There follow arguments, to be later considered, about the relations between James and the Earl previous to the tragedy, and a statement, with no authority cited, that James had written to Gowrie’s uncle, to meet him at Perth on August 5, implying that James had made up his mind to be there, and did not go on Ruthven’s sudden invitation. ‘The Earl and Cranstoun were alone with the four in the fatal chamber. The others who were wounded there went up after Gowrie’s death.’ It may be so, but the bulk of the evidence is on the other side. ‘It is reported’ that Henderson was eating an egg in the kitchen, and went into the town when the fray arose. It is also denied, on oath, by Gowrie’s cook, who added that he was ‘content to be hanged,’ if it could be proved. {114} The Ruthven apologist (MS.) says that Henderson was waiting on the Lords who dined in the hall, and was _there_ when _the King’s servant_ brought the news that the King had ridden away. ‘The Master’s sword, after his death, was found rusted tight in his scabbard.’ The Master must have been a very untidy gallant. No authority is cited for the story. The Murrays (who were well rewarded) were in Perth, ‘whether of set purpose let the reader judge.’ By all means let the reader judge. The King knew Henderson (so the anonymous Goodman of Pitmillie said), but did not recognise the man in the turret. It was reported that Patrick Galloway, the king’s chaplain, induced Henderson to pretend to be the man in the turret. As to the good man of Pitmillie, Calderwood did not even know his name. This is mere gossip. Again, Calderwood, who offers these criticisms, does not ask why, of all concerned, Henderson was the only man that fled who had not been seen in connection with the fray and the tumult. If he was not the man of the turret, and if Andrew Ruthven, who also had ridden to Falkland, did not abscond, why did Henderson? As to the man in the turret, if not a retainer of Ruthven, he was a minion of James, or there was no man at all. If there was no man at all, could James be so absurd as to invent him, on the off chance that somebody, anybody, would turn up, and claim to have been the man? That is, frankly, incredible. But if James managed to insert a man into the turret, he was not so silly as not to have his man ready to produce in evidence. Yet Henderson could not be produced, he had fled, and certainly had not come in by August 12, when he was proclaimed.