In the Days of Queen Mary

by E. E. Crake

"Would the King grant her a few minutes interview forthwith in her boudoir?"

"Tell her Majesty that I will wait upon her immediately," he said to the usher.

Then to the Ambassador he said—

"There is your answer, Don Renard—Heaven fights for you!"

"Yes, sire, thank God!" replied Renard fervently.

Meanwhile the cause the Ambassador had at heart had progressed elsewhere.

Mary was always strictly attentive to her religious duties, and, at the accustomed hour, she had gone to Vespers in the Chapel Royal, many of the courtiers accompanying her thither.

At the conclusion of the short service she retired to her boudoir, dismissing her Court for the night.

The Cardinal still knelt in the Chapel, until an usher came to summon him to the Queen's presence. He rose and followed him.

The Queen had laid aside some of her heavy State robes, and her diamonds no longer glistened on her head and neck. She was clad in a rich suit of black velvet, her favourite attire.