He declared to several persons that he had detected a plot on the part of Leicester to have him assassinated; and the assertion seemed so important, that Villiers came to Councillor Clerk to confer with him on the subject.  The worthy Bartholomew, who had again, most reluctantly, left his quiet chambers in the Temple to come again among the guns and drums, which his soul abhorred, was appalled by such a charge.  It was best to keep it a secret, he said, at least till the matter could be thoroughly investigated.  Villiers was of the same opinion, and accordingly the councillor, in the excess of his caution, confided the secret only—­to whom?  To Mr. Atye, Leicester’s private secretary.  Atye, of course, instantly told his master—­his master in a frenzy of rage, told the Queen, and her Majesty, in a paroxysm of royal indignation at this new insult to her favourite, sent furious letters to her envoys, to the States-General, to everybody in the Netherlands—­so that the assertion of Hohenlo became the subject of endless recrimination.  Leicester became very violent, and denounced the statement as an impudent falsehood, devised wilfully in order to cast odium upon him and to prevent his return.  Unquestionably there was nothing in the story but table-talk; but the Count would have been still more ferocious towards Leicester than he was, had he known what was actually happening at that very moment.

While Buckhurst was at Utrecht, listening to the “solemn-speeches” of the militia-captains and exchanging friendly expressions at stately banquets with Moeurs, he suddenly received a letter in cipher from her Majesty.  Not having the key, he sent to Wilkes at the Hague.  Wilkes was very ill; but the despatch was marked pressing and immediate, so he got out of bed and made the journey to Utrecht.  The letter, on being deciphered, proved to be an order from the Queen to decoy Hohenlo into some safe town, on pretence of consultation and then to throw him into prison, on the ground that he had been tampering with the enemy, and was about to betray the republic to Philip.

The commotion which would have been excited by any attempt to enforce this order, could be easily imagined by those familiar with Hohenlo and with the powerful party in the Netherlands of which he was one of the chiefs.  Wilkes stood aghast as he deciphered the letter.  Buckhurst felt the impossibility of obeying the royal will.  Both knew the cause, and both foresaw the consequences of the proposed step.  Wilkes had heard some rumours of intrigues between Parma’s agents at Deventer and Hohenlo, and had confided them to Walsingham, hoping that the Secretary would keep the matter in his own breast, at least till further advice.  He was appalled at the sudden action proposed on a mere rumour, which both Buckhurst and himself had begun to consider an idle one.  He protested, therefore, to Walsingham that to comply with her Majesty’s command would not only be nearly impossible, but would, if successful, hazard