earl's help in holding down and quieting the poor raving girl; from some of these ravings Lord Rowanbank learnt how dear he was to Mistress Beatrix, and discovered that her great fear and sorrow were lest she should have forfeited his good opinion by her indulgence in idle curiosity; and even when reason returned, she was so melancholy on that head that it was quite necessary he should try and comfort her, and the comforting ended in his asking her to be his wife, to the great joy of Lady Mary and all his sons and daughters. On her eighteenth birthday, Mistress Beatrix was married to one of whom, to her dying day, she always spoke as the noblest nobleman and the kindliest gentleman she had ever seen or heard of. And what a wedding it was!

'Yes, please, grannie,' interrupted little May, 'tell us about it, about the torch-light dance, and the row on the river, and the bringing home the royal stag, and all; do, my lady, for Stuart never heard such a bonny tale.'

The old Lady Marjorie, nothing loth, complied, and so the pleasant afternoon wore away, and there were but few more of such remaining for Stuart; for that very evening Colonel Hepburn brought out the news that they two, he and Stuart, must set sail for India early in September, and they would need be two or three weeks in London before that; so almost every hour of the following six weeks was counted as a precious thing, and was laid away in Stuart's memory as one lays some fragrant leaf or herb, that all one's surroundings may catch and emit the sweet pleasantness of its perfume.

(End of Part I.)

LITTLE QUEEN MARY.

A FAIRY TALE.

BY THE LATE REV. DR. W. SEWELL. EDITED BY ELIZABETH M. SEWELL.

CHAPTER XII.

WHEN the little queen recovered she found herself lying in the royal tent, upon the crimson satin sofa, and the grand duchess standing by her side with a bottle of salts and eau-de-Cologne. With some difficulty she was enabled to sit up, when the grand duchess informed her, to her great relief, that the commander-in-chief had led out a body of cavalry, who had attacked the battery from which the shell had been fired, and that she hoped no more would be fired from it for at least the next hour. She then entreated that her majesty would allow herself to be put into her bed, and would endeavour to obtain some refreshing sleep, that she might have strength sufficient to be present at the battle the next day. The grand duchess was so kind, and seemed so entirely to have forgotten that the queen had behaved badly to her in the morning, that Mary would have felt very much ashamed of her past conduct, if she could have thought of anything but the dreadful sight which she had witnessed, and the danger she was in. As it was, she could only permit herself to be undressed without speaking or moving; and the grand duchess, by the order of the state physicians, having administered to her a composing draught, she soon fell fast asleep. She was indeed now very unwell, and really suffering under feverish indisposition, brought on by nervous excitement, as she had so wrongly pretended to be the day before, when she wanted to escape from the council chamber.

How long she slept she did not know; but it was about two o'clock in the morning, when she was awakened suddenly by a great noise about the tent, and before she could sit up and rub her eyes, the grand duchess, in her dressing-gown, with a night-candle in her hand, and without any slippers, rushed in in the greatest alarm, and screamed out that the enemy were come; and down she fell upon the bed crying out for help, and declaring that they should all be killed. Little Mary felt as if she must die on the spot, and the more so as the noise became louder and nearer. There was a horrible clashing of swords, and firing of guns, and cries, and shouts, and screams; and scarcely had five minutes passed when the door of the tent was burst open, and who should appear but the dreadful emperor of Muckakoykey himself, all covered with blood, and bearing in his hand by the hair

the head of the commander-in-chief, which he had just cut off with one stroke of his sword. Poor Mary shut her eyes at this shocking sight, and hid her head under the bed-clothes; but if she had looked up she would have seen by her side the prime minister himself, who had most treacherously and wickedly gone over to the emperor, and having explained to him how much reason he had to be dissatisfied with the young queen, had offered to conduct him by a secret passage into the camp, and thus enable him to carry her off, and so put an end to the war. Little did Mary think when first she saw this clever man with the red hair and green eyes, that he was so wicked; nor indeed was he at first,-only, when persons are made angry and laughed at, they are not always able to control their revengeful feelings, and are thus tempted to do most wicked actions; and thus the prime minister was led on to be guilty of one of the most dreadful crimes which a man can commit, and to become a traitor to his sovereign. There is no great pleasure in speaking or hearing about bad men, so I will only add, that instead of obtaining any advantage by his treachery, except the gratification of his revenge, he met with the fate which sooner or later happens to all traitors. That very night the emperor himself ordered his guards to seize him, and hang him upon a tree by the neck till he was dead; for though the emperor had no objection to take advantage of his treachery, he hated and despised him as a traitor, and desired to get rid of him as soon as possible.

Little Mary, however, knew nothing of this. And now, though nearly dead with fright, she heard a most dreadful and hoarse voice, the voice of the emperor, order the poor duchess immediately to dress the queen without a moment's delay, while he himself with his guards waited at the door of the tent; and although the duchess was ready to drop, she knew it was useless to say anything. Accordingly she huddled on Mary's things as fast as possible, in her hurry and confusion putting the right shoe on the left foot, and slipping her frock on the wrong way, while several times the emperor, from the outside of the tent, called out to her to make haste, for that he could not wait any longer. Indeed, even before Mary had her bonnet on, the emperor rushed in, and taking her up in his arms, he carried her off through the private entrance into the camp, put her into a carriage and ten which was waiting at the corner of the lane, slammed the door upon her, and bidding the postilions drive on full gallop up to his castle in the Black Mountains, he himself mounted his elephant, and rode at full speed by their side.

I will not attempt to describe the agony and terror which Mary felt all this time. Instead of sitting up in the carriage she lay along the bottom of it, her head resting against the cushion of the seat, and her heart beating as if it would break through her chest. It was quite dark, and the carriage jolted and jumbled as if it would break down or overturn every minute, for the road up into the Black Mountain

was extremely bad; and though the commissioners of highways had given orders for it to be repaired, it was still full of deep ruts and immense stones. Once or twice the emperor rode up to the side of the carriage, and putting his frightful head in at the window, asked her 'how she did?' To which she could only faintly answer,' that she was very ill.' But to this he made no answer, except gruffly to say 'Pooh, pooh!' which Mary thought meant, in the language of Muckakoykey, 'I will cut your head off!' and indeed she expected nothing less.

After driving for about three hours and a half without stopping, the carriage drew up at the entrance of a cave in the forest, and while the horses were changing, the emperor opened the door, and taking up little Mary, who was all but fainting, he put her into the arms of a negro woman who was standing by a fire of wood lighted in the bottom of the cave, and ordered that something should be given her to eat. But indeed she could not touch anything, and so the horses being ready, the emperor again lifted her up, put her into the carriage, slammed the door, and once more they galloped off up into the Black Mountains.

It was daylight before they reached the castle, which was an enormous building built of black marble, and perched upon an immense rock, with a precipice all round it. On the tops of all the towers, and all round the walls there were rows of cannon, and a number of soldiers; and for miles round nothing was to be seen but immense tracts of forest, in which, even now, Mary could hear the howlings of wolves, and tigers, and lions, which the emperor kept in preserves for the pleasure of shooting and hunting them; for though they very often ran away with some of his soldiers, or descended into the neighbouring villages and carried off whole flocks, and even women and children, and thus utterly ruined the farmers, the emperor was very fond of having something to do when he was in the country, and liked also to encourage manly sports, so that he increased the breed of these dreadful animals as much as he could, and even made it a capital crime for any one but himself to put them to death, even in self-defence. The consequence of which was that nearly every year ten or twelve persons were hanged in consequence of the emperor's game-laws.

The carriage drove rapidly over the drawbridge, and under an enormous tower and gateway, and when it stopped the emperor opened the door; and once more taking up little Mary in his arms, he carried her down a deep dark flight of steps, till he reached an iron gate, which he opened with some difficulty, for the padlock was very rusty, and he had some trouble in finding the key in a large bunch which he took out of his left-hand pocket. At last he managed to unlock it, and little Mary, looking up, found that she was in a small dungeon, apparently many feet under ground, and with only a little light streaming down from a small

opening very high in the wall. The emperor set her down, and then taking a great chain which was fastened to a ring in the wall, he put it round her, and when this was done he told her that now she was entirely in his power, that it was impossible for any one to release her, and that he insisted upon her immediately promising to marry him, or else he would assuredly cut off her head. He added that her marrying him was the only way in which he could gain possession of the throne of Brakara-kakara, which he was resolved to have; and that as for the difference of age, that mattered nothing; for that kings and queens were almost always obliged to marry from some such reason, without being able to choose whom they liked. In fact, he said, it was no use for her to say anything, for he would give her six hours to consider; and when he came back, if she did not consent, her head should be off in five minutes.

With these dreadful words he looked at little Mary very fiercely, and stalked out of the dungeon, slamming the iron-grated door hard after him, and locking it with twelve padlocks.

CHAPTER XIII.

LITTLE MARY, now left to herself, began crying and sobbing as if her heart would break. She called out for some one to come and let her out, but no one of course came. Then she screamed for her mamma, but that also was of very little use, for Brakara-kakara itself was several thousand miles distant from Mrs. Bertha's cottage; nor, indeed, even if Mrs. Bertha had known where little Mary was, would it have been of any use to endeavour to get up into the emperor's castle in the Black Forest. I cannot tell how long it was before Mary ceased screaming, and shrieking, and even kicking at the door, endeavouring to get out. At last she became tired, and sat down in a corner upon a little heap of straw, when she was very much surprised by hearing a soft, gentle voice, calling to her, apparently out of the wall. She quite jumped with amazement then she listened and again the voice addressed her by her name, and asked, respectfully, if her majesty did not remember the Lady Carlotta, her maid of honour? Little Mary instantly recollected the voice, and she was so overjoyed that she could not tell how to express it. She entreated the lady to tell her how she came there, and how they could both get out of that dreadful place. The Lady Carlotta informed her that her father's castle lay very near the spot where the emperor of Muckakoykey had invaded her majesty's dominions, and that the emperor had attacked and burnt it, and carried off all the family prisoners, and that she was expecting every day that they would all be put to death. But she added that there was one hope left, for that she had made friends with the gaoler, who brought their bread and water every day; and that for half-a-crown he had promised to take