[Frontispiece: "WE MUST HIDE HERE A LITTLE WHILE," SAID MY RESCUER] A QUEEN OF NINE DAYS BY HER GENTLEWOMAN MARGARET BROWN EDITED AND DONE INTO MODERN ENGLISH BY EDITH C. KENYON LONDON THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 4 BOUVERIE STREET & 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, E.C. _Made and Printed in Great Britain by_ Butler & Tanner Ltd., _Frome and London_ CONTENTS CHAPTER Prologue I Leaving Home II My Champion III Hiding from the Enemy IV Better Happenings V Lady Caroline talks with Me VI Papistry or Protestantism VII Sir Hubert and I VIII Lady Jane Grey IX Plato X Queen of England XI By the River XII In the Tower XIII At St. Paul's Cross XIV The Crown Resigned XV At Sion House Again XVI In The Power of Sir Claudius XVII The Prisoner in the Dungeon XVIII On the Point of Being Wed XIX Escaping from the Enemy XX A Trying Experience XXI Queen Mary's Boon XXII With Lady Jane XXIII Wyatt's Insurrection XXIV Lady Jane's Death Sentence XXV Some of Lady Jane's Last Words XXVI Lady Jane's Execution XXVII Conclusion. Home Again Epilogue PROLOGUE It has been laid upon me as a very solemn duty by the late Lady Jane Dudley, or Grey as she is usually called, to whom I owe obedience and fealty born of love, which is all the more insistent because she is no longer here to claim it, that I should set forth, in the best language possible to one of my limited education, the stirring events that my eyes have witnessed and the true story, as it is known to me, of the short, sad tragedy of her life and death. And this being so, I will make no excuse for my boldness and presumption in attempting work which might well be left to learned and authoritative historians, especially as I remember that my dear lady said to me, Margery, others may write more learnedly on the matter, but _loving eyes see further and more truly_ than those of the mere critic, and I would fain be represented to posterity as I am rather than as I am supposed to be. And, fear not, child, for though you are weak and humble in your own eyes, His grace and help are to be had for the asking, Who gives power to the faint, and to such as have no might increases strength.' For my lady knew that this is a righteous task which she was setting me--the representation of truth, as we know it, is always righteous--and to those who do the like His promises never fail. MARGARET BROWN. CHAPTER I Leaving Home It was in the month of May, in the year 1553, and I was a young girl, only seventeen, when my dear father--my mother being dead--astonished me beyond measure by disclosing the fact that I was to leave my home in Sussex and proceed to the city of London, there to become gentlewoman to a lady of high degree.