The trial ended on the 15th October. Mary rose from her seat before the Commissioners and passed out of the hall, addressing a few words of good-humoured reproach to the lawyers for their "quibbling," as she moved past the table around which they were seated. The Commissioners, in compliance with instructions received from Elizabeth, withdrew to Westminster before passing sentence. Assembled in the Star-Chamber ten days later, they declared Mary "to be accessory to Babington’s conspiracy, and to have imagined diverse matters, tending to the hurt, death, and destruction of Elizabeth, contrary to the express words of the statute, made for the security of the Queen’s life" (Camden). Parliament sat a few days after, and both houses, having sanctioned the sentence of the Commissioners, presented an address to Elizabeth, requesting her to publish and execute without delay the sentence against her dangerous rival. Mary in the meantime was ignorant of what was being done since the rising of the Commission at Fotheringay. However, she maintained an extraordinary cheerfulness and surprised the observant Sir Amias by her "quietness and serenity." The feast of All Saints arrived, but without the joyous anthems and splendid ceremonial that marked it in Catholic lands. The Queen passed the day reading the lives of the Saints and Martyrs and praying in her oratory. In the afternoon she received a visit from Paulet. In the course of their conversation, this censorious pedant, anxious to execute the will of Elizabeth, who had instructed him to carefully observe whether his prisoner should reveal a disposition to sue for pardon, undertook to instruct her in the necessity of having a clear conscience and of confessing her crimes before God and the world. Mary promptly answered, saying:--"No one can say that he is free from sin. I am a woman and human, and have offended God, and I repent of my sins, and pray God to forgive me, doing penance for the same; but at present I do not know to whom I could or should confess--God forbid that I should ask you to be my confessor." CHAPTER XIV. THE SENTENCE OF DEATH. On November the 30th, 1586, Lord Buckhurst, as envoy of Queen Elizabeth, waited upon the lonely captive, and announced to her that sentence of death had been passed upon her. "The person of the Queen," added Buckhurst, "the state and religion are no longer safe; it is impossible for you both to live, and therefore one must die. For this end then, in order that you should not be taken by surprise, Mr. Beale and I have been sent to warn you to prepare for death, and we will send you the Bishop of Peterborough or the Dean of ---- for your consolation."