Before going to Hampton Court he saw Dudley, who placed himself entirely at the disposal of the King of Spain, “to whom he owed his life.” He said the Queen had summoned him and his sister the night before, and had directed them how to proceed. The marriage, he assured the Bishop, was now necessary and could be effected. The Bishop wrote to Cardinal de Granvelle directly after the interview: “Lord Robert and his sister are certainly acting splendidly, and the King will have to reward them well--better than he does me--and your Lordship must remind him of it in due time. The question of religion is of the most vital importance, as is also the manner of the Archduke’s marriage and its conditions and ceremonies. In view of these difficulties it would be better for the wedding to be a clandestine one. I do not know how he will get over the oath that he will have to take to conform with the laws of the land, which are some of them schismatic.”[24] The Bishop’s interview with the Queen, however, fairly mystified him. She blew hot and cold as usual. “She hoped to God that no harm would come to the Archduke on his incognito visit; she would be glad to see him; but mind,” she said, “I am not bound to marry him if he come,” which the Bishop assured the Emperor “was only dissimulation, and she really meant to marry him.” She was very careful to repeat that she had not invited the Archduke, and was not bound to marry him, and went so far as to say she could not trust Quadra to state this clearly, and would write to the Emperor herself. But whilst she said it in words she took equal care to contradict it in looks and gestures that could never be called up in witness against her. The Bishop was at last completely won over, and strongly urged the Emperor to send his son and seize the prize. This new turn of events hardly pleased Cecil, but it was necessary for him to dissemble, for Elizabeth was now at war with France and Scotland, and she could not afford to give the cold shoulder to Spain as well. When the Bishop saw him on leaving the Queen, he says: “I listened to him (Cecil) for some time, and seeing that he was beating about the bush, I begged that we might speak plainly to each other, as I was neither blind nor deaf, and could easily perceive that the Queen was not taking this step, to refuse her consent after all. He swore that he did not know, and could not assure me,” and with this, and vague protestations of Cecil’s personal wish for the Archduke’s success, the Bishop had to be contented. He faithfully conveyed the Queen’s words to the Emperor, but her looks and gestures could not be put upon paper, so that it is not surprising that his Majesty could see no further assurance than before that he was not to be fooled after all. Feria was more deeply versed in the ways of women than was the Bishop, and on receiving the news, answered: “It seems that the Emperor up to the present refuses leave for his son to