at my death, the which has been granted them, they cannot blame you if, through a feeling of family duty, or at the least of Christian charity, you grant burial for my body. [Footnote 81: _États_, probably papers or accounts relating to her French estates.] By the same, I require of you with instance, Madame, in honour of the Passion of Jesus Christ, not to keep me longer in this miserable suspense, which is more cruel than any certainty, but to let me fully know your will, and if it be to grant my prayer, I promise to make one for you at my death for your salvation, and for your prosperity in this world in the grace of God. And if you refuse me, I will endeavour to bear it patiently, thanking you still for leaving me no longer to languish in this miserable condition, of which I wish you knew the truth of the sufferings of my poor servants, who are losing their time and their health. For the rest, if at the hour of my death I should wish to divulge to you some secret, and of which it might be of importance to you that no one should have knowledge, being my last words, I desire to know in whom I may confide, as there are some who might, through habit, speak about it too freely, or refrain from telling it, from some reason of their own. Well, then, I pray God grant you as much happiness in this world as I expect in leaving it, through His mercy, which I beg for myself and for all those who persecute me, and this happiness, of being freed from so many miseries by an innocent death; and I desire to forgive any who otherwise calumniate me and mine, if there be any.... And I hope that by my death, which is so much wished for, you and several others will experience what may be of use, and serve to clear up many things in which God may be glorified. I implore His Divine Majesty that all shall conduce to His honour and to your edification and preservation, and that of this whole island, for the salvation of which I would willingly give my life, nor would refuse to desert it, even were I in a better condition. I am not able to speak willingly of him[82] in whose service, as of that of our country, I am useless, nor of the special good I wish you, being so near you in blood--seeing that, on the contrary, I serve for a pretext to others who discharge their malice against me and mine for certain reasons, which, as well as my own intentions, I leave to the judgment of the just Judge.--Your sister and imprisoned cousin, MARYE. _From my prison of_ FOTHERINGAY, _the 12th of January 1587._ [Footnote 82: Her son. Here occur a few lines which, through errors of the copyist, are very unintelligible. See Chantelauze, pp. 579-581.]