On the other hand, it may be a snare.

If I send it not forward, he might blame me greatly for holding it back.

If I send it forward, and perchance it falls, on the way, into the hands of the Welsh, he might harbour the thought, even if he did not accuse me openly, of conniving with Glendower.

One pretext is as good as another, however unlikely it may be, when a king desires to make a quarrel with one of his vassals.

Your offer to carry it is, then, a very seasonable one, and goes far to get me out of the difficulty.
"In the first place, by sending it by you, I afford no ground for him to say that I have disobeyed his orders, to send no one of my following to his army; and in the next place, whatever suspicion he may have of me, assuredly he can have none of the Percys, to whom he so largely owes his crown; and that a trusted squire of Hotspur should be the bearer of the letter, is sufficient proof that all that could be done, was done, for its safe carriage.