Mark me well: for the Sovereign of the murdered, the judge of the murderer, alike speak through me." And clearly and forcibly she narrated all, with which our readers are already acquainted, through her interview with the King.

She spoke very slowly, as if to give Marie time to weigh well each sentence.

She could not see her countenance; nay, she purposely refrained from looking at her, lest she should increase the suffering she was so unwillingly inflicting.
For some minutes she paused as she concluded; then, as neither word nor sound escaped from Marie, she said, with emphatic earnestness--"If it will be a lesser trial to give thine evidence on oath to thy Queen alone, we are here to receive it.

Our royal husband--our loyal subjects--will be satisfied with Isabella's report.

Thy words will be as sacred--thy oath as valid--as if thy testimony were received in public, thy oath administered by one of the holy fathers, with all the dread formula of the church.