388 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44. destroyer of the commonwealth, and must learn his duty better/ ' Take the Queen your wife to you/ he said to Darn- ley, as he strode forward into the cabinet. The Queen started from her seat ' all amazed/ and threw herself in his way, while Rizzio cowered trembling behind her and clung to her dress. Stuart, Erskine, and the Frenchman, recovering from their astonishment and seeing Ruth ven apparently alone, 1 made at him to thrust him out/ ' Lay no hands on me/ Ruthven cried, and drew his dagger ; ' I will not be handled/ In another moment Faldonside and George Douglas were at his side. Fal- donside held a pistol at Mary Stuart's breast ; the bed- room door behind was burst open, and the dark throng of Morton's followers poured in. Then all was con- fusion ; the table was upset, Lady Argyle catching a candle as it fell. Ruthven thrust the Queen into Darn- ley's arms and bade him hold her ; while Faldonside bent Rizzio's little finger back till he shrieked with pain and loosed the convulsive grasp with which he clung to his mistress. ' Do not hurt him/ Mary said faintly. ' If he has done wrong he shall answer to justice/ ' This shall justify him/ said the savage Faldonside, drawing a cord out of his pocket. He flung a noose round Rizzio's body, and while George Douglas snatch- ed the King's dagger from its sheath, the poor wretch was dragged into the midst of the scowling crowd and borne away into the darkness. He caught Mary's bed
