So Mary remained a prisoner. Her captivity, however, was of short duration. In two days Darnley came to see her. He persuaded her that he himself had had nothing to do with the murder of Rizzio. Mary, on the other hand, persuaded him that it was better for them to be friends to each other than to live thus in a perpetual quarrel. She convinced him that Ruthven and his confederates were not, and could not be, his friends. They would only make him the instrument of obtaining the objects of their ambition. Darnley saw this. He felt that he as well as Mary were in the rebels' power. They formed a plan to escape together. They succeeded. They fled to a distant castle, and collected a large army, the people every where flocking to the assistance of the queen. They returned to Edinburgh in a short time in triumph. The conspirators fled. Mary then decided to pardon and recall the old rebels, and expend her anger henceforth on the new; and thus the Earl Murray, her brother, was brought back, and once more restored to favor. After settling all these troubles, Mary retired to Edinburgh Castle, where it was supposed she could be best protected, and in the month of July following the murder of Rizzio, she gave birth to a son. In this son was afterward accomplished all her fondest wishes, for he inherited in the end both the English and Scottish crowns. CHAPTER VIII. BOTHWELL. 1566-1567 Earl of Bothwell.--His desperate character.--Castle of Dunbar.--The border country.--Scenes of violence and blood.--Birth of James.--Its political importance.--Darnley's conduct.--Darnley's hypocrisy.--Mary's dejection.--A divorce proposed.--Mary's love for her child.--Baptism of the infant.--James's titles.--The prince's cradle.--Bothwell and Murray.--Mary's visit to Bothwell.--Its probable motive.--Plot for Darnley's destruction.--Bothwell's intrigues.--Desperate schemes attributed to Darnley.--His illness.--Mary's visit.--Return to Edinburgh.--Situation of Darnley's residence.--Kirk of Field.--Description of Darnley's residence.--Plan of Darnley's house.--Its accommodations.--French Paris.--The gunpowder.--A wedding.--Details of the plot.--The powder placed in Mary's room.--The big cask.--Bothwell's effrontery.--Mary's leave of Darnley.--Was Mary privy to the plot?--Anecdotes of Mary.--Return to Holyrood.--French Paris falters.--The convent gardens.--Laying the train.--Suspense.--The explosion.--Flight of the criminals.--Mary's indignation.--Bothwell arrested, tried, and acquitted.--Bothwell's challenge.--His plan to marry Mary.--The abduction.--Mary's confinement at Dunbar.--Her account of it.--Bothwell entreats Mary to marry him.--She consents.--Bothwell's pardon.--The marriage.--Doubts in respect to Mary.--Influence of beauty and misfortune.