504 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [cu. 45. from you who will not pardon my faults when I am sorry for them. I have done wrong, I confess it ; but others besides me have done wrong, and you have for- given them, and I am but young. You have forgiven me often, you may say ; but may not a man of my age, for want of counsel, of which I am very destitute, fall twice or thrice and yet repent and learn from experi- ence ? Whatever I have done wrong forgive me ; I will do so 110 more. Take me back to you ; let me be your husband again or may I never rise from this bed. Say that it shall be so/ he went on with wild eager- ness ; ' God knows I am punished for making my God of you for having no thought but of you/ l He was flinging himself into her arms as readily as she could hope or desire ; but she was afraid of exciting his suspicions by being too complaisant. She answered kindly that she was sorry to see him so unwell ; and she asked him again why he had thought of leaving the country. He said that ' he had never really meant to leave it ; yet had it been so there was reason enough; she knew how he had been used.' She went back to the bond of Craigmillar. It was necessary for her to learn, who had betrayed the secret and how much of it was known. Weak and facile as usual, Darnley gave up the name of his informant ; it was the Laird of Minto ; and then 1 Crawford's deposition. The conversation as related by Darnley to Crawford, tallies exactly with that given by Mary herself to Bothwell in the casket letters.
