arship, and not without a shrewd apprehension;
but, with respect be it spoken, more the stuff that court fools are
made of than kings. It may be, as a learned man told Johnstone, that
the shock the Queen suffered when the brutes put Davy to death before
her eyes, three months ere his birth, hath damaged his constitution,
for he is at the mercy of whosoever chooses to lead him, and hath no
will of his own. This Master of Gray was at first inclined to the
Queen's party, thinking more might be got by a reversal of all things,
but now he finds the king's men so strong in the saddle, and the
Queen's French kindred like to be too busy at home to aid her, what
doth he do, but list to our Queen's offers, and this ambassage of his,
which hath a colour of being for Queen Mary's release, is verily to
make terms with my Lord Treasurer and Sir Francis Walsingham for the
pension he is to have for keeping his king in the same mind."

"Turning a son against a mother! I marvel that honourable counsellors
can bring themselves to the like."

"Policy, sir, policy," said Humfrey. "And this Gray maketh a fine show
of chivalry and honour, insomuch that Sir Philip Sidney himself hath
desired his friendship; but, you see, the poor lady is as far from
freedom as she was when first she came to Sheffield."

"She is very far from believing it, poor dame. I am sorry for her,
Humfrey, more sorry than I ever thought I could be, now I have seen
more of her. My Lord himself says he never knew her break a promise.
How gracious she is there is no telling."

"That we always knew," said Humfrey, looking somewhat amazed, that his
honoured father should have fallen under the spell of the "siren
between the cold earth and moon."

"Yes, gracious, and of a wondrous constancy of mind, and evenness of
temper," said Richard. "Now that thy mother and I have watched her
more closely, we can testify that, weary, worn, and sick of body and of
heart as she is, she never letteth a bitter or a chiding word pass her
lips towards her servants. She hath nothing to lose by it. Their
fidelity is proven. They would stand by her to the last, use them as
she would, but assuredly their love must be doubly bound up in her when
they see how she regardeth them before herself. Let what will be said
of her, son Humfrey, I shall always maintain that I never saw woman,
save thine own good mother, of such evenness of condition, and
sweetness of consideration for all about her