Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/327

 1565.] 'I HE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. 307 know to be my mistress's will and express command- ment given unto me to communicate unto your lord- ships as I saw cause, and knowing now the time most fit for that purpose, I thought good to send this same to you in writing.' In strict conformity with these promises, the Earl of Bedford returned to his charge on the Border : the Earl himself was under the impression that if the lords were in extremity he was to enter Scotland ; and so satisfied and so confident was Murray, that he wrote to Bedford on the 22nd of July ' as to one to whom God had granted to know the subtle devices of Satan/ tell- ing him that the force on which the Qjieen__of Scots most relied lay among the Maxwells, /the Humes7)and the Kers of the Border, and begging him, as if he was already an auxiliary in the field, ' to stay off their power/ l Randolph presented his second demand for the re- turn of the two noblemen to England. He spoke first to Mary Stuart, who, half frightened, half defiant, found herself on the edge of a conflict to which her own resources were manifestly inadequate, while she could not but feel some uncertainty after all how far she could rely on the secret promises of her English friends. She complained passionately that she had been trifled with ; she spoke of Henry the Eighth's will, which she dared Elizabeth to produce, in obvious ignorance that had Elizabeth consented, her hopes of a peaceable succession 1 Murray to Bedford, July 22 : KETTJ.