"It is impossible to say," replied Mr. George. "It was such a complicated case that you could not decide it either way. The question was like a piece of changeable silk. You could make it look green or brown, just according to the way you looked at it. When you come to read the history you will see just how it was."
"Yes," said Waldron, "I mean to read all about it."
"After the difficulties in Scotland," continued Mr. George, "Mary's armies were driven across the line into England, and there Mary was seized and made prisoner. Elizabeth would have given her her liberty if she would have renounced her claims to the English crown—but this Mary would not do. She was kept in prison a number of years. At last some of her friends began to form plots to get her out, and make her Queen of England. She was accused of joining in these plots, and so she was tried, convicted, and beheaded."
"And did she really join in the plots?" asked Waldron.
"I presume so," said Mr. George. "I would have joined in them if I had been in her place."
"So would I," said Waldron.
"Did Queen Elizabeth order her to be beheaded?" asked Rollo.
"No," said Mr. George, "not directly—or, at least, she pretended that she did not. She appointed some judges to go and try her, on the charge of treason, and the judges condemned her to death. Elizabeth might have saved her if she chose, but she did not; though afterwards, when she heard that Mary had been executed, she pretended to be in a great rage with those who had carried the sentence into effect, and to be deeply grieved at her cousin's death."
"The old hag!" said Waldron.