A Queen of Nine Days
WE MUST HIDE HERE A LITTLE WHILE, SAID MY RESCUER
BY HER GENTLEWOMAN
MARGARET BROWN
EDITED AND DONE INTO MODERN ENGLISH
EDITH C. KENYON
LONDON THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 4 BOUVERIE STREET & 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, E.C.
Made and Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd., Frome and London
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
It has been laid upon me as a very solemn duty by the late Lady Jane Dudley, or Grey as she is usually called, to whom I owe obedience and fealty born of love, which is all the more insistent because she is no longer here to claim it, that I should set forth, in the best language possible to one of my limited education, the stirring events that my eyes have witnessed and the true story, as it is known to me, of the short, sad tragedy of her life and death. And this being so, I will make no excuse for my boldness and presumption in attempting work which might well be left to learned and authoritative historians, especially as I remember that my dear lady said to me, Margery, others may write more learnedly on the matter, but loving eyes see further and more truly than those of the mere critic, and I would fain be represented to posterity as I am rather than as I am supposed to be. And, fear not, child, for though you are weak and humble in your own eyes, His grace and help are to be had for the asking, Who gives power to the faint, and to such as have no might increases strength.' For my lady knew that this is a righteous task which she was setting me—the representation of truth, as we know it, is always righteous—and to those who do the like His promises never fail.