nt hopes which Renard expressed speedily vanished, and every
one but the queen herself not only knew that she had no child at
present, but that she never could have a child--that her days were
numbered, and that if the Spaniards intended to secure the throne they
must obtain it by other means than the order of inheritance. Could the
war be brought to an end, Mary might live long enough to give her
husband an opportunity of attempting violence; but of peace there was
no immediate prospect, and it remained for the present to make the
most of Elizabeth. Setting her marriage aside, it was doubtful whether
the people would permit her longer confinement after the queen's
{p.215} disappointment; and, willingly or unwillingly, Mary must be
forced to receive her at court again.

The princess was still at Woodstock, where she had remained for a
year, under the harsh surveillance of Sir Henry Bedingfield. Lord
William Howard's visit may have consoled her with the knowledge that
she was not forgotten by the nobility; but her health had suffered
from her long imprisonment, and the first symptom of an approaching
change in her position was the appearance of the queen's physician to
take charge of her.

A last effort was made to betray her into an acknowledgment of guilt.
"A secret friend" entreated her to "submit herself to the queen's
mercy." Elizabeth saw the snare. She would not ask for mercy, she
said, where she had committed no offence; if she was guilty, she
desired justice, not mercy; and she knew well she would have found
none, could evidence have been produced against her: but she thanked
God she was in no danger of being proved guilty; she wished she was as
safe from secret enemies.

But the plots for despatching her, if they had ever existed, were laid
aside; she was informed that her presence was required at Hampton
Court. The rumour of her intended release spread abroad, and sixty
gentlemen, who had once belonged to her suite, met her on the way at
Colebrook, in the hope that they might return to attendance upon her;
but their coming was premature; she was still treated as a prisoner,
and they were ordered off in the queen's name.

On her arrival at Hampton Court, however, the princess felt that she
had recovered her freedom. She was received by Lord William Howard.
The courtiers hurried to her with their congratulations, and Howard
dared and provoked the resentment of the king and queen by making them
kneel and kis