Then on the 6th of July, 1553, King Edward died, and the tragedy of Lady Jane's life began in earnest. No sooner was his death a fact than Northumberland, concealing this, sent a crafty letter to the Princess Mary saying that her brother was at the point of death, and wished to see her. He did so knowing that Mary would hasten to London, and was prepared to seize her on the road to the city, and take her a prisoner to the Tower, while Lady Jane should be proclaimed Queen. As he had supposed, Mary hurried towards the city, but being met on the way and warned of the plot against her, instantly left the London road and galloped towards her own Manor House of Kenninghall, which she reached after a hard two days' trip, and found that the report of the King's death was true, whereupon she at once sent to the Council a confirmation of her own right to the throne, and so Northumberland's first move in his game of chance was blocked. Lady Jane meanwhile remained at Chelsea until Northumberland's daughter arrived to escort her to Sion House, where she was to appear before the Council in order to hear what the King had ordained for her. One can imagine the flutter of heart with which Jane made ready for the journey, and her still greater excitement when on her arrival the noblemen present began to make her complimentary speeches, bending the knee before her, "their example," says Lady Jane in her own account of the scene, "being followed by several noble ladies, all of which ceremony made me blush. My distress was still further increased when my mother and mother-in-law entered and paid me the same homage." Poor little Queen-to-be, this was her first intimation of the plan for her future greatness, and on discovering it, and hearing that for her sake the rights of her cousins were to be set aside, Lady Jane firmly refused to accept the crown. Northumberland, who had expected this refusal, then insisted that the crown was rightfully hers and her father begged her to take it. To these appeals the young husband added his, and Jane says: "On hearing all this I remained stunned and out of myself. I call on those present to bear witness, who saw me fall to the ground, weeping piteously, and dolefully lamenting not only my own insufficiency, but the death of the King. I swooned indeed . . . but when brought to myself, I raised myself on my knees and prayed to God that if to succeed to the throne was my duty and my right, that He would aid me to govern the Realm to His Glory. The following day, as everyone knows, I was conducted to the Tower." According to the state ceremonials governing such matters, the custom had always been for a new sovereign to spend the first few days of a reign at the Tower, and Lady Jane proceeded at once to Westminster by water, and from there by the state barge to the Tower, and this description of the scene has been preserved in a letter written on the 10th of July by an Italian nobleman. He says: