At length they reached the foot of the descent, and then, at a turn in the street, the palace came suddenly into view.
There was a broad paved area in front of it. In the centre of the building was a large arched doorway, with a sentry box on each side. At each of these sentry boxes stood a soldier on guard. All the royal palaces of England are guarded thus. There was a cab, that had brought a company of visitors to see the castle, standing near the centre of the square, by a great statue that was there. Another cab drove up just at the time that Mr. George arrived, and a party of visitors got out of it. All the new comers went in under the archway together. The soldiers paid no attention to them whatever.
The arched passage way led into a square court, with a piazza extending all around it. The visitors turned to the left, and walked along under the piazza till they came to the corner, where there was a little office, and a man at the window of it to give them tickets. They paid sixpence apiece for their tickets.
After getting their tickets they walked on under the piazza a little way farther, till at length they came to a door, and a broad stone staircase, leading up into the palace, and they all went in and began to ascend the stairs.
At the head of the stairs they passed through a wide door, which led into a room where they saw visitors, that had gone in before them, walking about. They were met at the door by a well-dressed man, who received them politely, and asked them to walk in.
"This, gentlemen," said he, "was Lord Darnley's audience chamber. That," he continued, pointing through an open door at the side, "was his bedroom; and there," pointing to another small door on the other side, "was the passage way leading up to Queen Mary's apartments."
Having said this, the attendant turned away to answer some questions asked him by the other visitors, leaving Mr. George and the boys, for the moment, to look about the rooms by themselves.
The rooms were large, but the interior finishing of them was very plain. The walls were hung with antique-looking pictures. The furniture, too, looked very ancient and venerable.
"Who was Lord Darnley?" asked Waldron.
"He was Queen Mary's husband," replied Mr. George.