The figures on the tapestry consisted of groups of horsemen, elegantly equipped and caparisoned. The horses were prancing about in a very spirited manner. The whole work looked very dingy, and the colors were very much faded; but it was evident that it must have been very splendid in its day. After looking at the tapestry, and at the various articles of quaint and queer old furniture in this room, the company followed the attendant into another apartment. "This," said he, "is the room where Lord Darnley, Ruthven, and the rest, held their consultation and formed their plans for the murder of Rizzio; and _there_ is the door leading to the private stairway where they went up. You cannot go up that way now, but you will see where they came out above when you go up into Queen Mary's apartments." "Let us go now," said Waldron. "Well," said Mr. George, "and then we can come into these rooms again when we come down." So Mr. George and the boys walked back, through Lord Darnley's rooms, to the place where they came in. Here they saw that the same broad flight of stone stairs, by which they had come up from the court below, continued to ascend to the upper stories. There was a painted inscription on a board there, too, saying, "To Queen Mary's apartments," with a hand pointing up the staircase. So they knew that that was the way they must go. As they went up, both Rollo and Waldron asked Mr. George to explain to them something about the murder, so that they might know a little what they were going to see. "Well," said Mr. George, "I will. Let us sit down here, and I will tell you as much as I can tell in five minutes. Really to understand the whole affair, you would have to read as much as you could read in a week. And I assure you it is an exceedingly interesting and entertaining story. "Darnley, you know, was the queen's husband. Her first husband was the young Prince of France; but he died before Queen Mary came home. So that when she came home she was a widow; very young, and exceedingly beautiful. There is a very beautiful painting of her, I am told, in the castle." "Let us go and see it," said Waldron. "To-morrow," said Mr. George. "After Queen Mary had been in Scotland some little time," continued Mr. George, "she was married again to this Lord Darnley. He was an English prince. The whole story of her first becoming acquainted with Darnley, and how the marriage was brought about, is extremely interesting; but I have not time now to tell it to you. "After they were married they lived together for a time very happily; but at length some causes of difficulty and dissension occurred between them. Darnley was not contented to be merely the queen's husband. He wanted, also, to be king." "I don't blame him," said Waldron. "I should have thought," said Rollo, "that Mary would have been willing that he should be king."