of himself and by his Majesty's
mediation, had craved of the Earl his brother the demission and release
of the Abbey of Scone, which his Majesty had bestowed upon the said Earl
during his life. . . . His suit had little success.' {48b}

If this be fact (and there is no obvious reason for its invention), James
might have reason to suspect that Gowrie had 'handled his brother
hardly:' Scone being a valuable estate, well worth keeping. To secure
the King's favour as to Scone, Ruthven had a motive, as James would
understand, for making him, and not Gowrie, acquainted with the secret of
the treasure. Thus the unpublished manuscript casually explains the
reason of the King's suspicion that the Earl might have 'handled the
Master hardly.'

On some such surmise, James asked Lennox (who corroborates) whether he
thought the Master quite 'settled in his wits.' Lennox knew nothing but
good of him (as he said in his evidence), but Ruthven, observing their
private talk, implored James to keep the secret, and come _alone_ with
him--at first--to see the captive and the treasure. James felt more and
more uneasy, but he had started, and rode on, while the Master now
despatched Andrew Ruthven to warn Gowrie. Within a mile of Perth the
Master spurred on his weary horse, and gave the news to Gowrie, who,
despite the messages of Henderson and Andrew Ruthven, was at dinner,
unprepared for the Royal arrival. However, Gowrie met James with sixty
men (four, says the Ruthven apologist).

James's train then consisted of fifteen persons. Others must have
dropped in later: they had no fresh mounts, but rested their horses, the
King says, and let them graze by the way. They followed because,
learning that James was going to Perth, they guessed that he intended to
apprehend the Master of Oliphant, who had been misconducting himself in
Angus. Thus the King accounts for the number of his train.

An hour passed before dinner: James pressed for a view of the treasure,
but the Master asked the King not to converse with him then, as the whole
affair was to be kept secret from Gowrie. If the two brothers had been
at odds about the lands of Scone, the Master's attitude towards his
brother might seem intelligible, a point never allowed for by critics
unacquainted with the manuscript which we have cited. At last the King
sat down to dinner, Gowrie in attendance, whispering to his servants,
_and often going in and out of the chamber_. The Master,