The courier who brought these evil tidings was fast followed by the King himself.

The evening was closing in when James arrived, and was informed that his daughter had disappeared.

After all that he had suffered, this affliction forced a cry of misery from his lips.

"God help me," he said; "my own children have forsaken me." [546] That evening he sate in Council with his principal ministers, till a late hour.

It was determined that he should summon all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal who were then in London to attend him on the following day, and that he should solemnly ask their advice.
Accordingly, on the afternoon of Tuesday the twenty-seventh, the Lords met in the dining room of the palace.