Queen of This Realm - Plaidy Jean - Страница 62

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I said to the few ladies who were with me: “I see Sir Robert has forgotten again that he is in the presence of the Queen. Pray leave us so that I may deal with him as he deserves.”

They hastily retired and I had no doubt that they would not go too far out of earshot. They all loved to add to the gossip about Robert.

“Well, my lord, what is the meaning of this most unseemly conduct?” I demanded.

He cried: “I have heard this monstrous rumor. It cannot be true. I demand an immediate explanation.”

“Robin,” I replied, “there are times when you try me sorely. Perhaps out of my regard for you I have allowed you certain friendly intimacies. You take advantage of them.”

“I demand to know if you are aware of what is being said.”

“I am the one who makes demands, you should remember.”

He stamped his foot. His face was flushed, his eyes flashing with rage. “They are saying that I am to be sent to Scotland.”

“To marry the most beautiful of queens … according to her Ambassador. Robert, surely you should be dancing with joy at your good fortune.”

“You know of this. It is your doing.”

I lowered my head so that he should not see that I was smiling. He came to me and took me by the shoulders. I could call the guards to arrest him, I reminded him.

He held me against him and shook me.

I said mockingly: “Robin is in a rage.”

“How can you be so heartless?”

“Does a crown mean nothing to you?”

“That one does not,” he said. “And a beautiful Queen to go with it.”

“There is only one Queen for me. You cannot be serious.”

“I am serious,” I said.

He looked at me in bewilderment and I felt I could not tease him anymore, but I did… just a little.

“You have led me to believe …” he began.

“I have led you to believe! Everything you believe, my lord, is in your own mind. How many times have I told you that I will not marry? I will remain a virgin. How many times have I told you that?”

“But you do not mean it.”

“Robin, you want a crown. There is one waiting for you in Scotland.”

“No!”

“And the fairest of queens…”

“The fairest of queens is here, standing before me now.”

“I am not sure that Master Melville would agree with you on that.”

“A barbarian from a barbarous land!”

“Perhaps you are right and it would be unkind to condemn my elegant Robert to that land. Perhaps I had better keep him here. I confess my Court would be a dull place without him.”

He seized my hand and kissed it.

“I am tired of hearing of the perfections of that woman,” I cried petulantly. “Do you think there are some in this land who would rally to her if she came against me?”

“I would soon rout the lot of them,” he boasted. “There is only one Queen for this country and with God's help she will reign over us for years to come.”

He was regaining his assurance. In his heart he must have known I would never let him go.

Again he kissed my hands. He would have kissed more if I had allowed it; but I held him off and he was faintly unsure.

“She will be angry when she hears of my proposal concerning you, Robert. She has said some cruel things about you, called you my horse master who killed his wife in order to make room for me. I hear that she has not a good word to say for me either, and what have I done save take my rightful inheritance, for which she craved? Perhaps she will accept you…and you, Robert, what will you do? You will refuse her. You will let Master Melville and his Scots know that you prefer the hope of a crown with me to a safe one with her.”

“I like this not,” he said.

“I like it well,” I answered.

“You do it to plague me as you ever have done.”

“Perhaps you would be better treated in the Court of Scotland.”

“Don't talk of it,” he said. “There is one place I want to be… here, beside you. Elizabeth, my Queen, have done with this nonsense. Let us marry. It is what everyone wants you to do. Even Cecil would agree to our marriage.”

I said: “Not yet. And, Robert, there is something I have to say to you. Plain Lord Robert could not be acceptable to the Queen of Scots. Her husband must be an earl at least…so I thought this an excellent way of honoring you, and I have decided to create you Earl of Leicester and Baron of Denbigh, a title which, till now, has been used only by royalty. There will be estates to go with your titles. There is the Castle of Kenilworth and Astel Grove…”

He was staring at me with wonder. I knew Robert well. He was rather acquisitive and although he was becoming one of the richest men in the land, he could not have too much.

“I see,” I went on, “that you are well pleased. On your knees, you ungrateful dog, for thinking I would cast you off when all the time I am planning for your pleasure.”

CREATING ROBERT EARL of Leicester was the brilliant ceremony I intended it to be. I had dressed with even more than my usual attention to that important and absorbing matter and I sparkled as I walked to my place in the Presence Chamber with young Lord Darnley going before me, as nearest Prince of the Blood, carrying the sword of state. Surrounding me were several noblemen among them Sir James Melville and Lord Hunsdon who was carrying the velvet ermine-lined mantle which I should put on Robert when the moment came.

Robert followed in surcoat and hood. I was seated as he came forward and knelt before me and Lord William Howard gave me the parchment containing the letters of patent. Then Sir William Cecil read from it in a voice which could be heard throughout the chamber and Lord Hunsdon brought me the peer's robe which I put about Robert's shoulders. As I bent over him and saw the dark hair curling about his neck, I could not resist allowing my fingers to touch it and I tickled him to show how fond I was of him and that my pretending to give him to Mary of Scotland was just a joke so that I could bestow this title upon him.

I saw James Melville watching me, trying to hide his shocked expression, and I was greatly amused. I could not wait to ask him what he thought of my new Earl of Leicester and Baron of Denbigh.

“He is a worthy subject,” replied Melville, “and is a happy man to have such a good prince who can discern and reward his good service.”

“Yet,” I replied, pointing to Darnley, “you like better yonder long lad.” He knew what I was referring to and he said: “No woman of spirit would make choice of a man who was more of a woman than a man, for he is beardless and lady-faced.”

Sly Melville! He did not know how much I had learned of his intrigues with Darnley's mother to get Darnley to Scotland and married to Mary.

He was a wily one, this Melville; but I liked him for his loyalty to his mistress and the manner in which he had always sought to defend her even over the matter of her beauty and her achievements.

I was so proud of Robert as the second part of the ceremony took place. He looked so magnificent in his robes and it gave me the greatest pleasure to place the white sash over his right shoulder and present him with the sword and fix his cap and coronet. And there he was, standing before me in all his glory, my Robert, now the mighty Earl of Leicester.

His eyes glittered as he looked at me and I was overwhelmed by my love for him. I could see from the triumph in his eyes that he believed that this was a preliminary to marriage … our marriage. And in that moment I almost felt that I could have acquiesced. Almost… but not quite.

The trumpets sounded and we went to dine in the Council Chamber. It was a glorious and triumphant occasion.

Afterward some of the guests came to my bedchamber where the glow of candles flickered over the rooms giving a pleasant intimacy. I had rarely seen Robert so happy. This honor would mean that people regarded him with even greater awe than ever. It was four years since his wife had been found dead at the bottom of a staircase. Had people forgotten? I had an idea they never would. But at least they could not now believe that I had been implicated in the murder, for why, if I had agreed to Amy's removal that I might marry Robert, had I not married him now that he was free? Some- times it seemed clear to me that I must never marry him for if I did—whatever the lapse of time—I should be suspected.

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