Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/523

 1567-] THE MURDER OF DARNLEV. 503 father and son believed that she intended to be revene-ed: o ' and Crawford when he gave his message did not con- ceal that his master was afraid of her. ' There is no remedy against fear/ the Queen said shortly. ' Madam/ Crawford answered, * I know so far of my master that he desires nothing more, than that the se- crets of every creature's heart were writ in their faces.' * Crawford's suspicions were too evident to be con- cealed. The Queen did not like them; she asked sharply if he had more to say ; and when he said he had discharged his commission, she bade him ' hold his peace/ Lord Darnley had made some use of his illness ; as he lay between life and death he had come to under- stand that he had been a fool, and for the first time in his life had been thinking seriously. When the Queen entered his room she found him lying on his couch, weak and unable to move. Her first question was about his letter ; it was not her cue to irritate him, and she seemed to expostulate on the credulity with which he had listened to calumnies against her. He excused himself faintly. She allowed her manner to relax, and she inquired about the cause of his illness. A soft word unlocked at once the sluices of Darnley's heart ; his passion gushed out uncontrolled, and with a wild appeal he threw himself on his wife's forgiveness. ' You are the cause of it/ he said ; ' it comes only 1 Crawford's deposition : MS. Rolls House.