“How do I know that a similar fate does not await my own darlings!” she demanded. “Why has Albany come to Scotland? It is because he wants the throne. He is another Richard III. My little ones are in imminent danger.”

Spies flourished in such a situation, and there were many to report her words to Albany.

“She is accusing you of intending to murder the King and his brother,” he was told.

“Nay,” answered Albany, “do not blame her; she is a woman crying for her children. It grieves me that we must take them from her, but when she married young Angus she brought this on herself. Would that I could do aught to relieve her anxiety, but I cannot.”

In her calmer moments Margaret began to plan; and at last she made up her mind what she would do.

She was going to make a desperate attempt to recover her children and, when she had done so, to take them over the Border into her brother’s country where she would ask for refuge.

Angus had proved himself to be overweak; but there was Lord Home whose hatred for Albany was so intense that he was prepared to undertake any action against him. So she sent for Home and laid her plan before him.

“As you know, my lord,” she explained, “my time is coming near and my pregnancies have always caused me great suffering. I am therefore going into retirement at Linlithgow where I shall observe all the rules laid out by my grandmother, the Countess of Richmond, and thereby hope for an easy labor. At least that is what I wish everyone to believe; and I shall write to my brother telling him, for I know full well all the letters I write to him are seen by my enemies. While I am in Linlithgow I shall arrange for the abduction of my children and our escape across the border, and in this you shall help me.”

This was a project which appealed to Lord Home, for if he could bring about the rescue of the royal children it would be clear to Albany how foolish he had been not to cultivate his friendship.

He therefore threw himself wholeheartedly into the plan, and it was decided that Margaret should escape to Tantallan, the Douglas home near the Border, while Home’s Borderers should set fire to a small town near Stirling. Albany would then surely release some of the guards from Stirling Castle, where the royal children were, in order that they might defend the town. Home would then seize the opportunity to kidnap them and carry them to Tantallan where the Queen would be waiting to leave for England.

Now that she had a definite plan, Margaret’s spirits rose and she ceased to mourn, because she was certain that in a short time she, with her husband and children and the newborn little one, would be in the protection of her great brother Henry, where none would dare molest them.

She wrote to her brother the letter which she knew would be intercepted and shown to Albany and his ministers.

My dearest brother,

I write to you at this time to tell you that I propose to take to my chamber and lie in at my Palace of Linlithgow within this twelve days, for there are but eight weeks to my time. Matters go well here in Scotland under the new Regent and that is a great comfort to me at this time. I pray Jesus to send me a safe delivery and to have you, my dearest brother, in his good keeping…

She was smiling to herself, imagining Albany reading the letter, and his comments as he did so. He would congratulate himself that she had overcome her hysterical desire to keep her children with her; doubtless he would call her a woman of sound good sense.

Good sense indeed! she thought.

She had had the chamber at Linlithgow hung with tapestry and even the windows were covered with it, because her grandmother, the Countess of Richmond, who had had more influence with her son than any other person, had laid down a law as to how royal ladies should be treated in childbed, and one of the first rules was that all light and air should be excluded from the chamber; but the tapestry covering one window, however, might be placed so that it could be easily drawn aside, for in pregnancy women often had strange fancies which it was unwise to deny; and if a fancy for light and air should overtake an expectant mother, unwelcome as it was, she should be humored. All those who waited on her during her confinement must be women; therefore the tasks of chamberlains, pantlers, ushers, and sewers, which might at other times be allotted to men, must be done by women. Only in the case of dire need must a man be allowed into the chamber.

Such an atmosphere suited Margaret’s purpose. In her shrouded chamber in Linlithgow Palace she would work out her plan.

She was ready for the escape, but there was one matter which disturbed her. How could she leave Angus whom she sorely missed? She had already forgiven him his disaffection. He is so young, she told herself. It must have been a great shock to him to see his grandfather imprisoned. I doubt not that he is ashamed of his action by now; and he at least would not march against me.

She longed to see him; but she was supposed to be surrounded only by females, so how could she summon Angus to her? There was one way. If she were very ill and asked to see her husband no one would be very surprised if he came.

Very soon the people of Scotland were talking of the poor Queen’s sickness and the trouble which always attended her pregnancies. Poor lady, they said, she came near to death with the others even when she lived at ease. How will she fare now that she is in such sad state?

And they hourly expected to hear that the Queen was dead.

Angus came riding to Linlithgow in answer to her summons.

She received him in the tapestry-hung lying-in chamber. He was a little shamefaced, but she quickly set him at ease by embracing him, telling him how sadly she had missed him and how happy she was to see his dear face again.

Realizing that there were to be no reproaches, Angus’s relief was apparent. He returned her embrace and told her that he was happy now they were together again.

“And you will stay with me until our child is born,” she announced.

“Can that be so?” he asked. “Do you not wish to be surrounded only by women?”

She laughed. “That was my grandmother’s law. I make my own laws. I doubt not that our child will be born in England.”

Angus was aghast. “But how so?”

“Because, my love, tonight we are going to steal out of Linlithgow. We are going to Tantallan and there make our way across the Border.”

“But the Parliament… ”

“Do you think I care for the Parliament? I am tired of the Parliament. I am the Queen of Scotland, whatever they decree. And I shall have my say.”

Angus was wishing that he had not come to Linlithgow, but now that he was in her presence he felt the force of her character. Her enthusiasms were always so great that he was caught up in them. Thus it had been when she had made him aware of her desire to marry him. He had wanted to refuse then and had been unable to; it was the same now.

She put her arms about his neck and brought her glowing face close to his. “It will be pleasant to spend a night together at Tantallan. As soon as we have escaped I shall send a message to my brother imploring him for sanctuary. I long to be at the English Court. I have heard it has become truly magnificent since my father’s death.”

“You cannot leave your sons in Scotland!”

“Nay, nay. They shall be with us.” She was laughing wildly because she was so happy to see his handsome face again; and she could tell herself that she loved him all the more because of his very bewilderment. She had the same tenderness for him as she had for her little James and Alexander. He was but a boy really. Younger than she was in years… and so much younger in experience.

“I will take care of you,” she said. “I will make you happy.”

“I-I had expected to find you ill,” he stammered.

“It was the only way to get you here without suspicion. I am not ill. The thought of outwitting my enemies makes me feel full of health and vigor. How I should love to see their faces when they discover that we have gone!”

She then told him of Home’s plan to make a diversion while he kidnapped the boys.

“This time tomorrow we shall all be at Tantallan,” she told him. “And then… on to the Border.”

“You are in no condition to travel. I cannot allow you… ”

She patted his cheek. “My loved one, I shall be well enough for the journey. Our son will be born before we reach London mayhap. But we shall be together… my husband and my boys… as we were meant to be.”

Angus could see that nothing he could say would dissuade her. He would have to go forward, for there was no way back.

That night, when it was dark, cloaked figures slipped out of Linlithgow Palace to where saddled horses awaited them.

How exhilarating, thought Margaret, to ride through the night, her husband beside her, his child in her womb. And all the time she was thinking of Home in Stirling Castle, snatching up her beloved boys and riding through the night with them, as she rode with Angus.

Then she knew that, much as she longed for power, there was one thing that meant more to her than anything in the world: her own family. That must be so, for her greatest ambition at that moment was to have them all safely under her care even though she never saw Scotland again.

Margaret was exhausted when they arrived at Tantallan for the journey had been strenuous on account of her condition, but she did not realize this until they arrived, and she was impatiently awaiting the coming of Lord Home with her children.

When he came she went down to the great hall to meet him and, seeing that the children were not with him, she almost fainted in her dismay.

“My lord,” she cried. “The King and his brother… ?”

“Alas, Your Grace, we were unable to carry out our plan. Albany must have guessed — or mayhap we were betrayed. We fired the town, but never a guard was called off from the castle, and it was impossible to have access to the apartments of the King and his brother.”

Angus put his arm about his wife to steady her. More than ever he wished himself out of this.

Margaret was speechless with misery and, now that her hopes were destroyed, all the discomforts of her condition returned.

Angus, with her women, helped her to her bedchamber where she lay on her bed in melancholy silence; he then dismissed all her attendants and sat by her bed, seeking words which would soothe her.

But she would not be comforted. She murmured: “My babies… my little sons… What will become of them?”

“They’ll be well enough,” Angus soothed her. “None will dare harm the King.”

“They dared harm Edward V when he was held in the Tower with his brother.”

“This is Scotland… ”

“Ten times more barbarous than England.”

“I am certain the King and his brother will be safe.”

“You but say that to comfort me. There is no comfort for me. How dare they part such babies from their mother. Oh, God, why have you deserted me? Why are they not with me here this night as I had planned?”

“It was a plan doomed to failure,” began Angus.

She raised herself on her elbow and gazed at him dispassionately.

“Yes,” she said, “you would never have attempted it, would you? You would have preferred to go cap in hand to Albany.”

“The Douglases never go cap in hand,” Angus retorted.

“I rejoice to see some spirit left in you,” she answered. “But perhaps it is only there when you are facing a helpless woman.”

Angus rose and haughtily left her.

It was the first time she had spoken thus to him, but she did not care.

She wanted only her babies, for she was beginning to fear that she might never see them again.

Silently she wept, and she continued so until exhausted she slept; then her dreams were disturbed by two little boys — not her own two; these were older; and they were not in the apartments of Stirling Castle; they played together within the gray walls of the Tower of London.

There was no time to be lost. Now that it would be known that an unsuccessful attempt had been made to kidnap the King and his brother, and that the Queen was sheltering in Tantallan, an army would be sent to capture her.

She must escape into England; but dared she enter that country without first receiving permission from her brother to do so?

She had written to him of her dire need, but so far had had no reply. But to stay at Tantallan would be folly.