" This foreknowledge of the fate of that
unfortunate lady has been accepted as positive evidence that the
Queen was a party to the crime at Cumnor, which was to set her
lover free to marry again. Far from that, however, I account it
positive proof of Elizabeth's innocence of any such part in the
deed. Elizabeth was far too crafty and clear-sighted not to
realize how her words must incriminate her afterwards if she knew
that the murder of Lady Robert was projected. She must have been
merely repeating what Dudley himself had told her; and what he
must have told her--and she believed--was that his wife was at
the point of a natural death. Similarly, Dudley would not have
told her this, unless his aim had been to procure his wife's
removal by means which would admit of a natural interpretation.
Difficulties encountered, much as I relate them--and for which
there is abundant evidence--drove his too-zealous agents to
rather desperate lengths, and thus brought suspicion, not only
upon the guilty Dudley, but also upon the innocent Queen. The
manner of Amy's murder is pure conjecture; but it should not be
far from what actually took place. The possibility of an
accident--extraordinarily and suspiciously opportune for Dudley
as it would have been--could not be altogether ruled out but for
the further circumstance that Lady Robert had removed everybody
from Cumnor on that day.
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