1 566.] THE DARNLE Y MARRIA GE. 385 Queen's own. room, in the very sanctuary of his inti- macy ; ' where she might be taunted in his presence be- cause she had not entertained her husband as she ought of duty/ The ill-spirited boy, in retaliation for treat- ment which went it is likely no further than coldness and contempt, had betrayed or invented his own dis- grace, to lash his kindred into fury and to break the spirit of the proud woman who had humbled him with her scorn. The Queen's friends Huntly, Athol, Sutherland,' Bothwell, Livingston, Fleming, Sir James Balfour, and others were in Edinburgh for the Parliament, and had rooms in Holyrood ; but as none of them dreamt of danger there were no troops there but the ordinary guard, which was scanty and could be easily over- powered. It was arranged that as soon as darkness had closed in the Earl of Morton with a party of the Douglases and their kindred should silently surround the palace : at eight o'clock the doors should be sei/cd and no person permitted to go out or in ; while Morton himself with a sufficient number of trusted friends should take possession of the staircase leading to the Queen's rooms, and cut off communication with the rest of the building. Meanwhile the rest . But a plan of the rooms is necessary to make the story intelligible. The suite of apartments occupied by Mary Stuart were on the first floor in the north-west angle of Holyrood Palace. They communicated in the usual way by a staircase with the large inner quadrangle. A door from the landing led directly into the presence chamber ; VOL. vii. 25
