212 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43. when mixed by a far less skilful hand ; in his first in- terview he so far talked her into good humour that ' she did not send her angry letter ; ' and although he satisfied himself at the same time that she was dealing insincerely with his mistress, he perhaps in this allowed his sus- picions to mislead him. Elizabeth was only too happy to believe in promises which it was her interest to find true. Personally she cared as little for the Queen of Scots as the Queen of Scots cared for her ; but Mary Stuart's position and Mary Stuart's claims created an intense political difficulty for which there appeared but one happy solution ; and Elizabeth, so far as can be seen from the surface of the story, clutched at any prospect of a reasonable settlement with an eager credulity. Melville might indeed naturally enough believe Eliza- beth as insincere as he knew himself to be. At the very moment when he was delivering Mary's smooth messages, apologies, and regrets he knew himself to be charged with a secret commission to the Catholic con- spirators ; but Elizabeth's duplicity does not follow from his own, and she may at least be credited with having been honest when she had no interest in being otherwise. She saw the Scotch ambassador daily, and the Queen of Scots' marriage was the incessant subject of discussion. Melville said his mistress would refer it to a commission. Murray and Maitland might meet Bedford and Lord Robert at Berwick to talk it over. 1 Ah ! ' she said, ' you make little of Lord Robert, naming him after the Earl of Bedford. I mean to make
