"Who may she be?" asked Claude Hamilton with surprise.
"Katherine Willoughby, widow of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk," continued Patten, reading.
Bothwell smiled proudly, as he thought of his triumph over Mary of Lorraine.
"But," said the Earl of Glencairn, "what sayeth this dainty dame to be sold thus, like a bale of goods?"
"What she may say can matter little," replied Patten.
"'Tis said she affects one named Bertie."
"My lord, the Duke of Somerset will amend that."
"A worthy successor to the poor Countess Agnes Sinclair of Ravenscraig!" said the Master of Lyle with something of scornful commiseration.
"My first countess sleeps in the kirk of St. Denis, at Dysart," said Bothwell coldly, "so I pray you to proceed, Master Patten; this espousal is my matter."
"The Lord Glencairn and Claude Hamilton of Preston," continued the scribe, "offer to co-operate in the invasion of Scotland, and at the head of three thousand men, their friends and vassals, to keep the Regent Arran in check until the English army arrive; the former to receive a hundred thousand crowns in gold on the day the infant queen of Scotland is delivered into Somerset's hand, and the latter to obtain a coronet, with the titles of Earl of Gladsmuir and Lord Preston of Auldhammer."