"The country was divided in those days," said he, "and some of the nobles were for the poor queen, and some were against her. The owner of this castle was Lady Douglass, and she was against her; and so they sent Mary here, for Lady Douglass to keep her safely, while they arranged a new government.
"But she made her escape by this window, which I will show ye."
So saying, the guide led the way up two or three old, time-worn, and dilapidated steps, into the hexagonal tower. The tower was small-being, apparently, not more than twelve feet diameter within. The floors, except the lower one, and also the roof, were entirely gone, so that as soon as you entered you could look up to the sky.
The walls were very thick, so that there was room, not only for deep fireplaces, but also for closets and for a staircase, in them. You could see the openings for these closets, and also various loopholes and windows, at different heights. The top of the wall was all broken away, and so were the sills of the windows; and little tufts of grass and of wall flowers were to be seen, here and there, growing out of clefts and crevices. There were also rows of small square holes to be seen, at different heights, where the ends of the timbers had been inserted, to form the floors of the several stories.
"This was the window where she is supposed to have got out," said the guide.
So saying, he pointed to a large opening in the wall, on the outer side, where there had once, evidently, been a window.
The boys went to the place, and looked out. They saw beneath the window a smooth, green lawn, with the young trees which had been planted growing luxuriantly upon it.
"I suppose," said Mr. George, "that before the lake was lowered the water came up close under the window."
"Yes, sir," said the guide; "and if you stand upon the sill, and look down, you will see a course of projecting stone at the foot of the wall which was laid to meet the wash of the water."
"Let me see," said Waldron, eagerly.
So saying, Waldron advanced by the side of Mr. George, and looked down. By leaning over pretty far he could see the course of stone very distinctly that the guide had referred to.
"Who brought the boat here for Mary to go away in?" asked Waldron.
"Young Douglass," said the guide, "Lady Douglass's son. He was a young lad, only eighteen years old. His mother was Queen Mary's enemy; but he pitied her, and became her friend, and he devised this way to assist her to escape. There was a plan devised before this, by his brother. His name was George Douglass. The one who came in the boat was William. George's plan was for Mary to go on shore in the disguise of a laundress. The laundress came over to the island from the shore in a boat, to bring the linen; and while she was in Mary's room Mary exchanged clothes with her, and attempted to go on shore in the boat with the empty basket. But the boatmen happened to notice her hand, which was very delicate and white, and they knew that such a hand as that could never belong to a real laundress. So they made her lift up her veil, and thus she was discovered."
"That was very curious," said Waldron.
"It is supposed," said the guide, "that this floor, where we stand, was Mary's drawing room, and the floor above was her bed chamber. The staircase where she went up is there, in the wall."
"Let's go up," said Rollo.
So Rollo and Waldron went up the stairway. It was very narrow, and rather steep, and the steps were much worn away. When the boys reached the top they came to an opening, through which they could look down to where Mr. George and the guide were standing below; though, of course, they could not go out; for the floor in the second story was entirely gone.
"There was a room above the bed chamber," said the guide, "as we see by the windows and the fireplace, but there was no stairway to it from Queen Mary's apartments. The only access to it was through that door, which leads in from the top of the rampart wall. And there is another room below, and partly under ground. That is the room where Walter Scott represents the false keys to have been forged."
"What false keys?" asked Waldron.
"Why, the story is," said the guide, "that young Douglass had false keys made, to resemble the true ones as nearly as possible, so as to deceive his mother. He then contrived to get the true ones away from his mother, and put the false ones in their place. I will show you where he did this, and explain how he did it, when we go into the square tower."
"Let us go now," said Waldron.
So they all went across the court yard, and approached the square tower. The guide explained to the boys that formerly the entrance was in the second story, through an opening in the wall, which he showed them. The way to get up to this opening was by a step ladder, which could be let down or drawn up by the people within, by means of chains coming down from a window above. The step ladder was, of course, entirely gone; but deep grooves were to be seen in the sill of the upper window, which had been worn by the chains in letting down and drawing up the ladder.
To accommodate modern visitors a flight of loose stone steps had been laid outside the square tower, leading to a window in the lower story of it. Mr. George and the boys ascended these steps and went in. The lower room was the kitchen, and they were all much interested and amused in looking at the very strange and curious fixtures and contrivances which remained there-the memorials of the domestic usages of those ancient times.
In a corner of the room was a flight of steps, built in the thickness of the wall, leading to the story above. This was the dining room and parlor of the castle.
"It was here," said the guide, "according to the story of Walter Scott, that Douglass contrived to get possession of the castle keys. There was a window on one side of the room, from which there was a view, across the water of the lake, of the burying ground already mentioned. Lady Douglass, like almost every body else in those times, was somewhat superstitious, and William arranged it with a page that he was to pretend to see what was called a corpse light, moving about in the burying ground; and while his mother went to see, he shifted the keys which she had left upon the table, taking the true ones himself, and leaving the false ones in their place.
"That is the story which Sir Walter Scott relates," said the guide; "but I am not sure that there is any historical authority for it."
"And what became of Queen Mary, after she escaped in the boat?" asked Waldron.
"O, there were several of her friends," said the guide, "waiting for her on the shore of the loch where she was to land, and they hurried her away on horseback to a castle in the south of Scotland, and there they gathered an army for her, to defend her rights."
After this the boys looked down through a trap door, which led to a dark dungeon, where it is supposed that prisoners were sometimes confined. They rambled about the ruins for some time longer, and then they returned to the boat, and came back to the shore. When they arrived at the pier they paid the boatman his customary fee, which was about a dollar and a quarter, and then began to walk up towards the inn.
"Well, boys," said Mr. George, "how did you like it?"
"Very much indeed," said Waldron. "It is the best old castle I ever saw."
"You will like the Palace of Holyrood better, I think," said Mr. George.
"Where is that?" asked Rollo.
"At Edinburgh," said Mr. George. "It is the place where Mary lived. We shall see the little room there where they murdered her poor secretary, David Rizzio."
"What did they murder him for?" asked Waldron.