CHAPTER XVII
AN ARMED TRUCE
So intent was His Eminence in these complicated musings that he scarcelynoticed how fast the shadows gathered round him. He had graduallywandered down towards the low wall which divided the Palace gardens fromthe river beyond.
He had always been very partial to this remote portion of the grounds,for it was little frequented, and he felt that here at least in hislonely walks he could lay aside that mask of perpetual blandness whichhe was obliged to wear all day, whatever his moods might be.
It was seldom that he met anybody when his footsteps led him thus far.Great was his astonishment therefore when he suddenly spied a figureleaning over the wall, evidently intent on prying into the darknessbelow.
The Cardinal drew nearer and recognized Lord Everingham, the closestfriend, the most intimate companion His Grace of Wessex was known tohave.
The young man had not heard His Eminence's footsteps on the sanded path;he started on hearing his name.
"Ah! my lord Everingham," said the Cardinal lightly. "I little thoughtto see any one here. I myself am fond of communing with Nature in thesegathering shadows; but you are a young man, there are gayer attractionsfor you within the Palace."
It was too dark by now even for His Eminence's keen eyes to read theexpression on Lord Everingham's face. The astute diplomatist, however,more than guessed what the young man's purpose was in thus scanning theriver. His Grace of Wessex had not yet returned to the Palace, and itwas generally known throughout the Court circle that Her Majesty wasfurious at his absence.
The Cardinal's ruse in the early part of the afternoon had been thesubject of universal gossip; sundry rumours had also been current thatthe Duke had been seen in the company of the Queen's most beautifulmaid-of-honour.
"Verily," thought His Eminence, "His Grace's partisans must be ontenterhooks. All along they must have dreaded this meeting, which chanceand diplomacy has so unexpectedly brought about."
Was not Wessex' position with regard to the Lady Ursula a peculiar one?Tied to her and yet free, affianced, yet not necessarily bound, his ownattitude towards her was sure to be influenced by the girl's ownpersonality.
And every cavalier and diplomatist now at Hampton Court readily concededthat the daughter of the Earl of Truro was the most beautiful woman inEngland, and the most likely to captivate the roving fancy of His Grace.
No wonder that my lord of Everingham was anxious for the Duke's return,before the Queen's access of pique and jealousy had found vent in suddenrevenge. But the young Englishman had no desire to display this anxietybefore his triumphant opponent.
"Like your Eminence," he said carelessly, "I was lured into the gardenby the softness of the air. The river looked so cool and placid, and'tis not often one can hear the nightingale in October."
"Nay! your sudden fancy for the evening breeze is entirely my gain, mydear lord," rejoined the Cardinal in his most suave manner; "as a matterof fact I was, even at this moment, meditating how best I could securean interview with you."
"With me?"
"Yes. Are you not His Grace of Wessex' most intimate friend?"
"I have indeed that honour," replied Everingham stiffly, "but I do notquite understand how----"
"How the matter concerns me?" interrupted His Eminence pleasantly. "Anyou will allow me, I can explain. Shall we walk along this path? I thankyou," he added courteously, as the young man, after a moment'shesitation, turned to walk beside him.
"Have I been misinformed," continued the Cardinal, "or is it a fact thatyour lordship is about to quit Hampton Court?"
"Only for a very few weeks," rejoined Everingham. "Her Majesty hasentrusted me with an amicable mission to the Queen Regent of Scotland. Istart for town to-night on my way North."
"Ah! then I am only just in time," said His Eminence.
"In time for what?"
"In time to correct what we poor mortals are all liable to make, mylord--an error."
"Indeed!" said Everingham, with a touch of sarcasm. "Your Eminence mustmake so few."
"Nay! but the error this time is none of my making, my lord. 'Tis you, Ithink, who look upon me as an enemy."
"Oh! . . . your Eminence . . ." protested the young man.
"Well, an antagonist, if you will. Confess that you thought--and stillthink--that I have been scheming to bring the Duke of Wessex to the feetof Lady Ursula Glynde, his promised wife."
"A scheme in which Your Eminence succeeded over well, I fancy," retortedEveringham bitterly.
"But that is where you are in error, my dear lord; for, believe me,that, at the present moment, my sole desire is to put an insuperablebarrier between His Grace and that beautiful young lady."
"Your sole desire, my lord?"
As the night was dark Everingham could see nothing of His Eminence'sexpression of face. If he had, he probably would only have seen the samemask of polite blandness which the Cardinal usually wore.
The young man, certes, was no match for these astute Spaniards, who hadall the wiles and artifices of diplomacy at their finger-tips; his lovefor Wessex and the earnestness of his own political views gave him acertain amount of shrewdness, but even that shrewdness was at fault inthe face of this extraordinary statement suddenly made by the Cardinal.
"You are surprised?" commented His Eminence.
"Boundlessly, I confess."
"Ah! Diplomacy is full of surprises. But you are pleased?"
Everingham, however, was not prepared to admit anything to this man,whose face he could not read, but whose tortuous ways he more than halfmistrusted.
"I hardly know how to understand Your Eminence," he said guardedly. "Ineed hardly say that my fondest hope was to see Queen Mary wedded toWessex, for that is common knowledge. But since His Grace's meeting withthe beautiful Lady Ursula, I fully expect to hear him declare hisintention of keeping his troth to her."
"You think her so very irresistible, then?--or His Grace so verysusceptible?"
"I think that the Duke has always kept at the back of his mind an ideathat he was in some measure bound to Lady Ursula."
"Let us add, my lord, that the charm and grace of the lady willinevitably tend to develop that idea. Eh?"
"And that Your Eminence will probably triumph in consequence."
"You, therefore, my lord, have by now set your heart on undoing whatto-day's chance meeting may, perchance, have accomplished. By you I alsomean your friends, the nobility and gentry of England, who would mournto see His Grace wedded to Lady Ursula Glynde."
"Our loss will be your Eminence's gain, probably," rejoined Everinghamwith a sigh.
The Cardinal waited a moment before he continued the conversation. Hehad deliberately sought this interchange of ideas. Openness andfrankness in matters political were not usually a part of His Eminence'sprogramme, but this evening he seemed desirous to gain this youngEnglishman's confidence.
"But," he said after a while, with charming bonhomie, "but suppose thatinstead of gloating in the triumph which you, my lord, so readilyprophesy--suppose that I were to ask you to let me help you--you andyour friends--in parting the volatile Duke from his latest flame? . . .Would you accept my help?"
"Your Eminence . . . I . . ." murmured Everingham, somewhat at a losswhat to say.
"You would wish to consult with your friends, eh?" continued theCardinal placidly. "Lord Derby, Lord Bath, the Earl of Oxford--nay, thewhole string of patriotic Englishmen who desire to see one of their ownkind on the English throne, and naturally look upon me as a monster ofartifice and vice."
"Your Eminence . . ." protested Everingham.
"Yet what are we but political antagonists, who can honour one anotherin private, whilst rending one another to pieces on the arena of publiclife? Do you not agree with me, my lord?"
"Certainly."
"Then why should you disdain my help, now that--momentarily--we have thesame object in view?"
"I am _hors de cause_, Your Eminence, as I have only the next few hoursat my dis
posal. After that I go to Scotland."
"Much may be done in a few hours, my lord, with an ounce of luck and agrain of tact."
"But I do not understand why Your Eminence should be at one with me andmy friends over this."
The Cardinal smiled with gentle benevolence. Versed though he was in allthe tricks and deceptions which were an integral part of his calling, noone knew better than he did the value of an occasional truth. With easyfamiliarity he linked his arm in that of his interlocutor.
"Nay! your lordship mocks me," he said with a light sigh. "From yourconversation I have already gathered that you and your friends suspectme of having brought about this unwelcome meeting 'twixt His Grace ofWessex and Lady Ursula Glynde. Is it not so?"
"Marry . . ." began Everingham with some hesitation.
"I pray you do not trouble to deny it. Let us admit that it is so. Doyou not think then that Queen Mary will have a like suspicion asyourself?"
"Probably."
"And will, in consequence, turn the floods of her wrath on my innocenthead. A woman angered is capable of anything, my lord. My position atthis Court would become untenable. My mission probably would fail. Letus say that by endeavouring to part His Grace from the Lady Ursula, Iwould wish to give Her Majesty proof of the fact that I bore no part intheir chance meeting."
"I understand," rejoined Everingham, still vaguely suspicious of anyulterior motive lurking behind the Cardinal's apparent frankness, "but. . ."
"Once His Grace is effectually parted from his new flame, the game willstand once more as it did before the unfortunate episode of thisafternoon . . . unfortunate alike to your interests and to mine. Is thatnot so?"
"Certainly."
"I feel, therefore, that until then we ought to be . . . well! if notfriends exactly . . . at least allies."
"Only to resume hostilities again, Your Eminence?"
"By all means."
"Once His Grace has ceased to think of Lady Ursula, I and my party willonce more work heart and soul to bring about the alliance of Wessex withthe Queen."
"And I to win the Queen's hand for Philip of Spain. Until then? . . ."
"Armed truce, Your Eminence."
"And you will accept my help? It may be worth having, you never cantell," quoth His Eminence with a sarcastic smile, which Everingham couldnot perceive in the darkness.
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