Elizabeth, indeed, had been badly betrayed by the French. She had been drawn into hostility to Philip in Flanders, and had been left in the lurch. To her alone now could the Prince of Orange look for help, since the French had deserted him; and though she had no intention of allowing the Dutch Protestants to be crushed by Alba, Elizabeth saw that in future all she did to help them must be done without an open national rupture between England and Spain. Immediately, therefore, her tone changed. Not only were the Dutch rebels ostentatiously disavowed by her, but the somewhat bewildered Guaras found himself once more a _persona grata_ at Court.[210] Early in October the Duke of Alba sent him his cool and tardy reply with regard to the proposed negotiations for reopening trade. When Guaras appeared at Windsor with the despatch he found Burghley all smiles. “On that very day, he said, and on many other previous occasions the Queen had said to him she wondered why Guaras did not come to Court with the reply. They were much surprised to have received no answer to the offer made by the Queen to withdraw the Englishmen from Flanders, who, he said, only went there to resist the Frenchmen, who might try to gain a footing.... When I told him I had a letter for the Queen he seemed greatly delighted and asked me to show it to him. When he read the superscripture he said, ‘Although it comes tardily and the Queen is unwell, I will take it to her at once, because I know how pleased she will be to know that you have come with the message.’”[211] Thenceforward for a time no one was more welcome at Court than Guaras. A fortnight after the above letter was written the French ambassador, La Mothe, remarked: “Guaras ... the Spaniard, is much better attended to and more favourably received at this Court than he used to be. He has great hopes of getting them to withdraw all the English from Flushing and Flanders, as well as of arranging the disputes about commercial intercourse.”[212] All was not plain sailing yet, for Alba was hard and Elizabeth stood out firmly for religious toleration for Englishmen in Spain, which claim from the first was scouted as preposterous by the Spaniards, and in the end was almost the only point upon which the English had to give way. But the constant more or less covert aid in men and money sent from England to support Orange, and the fear that if driven too far Elizabeth might at last yield to the arguments and persuasions of the Dutch that she would assume the protection of Holland and Zeeland, brought down even Alba’s pride; and early in the spring of 1573 trade was reopened, on terms greatly in favour of Elizabeth, since her subjects again obtained an open market for their cloths, whilst she kept practically the greater part of the property she had seized.