Elizabeth was very much alarmed at this intelligence. Her mind was
filled with vague and uncertain fears and forebodings, which were none
the less oppressive for being uncertain and vague. She had, however, no
immediate cause for apprehension. Mary found that there was no decisive
evidence against her, and did not dare to keep her a prisoner in the
Tower too long. There was a large and influential part of the kingdom
who were Protestants. They were jealous of the progress Mary was making
toward bringing the Catholic religion in again. They abhorred the
Spanish match. They naturally looked to Elizabeth as their leader and
head, and Mary thought that by too great or too long-continued harshness
in her treatment of Elizabeth, she would only exasperate them, and
perhaps provoke a new outbreak against her authority. She determined,
therefore, to remove the princess from the Tower to some less odious
place of confinement.

She was taken first to Queen Mary's court, which was then held at
Richmond, just above London; but she was surrounded here by soldiers and
guards, and confined almost as strictly as before. She was destined,
however, here to another surprise. It was a proposition of marriage.
Mary had been arranging a plan for making her the wife of a certain
personage styled the Duke of Savoy. His dominions were on the confines
of Switzerland and France, and Mary thought that if her rival were once
married and removed there, all the troubles which she, Mary, had
experienced on her account would be ended forever. She thought, too,
that her sister would be glad to accept this offer, which opened such an
immediate escape from the embarrassments and sufferings of her situation
in England. But Elizabeth was prompt, decided, and firm in the rejection
of this plan. England was her home, and to be Queen of England the end
and aim of all her wishes and plans. She had rather continue a captive
for the present in her native land, than to live in splendor as the
consort of a sovereign duke beyond the Rhone.

Mary then ordered Sir Thomas Beddingfield to take her to Woodstock. She
traveled on horseback, and was several days on the journey. Her passage
through the country attracted great attention. The people assembled by
the wayside, expressing their kind wishes, and offering her gifts. The
bells were rung in the villages through which she passed. She arrived
finally at Woodstock, and was shut up in the palace there.

This was in J