They denied what the Regent in her proclamation had not asserted, and what she had asserted about their dealings with England they did not venture to deny; "whereby," says Spottiswoode in his "History," "it seemed there was some dealing that way for expelling the Frenchmen, which they would not deny, and thought not convenient as then openly to profess." {139b} The task of giving the lie to the Regent when she spoke truth was left to the pen of Knox.
Meanwhile, at Dunbar, Mary of Guise was in evil case.

She had sounded Erskine, the commander of the Castle, who, she hoped, would stand by her.
But she had no money to pay her French troops, who were becoming mutinous, and d'Oysel "knew not to what Saint to vow himself." The Earl of Huntly, before he would serve the Crown, {139c} insisted on a promise of the Earldom of Moray; this desire was to be his ruin.

Huntly was a double dealer; "the gay Gordons" were ever brave, loyal, and bewildered by their chiefs.

By July 22, the Scots heard of the fatal wound of Henri II., to their encouragement.

Both parties were in lack of money, and the forces of the Congregation were slipping home by hundreds.