Mewtas’ mission proved fruitless, and he was back in London some time before the 6th March. There is no evidence to show that he succeeded in obtaining a portrait of Madame de Longueville, or that he took Holbein or any other painter with him for that purpose. The Duchess seems to have been in Normandy, possibly at Longueville or Le Havre, and it may have been left to Mewtas to obtain the services of some local French painter, if such an one were to be procured. It is more likely, however, that a painter would be taken over for the purpose, though this was not mentioned in the instructions, as it was in the case of Hoby’s mission to Brussels. If any one were taken, it may have been Holbein, who was known personally to Mewtas, for among the Windsor drawings there is one of the latter’s wife.[291] This, however, is mere conjecture, and there is no evidence, either in writing or in the shape of a drawing, to show that Holbein took the portrait of this particular duchess; indeed, the fact of his journey to the Netherlands seems to point to the contrary, for Mewtas only returned to England from France early in March, so that if Holbein had accompanied him, he would have had to start off again without a moment’s delay with Hoby in order to reach Brussels as he did on the 10th of the same month. It was, of course, possible for him to have made both journeys, but the interval between the two was so short that extreme expedition would have been necessary. Footnote 291: Woltmann, 339; Wornum, ii. 20; Holmes, ii. 16. See pp. 257-8.