In May 1596 he was newly created Earl of Atholl, after the countess had bought back the rights to the earldom for £10,000 Scots.
[8] There was a rumour in August 1597 that the Countess of Atholl was suspected of involvement in a plot to poison to James VI.
[9] Marie Ruthven and her new husband arrested Agnes McCawis and Bessie Ireland as suspected witches.
[10] According to the Chronicle of Perth, Bessie Ireland, Jonet Robertson, and Marion McCauss were burnt on the South Inch on 9 September 1597.
[12] Around this time he and his followers attacked Andrew Spalding at Ashintully Castle in Strathardle, bringing great guns, hagbuts, and pistols and raising fire at his house.
In July 1599 she wrote to David Lindsay of Edzell, an extraordinary Lord of Session, complaining that he had failed to help her husband's causes and he should in future, "follow his lordship in tyme cuming in ane mair effectuiss maneir of freyndschip nor ye haif done afoirtymes gyf ye wiss to haif his Lo: to do you plesour", or in modern spelling; "follow his Lordship in time coming a more effectuous manner of friendship than you have done before, if you wish to have his Lordship to do you pleasure".
She had to very cautious, and the English diplomat George Nicholson mentioned that when she visited Falkland Palace in November 1601 she was careful while speaking to King James to refer to her brother as a traitor.