he was asked for the paper, some days afterwards, he refused it, and said that the Queen would go no further until she had a reply from Catharine to her remarks made to de Foix. Secretaries and couriers therefore went backwards and forwards actively for the next few months. This unwonted movement of messengers soon attracted the attention of the Spanish ambassador, who wrote, on the 15th of March: “The question of marriage is a difficult one, because if she weds Robert great dissatisfaction will be caused in the country, both amongst the higher classes and the common people. The Queen has told me several times that she wishes to marry, but not with Robert; and Robert himself has told me the same. Apart from this all eyes are fixed on the Archduke Charles, and I am informed that negotiations are actually going on about him through Robert.... Of Robert’s leaning towards the matter there is no doubt, in appearance, although it is impossible to say with what object. On the other hand, it is said that negotiations are afoot about the King of France, which the Queen herself told me, and it may be true now, because the French, having got wind of the Archduke’s affair, may wish to divert it. It may be also that, however great the disparity of years, they may be willing to overlook it in order to join this country to theirs. By the same rule this Queen may be listening to the Archduke for the purpose of stopping his negotiations with Scotland, and the French may be trying to beat her at her own game.”[37] It will be seen by this how tangled was the diplomatic skein even to those contemporaries whose especial business it was to unravel it.