Both he and the Queen took courage from that finding,
and made no secret of it now that they would very soon be wed.
But there were many whom that finding did not convince, who read
my lord too well, and would never suffer him to reap the fruits
of his evil deed. Prominent among these were Arundel--who himself
had aimed at the Queen's hand--Norfolk and Pembroke, and behind
them was a great mass of the people. Indignation against Lord
Robert was blazing out, fanned by such screaming preachers as
Lever, who, from the London pulpits, denounced the projected
marriage, hinting darkly at the truth of Amy Dudley's death.
What was hinted at home was openly expressed abroad, and in Paris
Mary Stuart ventured a cruel witticism that Elizabeth was to
conserve in her memory: "The Queen of England," she said, "is
about to marry her horse-keeper, who has killed his wife to make
a place for her."
Yet Elizabeth persisted in her intent to marry Dudley, until the
sober Cecil conveyed to her towards the end of that month of
September some notion of the rebellion that was smouldering.
She flared out at him, of course. But he stood his ground.
"There is," he reminded her, "this unfortunate matter of a
prophecy, as the Bishop of Aquila persists in calling it.
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