Mary’s popularity had soared in England on the news of her pregnancy, as Cecil had always predicted. He was never shy of resorting to underhand methods where Mary was concerned. He next took an agent provocateur into his service, one Christopher Rokesby, whom he sent without Elizabeth’s knowledge—she detested such men—to try and inveigle Mary into a plot, and so discover how far she was likely to be implicated in Darnley’s schemes.
