Corbett picked up the pen again and began to write. 'I have met Benstede and he has told me a litte of what is happening in Scodand. On the evening of 18th March, King Alexander III was feasting with his court at Edinburgh Castle, (Benstede himself was there). Alexander suddenly announced that, despite the fierce storm raging outside, he intended to ride to his manor at Kinghorn where his new queen, the French princess, Yolande, was awaiting him. Alexander III of Scotland, ever a sanguine man, refused to listen to any advice and departed the palace, hastening along the road to the ferry at Dalmeny where he hoped to take a boat across the Firth of Forth. There, the ferrymaster also tried to dissuade him but Alexander was insistent and so the ferrymaster rowed the king and two of his squires across the three miles of water to the burgh of Inverkeithing where the royal purveyor met them with horses. Once more an attempt was made to turn Alexander from his impetuous journey, but the King refused to listen and he and his squires galloped off into the howling darkness. Apparently the little party lost contact with one another and the next morning the King was found dead on the seashore below the cliffs, his neck quite broken.' Corbett bit the quill of his pen before continuing. 'Naturally, certain questions spring to mind immediately.

Item – Why did Alexander insist on returning to his wife on such a wild night, braving the very dangerous crossing of the Firth of Forth and an equally perilous ride to Kinghorn?

Item – Why the sudden haste and with so small an escort? Item – If it was lust for his young wife, then surely he could have waited? Alexander III of Scotland had been married before to the late lamented Princess Margaret, sister of our good Lord, King Edward.