Mary now demanded to see the former protestation which she had made at Sheffield. "I have not changed since then," she remarked, "being the same person still, my rank and quality remaining undiminished, and my sentiments unaltered, while the circumstances were then almost identical with those of the present crisis." Being thus pressed, Sir Thomas Bromley and Lord Burleigh read aloud the protestation, refusing at the same time either to approve or accept it. Bromley acknowledged, however, that he had on the previous occasion received it from Mary and presented it to his mistress. "Her Majesty," continued he, "neither approved nor accepted it, and we are not at liberty to receive it, nor you to make use of it. The Queen of England has power in her own kingdom over all persons who conspire against her without respect to quality or degree. As your rank is, however, well known, the Queen is treating you very honourably, having selected so worthy a company of the great men of her kingdom as her Commissioners in this matter. We have taken no step against you; we are not judges, but have only come to examine you." The day passed thus in mutual discussion until dusk, when Sir Christopher Hatton, seeing that no progress was being made, interposed, and adopting a conciliatory tone, observed that to his mind many unnecessary matters were being discussed. He and his colleagues were there simply to ascertain whether the Queen of Scots was, or was not, guilty of having participated in the plot against their mistress. He was of opinion, he said, that the Queen should not refuse to be examined, as in that case people would take her to be guilty, whereas were she to consent to be interrogated she could prove her innocence, which would bring honour to herself and rejoice Queen Elizabeth. Hatton added that in his parting interview with his mistress she had protested to him with tears that nothing had ever so wounded her as the thought that her cousin should have sought to injure her,--a thing which she could not have believed of her. "What favour can I look for when I shall have established my innocence?" demanded Mary; "and what reparation will be made to me for being brought here by force, treated as a criminal and a subject, and convoked before an assembly of judges in an apartment specially prepared for my trial?"