In conclusion, I pray the God of mercy, the just Judge, that He will deign to enlighten you by His Holy Spirit, and that He will give me the grace to die in perfect charity, as I am preparing myself to do, pardoning all those who are the cause of my death, or who have co-operated in it; and this shall be my prayer till the end. I consider it happy for me that it should come before the persecution which I foresee threatens this island--if God is not more truly feared and revered, and vanity and worldly policy not more wisely curbed. Do not accuse me of presumption if, on the eve of leaving this world, and preparing myself for a better, I remind you that one day you will have to answer for your charge as well as those who are sent before, and that, making no account of my blood or my country, I desire to think of the time when, from the earliest dawn of reason, we were taught to place our soul's welfare before all temporal matters, which should cede to those of eternity.--Your sister and cousin wrongfully imprisoned, MARIE, QUEEN. _From_ FOTHERINGAY _this xix December 1586_. Paulet, after receiving this letter from Queen Mary, entered into a long conversation with her, in which he disturbed her by "rather violent discourses, warning her to thank the Queen (Elizabeth) and acknowledge the favours she had done her, not only at her first coming into England, but ever since, and especially in this last affair, in which, he said, she had much to be thankful for." "For my part," replied Mary, "if I have received any favours, I thank her, but I do not see in what they consist. I came into this country under her promise (of assistance). She has kept me a prisoner for eighteen years, and now makes me die, which is the worst that can be done to me." "But," retorted Paulet, "you owe it to the Queen that she kept you from your enemies and saved your life. You were escaping to another country when the stress of weather at sea caused you to take refuge here."