July 16, 1554

It seems that all of Scotland is coming to me now. My bagpipers have at last arrived. I plan to give a petit bal to celebrate, and the four Marys and I shall wear our new perfume and new gowns. We are devising our trap for Signore Marcellini at the petit bal. We have a plan in which Mary Fleming will feign light-headedness and seek some fresh air on a private balcony. We shall already be outside, the four of us hidden behind the huge pots in which the lime trees grow. She plans to do this after the second gavotte – the Burgundian version of the dance requires much jumping about, so one might actually become faint.