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It is not surprising that the Earl’s wife kept aloof for a while and preferred Chatsworth just now. Sheffield was a regular dungeon: the Scottish Queen was only allowed to take an airing on the leads. No domestic cheerfulness was possible, no social intercourse, and every letter sent or received was a source of anxiety.

Both for the sake of social decency and because of the necessity to impress the always scandalous world with her conjugal devotion, the Countess however returned presently to the fortress and took up her share of the daily burden of wardenship.

Her presence was more than ever necessary now. The Duke of Norfolk’s trial was fixed for a date early in the New Year, and the Earl’s assistance thereat was indispensable, for he was made Lord High Steward of England in the place of the arraigned nobleman. The command at Sheffield was therefore temporarily assigned, not to Huntingdon this time, but to Sir Ralph Sadler. He arrived, the Earl left for London, and Bess Shrewsbury remained to keep a hand upon the situation and play her own cards. She did this incessantly till her husband’s return. Circumstances gave her most excellent opportunities for making a good impression on Sadler. It was her business to walk on those leads of the now vanished castle with the prisoner and to carry her daily such news as it was considered well to communicate. There was very little variety in the days. When the weather was bad Mary kept to her rooms. When it improved she took her airing, but had not much refreshment for her eyes. There was little to do on the leads but stroll to and fro, gazing at Sheffield Lodge on the hill, or at the water and meadows below. And for the ear there was nothing beyond music on the virginals to charm it, no sounds to distract the country silence, except the opening and closing of the castle gates, and the roll of the drum at six o’clock morning and evening, when the watches were set and the password given.