which would touch his own honour or the Queen's. What could he say ? Could he tell the truth that he believed his Royal Mistress and those honourable lords were seeking how to rid the world of him ? That was his fear ; and she and they and he alike * knew it but such thoughts could not be spoken. And yet he had spirit enough to refuse to cringe or to stand at the bar to be questioned as a prisoner. He said a few un- meaning words and turned to go, and they did not dare detain him. ' Adieu, Madam/ he said as he left the room, ' you will not see my face for a long space ; gen- tlemen, adieu/ 1 Four days later they heard that the ship . J. ,, J , October, was ready in which he was about to sail ; and it appears as if they had resolved to let him go. . But in an evil hour for himself he had another interview with the French ambassador; du Croq, after a long conversation, persuaded him that the clouds would clear away and that fortune would again look beneficently upon him. The English ship sailed without him, and Darnley remained behind to drift upon destruction, ' hated/ as 1 Du Croq to the Archbishop of Glasgow, October 15 ; The Lords of Scotland to the Queen-mother of France, October 8 : Printed in Keith.