* Calig.  B 1, 281.

At the same time, she gave the duke to understand that she had incurred her brother’s displeasure for his sake,* and the same legend was repeated to the lords of the Council.  Complaining to them of the bad treatment she had received in Scotland, she begged them to bear in mind the loyalty she had always shown to her son, to the lord governor, and to the realm, incurring for the last three or four years her brother’s displeasure, for Albany’s sake, at whose desire she was always ready to write the best she could.** Immediately upon this remarkable statement came Henry’s answer to her last appeal, in the guise of one hundred marks for information received, together with the refusal of the truce which Albany had repeatedly solicited.*** The smallness of the sum prompted Margaret to write a diplomatic letter to the Earl of Surrey, in which she declared that she had promised before the lords to be a good Scotswoman, and to agree to whatever was for the good of her son, with whom she was resolved to bide as long as she might, although the lords were bent on separating them.  They cannot, they say, help her to her “conjunct feoffment” while her brother makes war on them, and she knows not where any other help may be got.  If she is to live with her son, Henry must contribute to her support, as he has done to a certain extent already.  She will do as he commands her, and have as few servants as possible.  She had asked the governor and lords in Council why she was “holden suspect,” and not allowed to be with her son; and the answer she received was that she was Henry’s sister, and would perhaps take the king into England, and they knew well her brother would do more for her than any other.  She had answered that her deeds had shown otherwise, and that she could prove the malice of such an accusation!  Thus Henry would see how she suffered for his sake.****

* Ibid. 159.

** Ibid.  B 2, 268.

*** State Papers, iv. 60, 26th Nov. 1523; R.O.

**** Queen Margaret to the Earl of Surrey, Dec. 1523; R.O.

The next scene in the comedy is Margaret’s anger on hearing that Albany is treating with Henry for peace, without her intervention.  “It is hard,” she complains, “to be out with the governor here, and not to know what the king will do for me!” If she had flattered Albany, she asserts, she might have had “great profits,” but she will not take them till she knows Henry’s mind.  She has not spoken with Albany since Surrey left, and would not do so as long as he remained in Scotland, so discontented were they with each other.* Upon this follows an astounding revelation.  Surrey had received a dispatch from the queen containing another document, the seals of which had been broken and closed again.  It was a copy of an agreement between Margaret and the Duke of Albany, but the manner in which it came to be enclosed in her letter never transpired, though it was thought that the packet had been opened by a spy, and the paper inserted, in order to ruin her prospects with her brother.