away from him, after which she was forced to live under surveillance on one of her husband's Hampshire estates. Mary denied adultery and accused a servant, Thomas Dymock, of having caused the suspicion between herself and her husband. There then arose a dispute between Southampton and his father-in-law over his treatment of his wife, which years later Robert Persons blamed on the Roman Catholic conspirator Charles Paget. Lord Montagu wrote to Mary, asking his daughter to explain herself, and Mary sent him a copy of a letter she had sent Southampton by their son, which her husband had refused to read. She said to her father in a postscript Mary did not see her son again until after his father died the following year, on 4 October 1581, leaving an estate worth £1097 a year, when she became Dowager Countess of Southampton. In his Will, Southampton named Thomas Dymock and Charles Paget as executors, and Mary contested this with some success, supported by the Earl of Leicester. By 11 December 1581 there was a settlement between her and the executors under which Dymock was still to receive generous bequests but had to relinquish the administration of the estate to Edward Gage. Queen Elizabeth sold the wardship and custody of Mary's young son to Lord Howard of Effingham for £1,000. Howard then transferred the custody to Lord Burghley, but kept control of the young peer's estates, and as a result late in 1581 or early in 1582 the new Earl of Southampton, then aged eight, came to live at Cecil House in the Strand. This did not prevent Henry from spending some time with his mother, who on 14 October 1590 wrote to Burghley to thank him for entrusting her son to her for a long time. For almost fourteen years the Dowager Countess remained a widow. On 2 May 1594, she married as his second wife the courtier Sir Thomas Heneage, Vice-Chamberlain of the Queen's Household, but Heneage lived barely another five months. Having drawn in advance substantial sums in connection with his office, he died owing the crown £12,000. In 1596, his widow, who was also his executrix, had already made two large payments, but the Queen's auditors advised her that there was still more than £7,800 owing. According to Akrigg, in order to repay this substantial debt Mary probably had to draw on her own resources. Between 5