Two or three days afterwards, however, thanks to Cecil, Mendoza was led up a secret stair into the Queen’s private chamber, where she was with Leicester, Sussex, Hatton, and Walsingham. “I suppose,” began Elizabeth as soon as she saw him, “you have come to give me some satisfaction about Ireland.” “That, your Majesty,” he replied, “as I told you before, is a matter concerning the Pope, not my master.” She had, he continued, refused to receive him for nearly a year, pending her investigation of the case. Elizabeth angrily swore that she had never sent him such a message. Until he could bring her a fresh letter from Philip excusing this Irish business, she would have no more to say to him; and she thought that he had done his master a poor service in giving her the answer he had done. “If I have done ill to my master, madam,” he replied, “I have a head to pay for it; and although as the King’s minister I am bound to render an account to him of my acts, I thank God that He has granted me such a noble ancestry as alone would prevent me from failing in my duty to my Sovereign, if for no other reason but to leave unsullied the scutcheon of Mendoza.”[233] “She screamed out louder than before at this, saying that I was to blame for everything that had happened, to which I replied smilingly that she was speaking as a lady, those of her sex usually displaying most annoyance at the things that were done in their interest. It was no small service I had done her, I said, in patiently awaiting her pleasure so long.” In the heated altercation that ensued, Mendoza seized an opportunity of mentioning the real object of his visit, namely, the arrival of Don Antonio. She prevaricated for a long time, and finally retorted that if Don Antonio was in England, the rebel Earl of Westmorland was not only in King Philip’s dominions but enjoyed a pension from him. She had not made up her mind yet, she said, whether she should help the Portuguese or not, but she was determined not to surrender any one to be killed; and if she did not choose to give him up it would not be she, but Philip, who had first violated the old treaties. Upon this Mendoza made a formal demand for the surrender of Don Antonio in accordance with the international agreement, and was curtly refused.