Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/489

 1578.] THE ALEN^ON MARRIAGE. 469 Netherlands, she had nevertheless given him leave on certain conditions ; and Mauvissiere had been allowed to intimate that her Majesty was not beyond his reach, and that if he would send over a confidential minister such a person would be favourably received. Accordingly on the 3oth July, when her ill-humour with the States was at its height, there had arrived at Audley End 1 two gentlemen from Monsieur/ one of them a Hugue- not, M. de Quissey ; the other a M. Bacqueville, de- scribed by Burghley as ' not malicious/ No one knew that they had been sent for. They came as if spon- taneously sent by Alencon to remove Elizabeth's ob- jections to his interference in the war, to promise that in his dealings with the Provinces he would be guided en- tirely by her advice and at the same time to renew his proposals for her hand, and to tell her that if she wished to see him he would come to her from Antwerp. 1 The Court and council were taken utterly by surprise. No- thing that they had seen in Elizabeth led them to sup- pose that she would listen to the Duke's suit. 'Her Majesty/ said Leicester, 'is per- suaded that Monsieur will obey her pleasure, and she doubts not will return as he came. If she meant that recompense for his labour that his ministers sue for, there were cause for her to presume but I do not perceive any such reward like to come from hence for anything I see yet ; I rather fear some great unkind- ness to grow between them.' 2 1 Leicester to Walsingham, Au- I 2 Ibid, gust i : MSS. Holland.