On the 20th July, the deputies were informed by Leicester that her Majesty would grant them an interview, July 20, and that they must come into his quarter of the palace and await her arrival.
Between six and seven in the evening she came into the throne-room, and the deputies again fell on their knees before her.
She then seated herself—the deputies remaining on their knees on her right side and the Earl of Leicester standing at her left—and proceeded to make many remarks touching her earnestness in the pending negotiations to provide for their religious freedom. It seemed that she must have received a hint from Walsingham on the subject.
"I shall provide," she said, "for the maintenance of the reformed worship."
De Dieu—"The enemy will never concede it."
The Queen.—"I think differently."
De Dieu.—"There is no place within his dominions where he has permitted the exercise of the pure religion. He has never done so."
The Queen.—"He conceded it in the pacification of Ghent."
De Dieu.—"But he did not keep his agreement. Don John had concluded with the States, but said he was not held to his promise, in case he should repent; and the King wrote afterwards to our States, and said that he was no longer bound to his pledge."
The Queen.—"That is quite another thing."