an, he knew any man or page to come
from Court to my Lord, or that he commanded to give them any meat or
drink.' {134b}

No conclusion as to James's guilt can be drawn, either from the fact that
he wrote to Atholl, Inchaffray, the Master, and Gowrie at the end of
July, or from the circumstance that Craigengelt professed to know nothing
about any messenger. James might write to ask the Earl to hunt, we
cannot guess what he had to say, at the same time, to Atholl or
Inchaffray or the Master. He may even have written about the affair of
the Abbey of Scone, if it is true that the Master wished to get it from
his brother. We really cannot infer that, as the Ruthvens would not come
and be killed, when invited, at Falkland, James went to kill them at
Perth. Even if he summoned the Master for August 5, intending to make it
appear that the Master had asked him to come to Perth, the Master need
not have arrived before seven in the morning, when the King went and
hunted for four hours. What conceivable reason had the Master, if
innocent, for leaving Perth at 4 A.M. and visiting his sovereign at seven
in the morning?

As to the coming of the Gowries to Perth from Strabran or Strabane before
the tragedy, we only know what Craigengelt stated. His language is not
lucid.

'Depones that, my Lords being in Strabrand, Alexander Ruthven' (a
kinsman) 'came from Dunkeld to my Lord. And that upon Friday (August 1)
my Lord commanded Captain Ruthven to ride, and tell my Lady' (Gowrie's
mother), 'that he was to come, and Captain Ruthven met my Lord at the
ferry-boat, and rode back to Dunkeld with my Lord, where he' (Gowrie)
'having supped, returned to his bed at Trochene, the deponer being in his
company.'

Where, at the end of July, was Lady Gowrie? Was she within a day's ride
of her sons? Was she at Perth? We know that she was at Dirleton Castle,
near North Berwick, on August 6. Had she left the neighbourhood of Perth
between the 1st and 5th of August? Captain Ruthven seems to have ridden
to Lady Gowrie, and back again to Dunkeld with Gowrie. If so (and I can
make no other sense of it), she was in Perthshire on August 1, and went
at once to Dirleton. Did she keep out of the way of the performances of
August 5?

It is curious that no apologist for Gowrie, as far as I have observed,
makes any remark on this perplexing affair of 'my Lady.' We know that
she had once already set a successful trap for the King. He had not
puni