Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/579

1543.] professed the most vehement wishes to satisfy Henry. The week after the ambassador arrived, Arran assured him that he cared nothing for the interdict, and that so long as he lived 'the Cardinal should never have his liberty, nor come out of prison, unless it were to his further mischief.' Within a few days the Cardinal was secure within the walls of his own castle of St Andrew's (which his retainers had held in his name against the Government while he was in Blackness), under the nominal custody of Lord Seton, who was his surest friend. It was true that his detention in Scotland was no longer possible without a civil war. Easter was approaching, and the people would not endure that the season should pass unobserved. The Catholic Earls had threatened to liberate him by force, and a transparent compromise had covered without concealing the Regent's weakness. The truth might have been regretted, but it would have been intelligible. But the childish pretence which Arran attempted to maintain, that he was still a prisoner, and that the transfer had been a stroke of policy to recover possession of an important stronghold, only provoked suspicion. The King was liable to mistakes in the characters of women. He saw in Sadler's reports that those at least who had pretended to be his friends were falling short of their declarations. The Douglases had left his presence full of fair words, pretences, and promises: their engagements had melted into worse than inconsistency. Sir George had communicated secretly with Beton. It was through him that Beton was said to have been liberated;