Angus shook his head. “Nothing,” he said. “He just came to bring me word that Darnley has been murdered.”
“Did he do it?” Matthew asked.
“Nay.”
“Ye believe him?”
“I have known James Hepburn since we were wee lads. Is he capable of killing? Aye, he is. They want to blame him, for he is the queen’s best defense.”
“We should nae be involved in these matters,” Matthew said.
“I agree,” Angus replied. “But James Hepburn is my friend. Remember that, little brother. I dinna gie my friendship lightly, but I will also protect Duin.”
Annabella agreed with both her husband and with Matthew. A close friendship must not be betrayed, but neither must Duin be put in any danger. She was glad to be an unimportant woman married to an unimportant border lord. She had seen what power and the desire for ultimate power could do the night she had witnessed the murder of David Riccio. She felt great sympathy for her queen. Few women had her strength of character, or were capable of ruling over a land constantly fought over by a group of contentious lords and their families.
The queen’s cousin, Elizabeth Tudor, had learned the lessons of survival well in her difficult childhood. Mary, however, had been cosseted and pampered at every turn. She had been wise enough upon her return to Scotland to seek good counsel from her half brother, James Stewart, whom she had created Earl of Moray; and from William Maitland, whom she had made her secretary of state; but when her desires conflicted with that counsel, trouble was certain to ensue. Annabella wondered whether that trouble would now overwhelm Mary Stuart, and lead to her eventual downfall. Only time would reveal the answer to her question.
Chapter 9
True to his word, James Hepburn kept his friend Angus Ferguson fully informed of what was happening in Edinburgh with regard to the matter of Lord Darnley’s murder. Although Mary had never formally given him the crown matrimonial, she had allowed him to style himself king. He was buried with royal pomp and Roman Catholic rites and interred at Holyrood in a grave next to King James V. Mary had gone into official mourning, but after a few days had departed Edinburgh to mourn more privately by the sea.
No sooner had the queen departed than men holding up scandalously painted posters had begun to travel the streets of the city, crying that Bothwell had killed the queen’s husband—that the queen was in league with him in the murder. Darnley’s father, the Earl of Lennox, demanded that a trial be held to determine the murderer of his son. The queen was informed of all of this at her seaside residence. Finally there was no other solution than to try Bothwell to determine his guilt or his innocence in the matter, and silence the rumors.
On April twelfth the trial was held at the Tolbooth in Edinburgh before a panel of Bothwell’s peers. It was noted that James Stewart, the Earl of Moray, was absent from the proceedings. The trial began at ten in the morning, and lasted until seven o’clock of the evening. As no formal charges had ever been filed in the matter, and there was no evidence produced connecting Bothwell with the murder, the Earl of Argyll, who was the presiding judge, acquitted James Hepburn of any complicity in the murder of Henry, Lord Darnley. The court then adjourned to a nearby tavern, where the innocent man treated everyone to a good supper.
“God’s blood!” Matthew Ferguson swore. “Is there a bolder man in the borders?”
Angus laughed. “Nay, I do not believe there is,” he agreed. “Nor on this earth.”
“The matter is settled then, and perhaps Duin can now concentrate on its own business, and not Bothwell’s,” Matthew said.
“Why is yer brother so hostile to James Hepburn?” Annabella asked her husband afterward, when they walked in the castle’s gardens. The gardens overlooked the sea.
“He doesn’t know James as well as I do,” Angus said. “James’s father, Patrick Hepburn, defected to England, casting shame upon the family name. Some say Patrick did it because Marie de Guise, whom he loved, refused his suit. Of course, Marie forgave him and pardoned him so he could return, but James never forgot the betrayal. He has spent much of his life proving the loyalty of the Hepburns to the royal Stewarts.”
“I think his care of the queen is because he loves her,” Annabella said quietly.
“Aye, he has told me so,” her husband admitted.
“Matthew fears your friendship and loyalty to Bothwell could endanger Duin, doesn’t he?” Annabella said. “He may be correct, Angus.”
“It’s over now,” the Earl of Duin told his wife. “James is acquitted of Darnley’s murder, and my need to go to Bothwell’s aid no longer exists.” He put an arm about Annabella as they looked out over the blazing sun sinking slowly into the sea.
But it was not over. Another messenger came from James Hepburn to Angus Ferguson, asking the earl to join him with a small force of his clansmen at Dunbar Castle.
The Earl of Duin did not hesitate, for his loyalty to his old friend was yet great. He rode out the next morning with fifty men. Matthew Ferguson was beside himself with worry.
“What mischief is Bothwell up to now that he needs to drag Angus into it?” he said.
Annabella was as worried as Matthew was, but she soothed him, saying, “Dinna fret, brother. Bothwell will nae put Angus in danger.” Please God he wouldn’t, for she was certain she was with child again.
It was a beautiful spring. The trees bloomed and leafed. The hillsides were covered with flowers. She, Jean, and Agnes walked out together most afternoons. It was during one of these walks that she told her sister and Jean that she was now certain she was enceinte. “The bairn should come before year’s end,” she said.
“Then I shall remain at Duin,” Agnes said. “Ye’ll need my company now more than ever.”
Jean smiled to herself. Agnes Baird had been at Duin for a year now. She would never leave Duin, especially if Matthew had anything to say about it. Matthew was in love with Agnes, but Agnes was proving a difficult girl to court. Unless Matthew soon took the initiative, they would spend the rest of their lives sparring with words instead of kisses, Jean thought. “We should tell Matthew about the bairn,” she said. “He’ll be relieved to know there will soon be an heir of Duin.”
Annabella laughed. “At least he’s stopped fussing at me about it,” she said. “Aye, let’s tell him. Perhaps it will lighten his spirits, for he worries that we have nae heard from Angus. I worry too.”
