“ My heart was wrung with seeing my dear lady's affliction, and when the Duchess of Northumberland and the Duchess of Suffolk, her mother, peremptorily turned me out of the bedroom, scarcely knowing what I did I ran downstairs and out of the big house by a side door.
A great longing to escape from those wealthy hard-hearted magnates, who for ambition were willing and even wishful to sacrifice the happiness of the sweetest being on earth, made me flee from their presence and, what was almost worse, the presence of their proud and haughty retainers. ”

“ No one can do it but you, dear, in exactly the same way, for your loving eyes have seen us as we are and not as we are supposed to be; and you possess Love, the master-key, which can explain all that has appeared so wrong and presumptuous and rebellious in our lives. You must do this for me, Margery, and for your dear knight, Sir Hubert, and for Sir Thomas Wyatt.'
I promised that I would, and she blessed and thanked me very solemnly, saying that she was sure that God would give me strength and wisdom for the task. ”

“ I simply saw that there was a man and that he was lying down in a helpless, hopeless attitude, as if too weak to stand.
'That is Sir Hubert Blair,' said Sir Claudius. 'He has not fared so well as you. He has scarcely had such sumptuous lodgings. He is ill. Ha! ha! If we do not bring him to the gallows quickly, or release him, he will spare us the trouble.'
A bitter cry fell from my lips. I seemed to be in a hideous nightmare.
The man in the dungeon started, but did not turn round.
'Hubert! Hubert!' I called.
No answer. The prisoner lay quite still now. ”

“ I knelt for one moment, but quickly rose from the ground, with a prayer in my heart that I might be forgiven bowing in the house of Rimmon and before the wrong queen.
'I am Meg Brown, madam. At your service,' I said, adding, as she remained quiet, 'a poor young singing-girl.'
'You don't seem to have much boldness in speech, Meg. How, then, can you have the courage to sing?'
I clasped my hands tightly together, with an inward prayer for help, and, in a moment, from the extremity of fear passed to a state of blessed confidence. ”

“ I heard Sir Claudius, in harsh but abject accents, begging for mercy, and, looking down—for I had been lifted into the gallery of the chapel—saw him on his knees before Sir Hubert Blair, who, brave and handsome, stood over him with his drawn sword.
'Are you a man?' asked my beloved with scorn. But, the next moment, before he could strike at him, if that was in his mind, a dozen sturdy men attacked Sir Hubert, and the fighting became so terrible that, in fear and horror, I again lost consciousness. ”

“ It is the book, my best loved sister, of the law of the Lord; it is His Testament and last Will, which He has bequeathed to us—it will lead you to the path of eternal joy, if you read it desiring to follow its counsels, and will bring you to an immortal, everlasting life. It will teach you how to live and how to die.'
It was in our last talk together, before the fatal day of her execution, that my dear lady bestowed upon me her beloved Plato, advising that I should learn to read it in the language in which it was written. ”

“ Sir Hubert and I
What a wonderful thing is love—the love, I mean, of man for woman and woman for man! It is so bewitching and alluring, yet withal so tyrannical and imperious. No wonder that it has been the theme of poets and historians in all times, and will be as long as the world remains. Love enters so largely into our lives, for weal or woe, that to ignore it is to wilfully shut our eyes to facts and blind ourselves to one of the greatest realities of existence, which must be reckoned with and allowed for, whatever else is omitted. ”

“ I fell back in my chair, weeping bitterly.
Was ever a more hideous snare laid for a poor girl? I thought with horror of the woes and threatened death of my dear knight. I imagined I saw him lying in the dungeon of which Sir Claudius had been speaking. How very hard was his fate! Not a prisoner of war, he had simply been kidnapped by brigands, as a girl, or a child might have been! Six to one, they had overcome him by sheer physical strength. ”

“ Hubert! You are about to be set free. You are about to be liberated. I, your Margery, have effected this. Never forget me.' My voice broke into sobs, and, weeping bitterly, I suffered my companion to lead me away.
Was it imagination, or did I really hear an anxious voice calling after us as Sir Claudius led me away from the subterranean hall and up a steep flight of stone steps? ”

“ Your life won't be safe for a minute, when once you are amongst the State prisoners. They will burn you alive and behead you,' she continued wildly, tears rolling down her face at the idea, 'and then where will you be, my sweet, precious Mistress Margery?' and she caught hold of my hands as if she would keep me away from the Tower by main force.
And then my litter suddenly stopped, and Sir Hubert rode alongside, and, stooping over his horse's head, looked earnestly into my face. ”

“ Consider what it would be if established here in England. No one would be safe. You might be talking to me one half hour and the next that which is worse than the grave might have swallowed me up for ever, or perchance you. No one is secure where secret deaths and tortures pervade the land. Oh, the misery, the weeping of loving relations for their friends who have vanished from them in that way! You have no idea what it is like. And even,' he continued earnestly, 'even if Lady Jane does not want to be queen, it is expedient that one should suffer a little rather than many a great deal. ”

“ I thought, when all that was settled, and my dear lady, with her husband by her side, no longer depended so entirely on her Margery for companionship and love, and my beloved, with his work accomplished, had leisure to be happy, he and I might have time to get married, and then we would go together to see my home and my dear old father, Hal and Jack, and, too, Master Montgomery in his parsonage, and the villagers and our servants. After which Sir Hubert would take me to his own beautiful place, Harpton Hall, where we should live together in great happiness and prosperity. ”

“ They had done their part, they could do no more, and they sat in the boat between their captors, with brave countenances and steadfast bearing, as of men dying at their post.
The grim expression on the faces of the Guards around, and the murmurs of the crowd who looked on affected them not; perhaps they did not observe them, or it might be that their thoughts were far away, Sir Thomas' perhaps with his wife and children and Sir Hubert's perchance in the past with me in the farmer's shed in Sussex, or it might be by the Thames at Isleworth, or riding with me again to Kingston ”

“ They will hurt her!'
'Mistress, 'tis only a witch!' cried Betsy, who had been told to call me Mistress now that I was going to be a great lady. 'Suchlike do much harm,' she continued. 'They sell their souls to the devil for gold; they meet each other on broomsticks riding through the air, and plot mischief. From such may we be delivered!' she went on fervently. 'They had better be drowned!' she concluded.
'No, no. 'Tis cruel! Tell Humphrey to stop.' And I myself called to the men to stay the horses bearing my litter, and looked out full of sympathy with the poor old creature. ”

“ What compensations should I have for such joys as lying for hours on the soft turf of the Downs, looking up to the blue sky and making out pictures in the white clouds flitting across it, whilst I listened to the singing of the skylarks, or sitting beneath an overturned boat on the seashore, hearing the lapping of the waves and gazing across the Channel, with wondering speculations of the lands beyond those fair blue waters, or, on the other hand, rowing out upon the sea with my brothers, or riding with them at breakneck paces over hill and dale? ”

“ Mary had entered London in state, having first dismissed her army that she might show confidence in her people. With the Princess Elizabeth by her side, she rode into the city amidst the acclamations of the multitude. They had entered the Tower, where the queen's first act was one of clemency, for she pardoned the State prisoners who had been imprisoned there during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. But, alas!—and this touched me more nearly—she commanded the Earl of Arundel to seize the Duke of Suffolk and Lady Jane Grey and commit them to the Tower. ”

“ I cannot describe—for it would make too dismal reading—the way in which Queen Jane's relations and her husband's relations harassed her continually—Lord Guildford Dudley, perhaps, by his absence and treatment of her, the most of all, as he was the best beloved. For it is ever those whom we love most who have it in their power to inflict upon us the bitterest pain. ”

“ They were all so absorbed that they did not hear loud shouts and cries outside, nor notice the entrance into the chapel of a little band of well-armed strangers, nor hear the call of 'Sir Claudius! Sir Claudius!' from the yard. Least of all did the bridegroom hear the tumult, for he was exerting himself to smother my remonstrances and compel me to take part in the service.
'Wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife?' asked the clergyman in quavering, uncertain tones. He was weak and old, in terror of Sir Claudius, and more than half persuaded that he had misunderstood me. ”

“ Help for a lady! Help for Mistress Brown!' shouted the lacquey Joseph with his loud, stentorian voice. The honest fellow had been bound hand and foot; he had nothing left but his voice with which to serve me, and the next moment it was silenced with a blow and a gag; but it had done good work.
Noiselessly over a soft fallow field a little group of horsemen had approached, and at the sound of that loud, manly cry of my poor Joseph's they charged into the mob, calling out lustily:—
'Disperse, in the King's name! In the King's name I say disperse!'
Bullies are cowards all the world over. ”

“ Take me to Queen Mary.'
'You!' The good man looked amazed. 'I am afraid it would not do,' he said. 'Supposing now that Her Majesty found out that you had been in the Tower with Queen Jane?'
'I don't think that that would make so much difference,' I said. 'A singer may sing to any one.'
After a little more demur, to my intense satisfaction, Dr. Massingbird consented to take me, only stipulating that I should conceal my real name and position from the queen, and appear before her as a professional singer only. ”

“ I rely upon you to help me,' she continued earnestly, 'for this is a hard step that I have to take, and I am very weak.' Her lips trembled. 'But,' she went on bravely, 'a Greater than Plato has said, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a Crown of Life." That is the best Crown, Margery, and I, who had no right to an earthly one, would fain win this Heavenly Crown.'
'Yes,' I said. 'Yes. But——'
'Nay, dear one, we will have no buts. It is one of the great laws of life that he who sins must suffer. ”

“ I knew that she was thinking of Plato's words, 'Justice with prudence we shall by all means pursue,' and my heart ached for her.
'How can I wear the crown which lawfully belongs to another?' she moaned. 'But it will not be for long. Princess Mary is away from London just now, having fled for her life, until she can rally her party. But she will return, I know, and the justness of the nation will place her at its head—for it is idle talk about the slur on her birth. Her mother was lawfully married to King Henry, and it was only for his own vicious ends that he put her away. ”

“ Lady Jane's sentence was that she was to be beheaded or burnt to death, at the queen's pleasure, and Judge Morgan, who pronounced it, was afterwards so deeply afflicted in his mind at the remembrance that he died, raving.
Many people were exceedingly grieved for the poor young creature, who had been made a tool of by her ambitious relatives, sorely against her will, and the touching grace and meekness of her demeanour, as well as her misfortunes, caused them to follow her weeping and lamenting her hard fate, as she was being reconducted to the Tower. ”

“ There will be no religious freedom if Princess Mary becomes queen. Tell Lady Jane she must not think of herself, for, student as she is, no doubt the cares and the pomps and ceremonies of royalty will be distasteful to her; but she must be willing to sacrifice her own wishes to the good of the people. ”