Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/138

 12 4 ItEIGN OF ELIZABETH. LCH. 53. Scots' succession ; and without a disloyal thought, he sympathized, to some extent at least, with the Earls' dissatisfaction. To compose matters if possible before receiving further positive directions, he sent his secretary to TopclifF to persuade Northumberland to go to the Queen at once. Northumberland answered that he had ' not been well used/ made many objections, but ' in the end ' seemed to yield, and promised to prepare for his journey. It appeared however that Catholic hopes and Catholic fanaticism had been stirred too deeply. There was a natural fear that the Queen had discovered the whole plot, and the Countess Anne 1 was made of harder stuff than her husband. The secretary was detained at Topcliff for some hours while his horses were rest- ing ; at midnight 2 a message came to bid him haste away or it would be the worse for him ; while a servant, who had come probably no farther than from the Countess's apartment, woke Northumberland from his first sleep with the news that, 'within an hour Sir Oswald "Wolstrop would be upon him. to carry him muffled to Elizabeth.' The Earl sprang from his bed, ordered his horses to be saddled, the bridge over the Swale to be broken, and the church bells to be rung backwards. The jangled sound broke on the ears of Sussex's emissary as he rode out of the town. His guide, when he asked what it meant, ' sighed, and an- swered, he was afraid it was to raise the country/ 3 1 Daughter of Somerset Earl of Worcester and niece of Lord Mon- tague. 2 November 9. 3 Sussex to the Queen, Novem- ber 10 : MSS. Border.