The Bastard's Tale

by Margaret Frazer

  With a firmly placed smile, Frevisse said, “I don’t know. Maybe he was asked because this is a gathering simply for pleasure, not politic dealings.”

  Dame Perpetua was becoming unawed enough to ask, “Is that possible here and now and in the midst of Parliament?”

  ‘No,“ Frevisse said flatly.

  Dame Perpetua smothered a small laugh. Happily for her, politic dealings were something other people did and nothing to her. Unhappily for Frevisse, they were presently otherwise and she said, “Let’s find our wine.” With goblet in hand they could stand or wander and seem to belong, but no wine was being served in this room and they moved to the next, where at a table set out with small cakes, thin, crisp wafers, sugared fruits, and nuts, several servants were standing with tall, worked-silver pitchers of wine, one cooled, the other warm and spiced, Dame Perpetua and Frevisse were told when they approached.

  The room being crowded and warm, they chose the cooled and, filled goblet in hand, Frevisse edged with Dame Perpetua toward a corner where Dame Perpetua said, low in Frevisse’s ear, “We’re so out of place here.”

  They were, and for more reasons than their plain black gowns and simple veils among all the brightly fashionable folk around them; but Frevisse said, deliberately sententious, “Everywhere is God’s place, and as God’s servants we have as much right here as anyone.” As hoped, Dame Perpetua softly laughed, and Frevisse added, “Besides, when we’ve returned to St. Frideswide’s, you can tell how you saw the duke of York, the marquis of Suffolk, the earl of this, the lord and lady of that, and too many bishops to bother counting. There’s one of them now.”

  With a small beck of her head, she directed Dame Perpetua’s gaze to a stout, loud man a few people away from them, gowned to the floor in ample purple velvet furred with ermine at the throat and a large cross of gold set with amethysts hanging on his chest from a heavy gold chain.

  ‘Who is he?“ Dame Perpetua asked with mingled awe and dismay.

  ‘I’ve no thought.“ Frevisse slightly pointed toward a man more quietly dressed than many in the room but far from poorly nonetheless. ”But over there is Master William Tresham, presently Speaker of Parliament. I met him once, that time we were in London, years ago. That’s his wife beside him.“ Who presently showed nothing of this afternoon’s worry as she listened smiling to a heavily beringed gentleman saying something to her husband.

  ‘Why, there’s someone I know,“ said Dame Perpetua with surprise.

  She made a small movement with her free hand toward a man standing alone a little way along the wall from them, a goblet in one hand, a wafer in the other, gazing tranquilly around the room from behind thick, silver-rimmed spectacles. His long black gown was of simple cut, without the excess of cloth that showed wealth but of fine wool and banded with dark fur at neck and sleeves, while the plain gold cross he wore was a modest one among so much other display. “He’s the man who took the librarian aside and talked him into letting me work in the library without trouble,” Dame Perpetua said. “He’s there himself most days, but usually for only little whiles. We haven’t spoken since I thanked him that first day. I don’t know his name or who he is but…”

  ‘He’s Bishop Pecock of St. Asaph’s,“ Frevisse said.

  ‘He’s never a bishop!“ Dame Perpetua protested. ”How do you know?“

  ‘He was at the players’ practice this afternoon, hiding out, he said.“

  ‘Hiding out? Why would a bishop have to ’hide out‘?“

  ‘To avoid a meeting of the lords, he said.“

  Dame Perpetua seemed to find that reasonable. “There was someone came looking through the library for someone this afternoon,” she mused. “People must know he goes there.”

  As she said it, she began to ease her way behind people and toward him. Frevisse went with her, not unwilling to meet him again, and Bishop Pecock, seeing them, slightly bowed his head in welcome. They bowed their heads in return, low curtsies difficult in the crowding. “Well met again,” he said to Frevisse, and to Dame Perpetua, “How goes your work, my lady?”

  ‘Very well, your grace. Please, take my thanks again for helping me to it.“

  ‘One scholar should always help another.“

  ‘And please, my deep apologies for that day. I didn’t know who you were.“

  ‘Nor was there reason why you should. No one told you, and though a lion may know a prince by instinct, as the old belief is, there’s nothing says a nun should know a bishop thus.“

  ‘And most bishops make instinct in the matter unnecessary,“ said Frevisse with a sideways look toward the purple-clad one now in the middle of the room.

  ‘My lord bishop of Chichester,“ Bishop Pecock said. ”Indeed, one is never left unknowing he’s a bishop.“ A thoughtful frown lined his brow. ”Though I sometimes wonder if God is perhaps a little doubtful, there being so little besides the gorgeous robes to show it.“

  ‘Who else is here?“ Dame Perpetua asked. ”Dame Frevisse has pointed out the Speaker of Parliament and his wife and we met the duke of York as we came in. Otherwise, save for you and now the bishop of Chichester, we don’t know anyone. Except Dame Frevisse’s cousin, of course.“

  ‘Your cousin?“ Bishop Pecock inquired politely of Frevisse.

  ‘Lady Alice of Suffolk,“ Frevisse said evenly.

  Bishop Pecock’s look sharpened. “Young Joliffe didn’t mention that.”

  ‘Joliffe?“ Dame Perpetua asked.

  ‘One of the players,“ Frevisse said. ”He’s particularly befriended John these past few days.“ Though probably for other reasons than kindness to a child, she added bitterly to herself. To forestall other questions, she added, ”Our priory received a grant of property and we were advised to have it as strongly confirmed as might be. Our prioress therefore sent me, with Dame Perpetua, to my cousin for her help in having it done.“

  Said easily, it sounded probable. A servant threading his way through the crowd with one of the silver pitchers refilled their goblets, and as Bishop Pecock began to oblige Dame Perpetua with telling her such of the guests as he knew, they joined in the slow shift and drift of people around the room. They met Alice passing among her guests, gracefully making certain all was well. She only nodded to Bishop Pecock, Frevisse, and Dame Perpetua as she passed, going on to pause with the Treshams and the several men now in talk with them before moving on again, taking Mistress Tresham with her. Behind her, Master Tresham said something to the two men with him, there were nods all around, and he left them, moving away toward the bedchamber.

  Thus far, listening aside while Bishop Pecock talked, all Frevisse had overheard was the nothing-talk usual to an evening gathering of people variously acquainted, newly acquainted, or unaquainted. The only mention of Gloucester had been someone saying he was a fool but Frevisse had not heard why. The one thing certain was that there seemed to be no alarm that he would soon be here. People seemed more taken up with a bill in Parliament to reaffirm some old statutes against certain Welsh freedoms in North Wales, and with her curiosity getting the better of her, she drifted in Master Tresham’s wake toward the one remaining room, Bishop Pecock and Dame Perpetua drifting with her.

  The bedchamber proved to be the least crowded of the rooms, with half a dozen men and one woman in quiet talk among themselves. The bedcurtains were closed, the traveling chest was gone away somewhere, and tall oil lamps stood in every corner, casting warm light over the sheen of pattern-woven damasks and cut velvets and the glitter and glint of jewelried gems and gold worn around every neck and on every hand. If nothing else, that would have told Frevisse that here were people among the wealthiest and probably most powerful of the realm and that this was not somewhere she or Dame Perpetua should be nor company she wanted to keep.

  Half-thinking of retreat, she stopped where she was, but Bishop Pecock went past her to where Master Tresham was standing a few paces from the doorway, looking as if he had expected some sort of greeting from someone and not received it. They excha
nged bows of greeting and he asked Bishop Pecock, “Were you sent for, too, my lord?”

  ‘I’ve only come to breathe a little less crowded air, I fear.“

  ‘Well, Suffolk sent for me and I daresay he’ll notice me when he’s made his point.“

  ‘Made his point?“ Bishop Pecock asked, sounding as if he could not imagine what Master Tresham meant.

  ‘That I’m his to bid and unbid, and that I’d best remember it when the time comes he tells me which way I’m to lead the Commons. No,“ he amended quickly, ”I didn’t say that.“

  ‘No, you did not, sir,“ Bishop Pecock agreed. ”May I present to you Dame Perpetua and Dame Frevisse of St. Frideswide’s priory.“

  Frevisse could see that Master Tresham had no memory of ever having met her, nor was there reason he should or reason to remind him of it, and she merely bowed her head to him as he bowed his to her and then to Dame Perpetua, saying, “My ladies.”

  ‘They’ve come to see our various and sundry lords, so they’ll have tales to tell when they return to their nunnery,“ Bishop Pecock said.

  ‘If that’s what you want, we’ve lords in plenty here,“ Master Tresham said.

  Dame Perpetua had been looking quickly all around the room and now made bold to half-whisper, “I know my lord of Suffolk and the duke of York but nobody else.”

  ‘To begin,“ Bishop Pecock promptly answered, ”in talk with my lord of Suffolk is Edmund Beaufort, marquis of Dorset and nephew to Bishop Beaufort of Winchester.“

  Frevisse, hiding her interest, asked, “I suppose the bishop favors him?”

  ‘The bishop of Winchester,“ Bishop Pecock blandly observed, ”has been heard to say that his great-nephew is among the greatest asses of Christendom.“ He paused, then added thoughtfully, ”Of course his grace was angry at the time.“

  Master Tresham passed a hand downward over his mouth, wiping out a smile.

  Suffolk was the older, somewhere in his early fifties, Frevisse knew, but his figure still trim as a youth’s, suiting well his present sable-black velvet doublet drawn tightly in at his waist, the sleeves puffed widely out at the shoulders, the thickly pleated skirts coming down to only his midthigh, to show a great length of smooth-hosened legs, the left one circled below the knee by the blue and gold band of the Order of Knights of the Garter. A gold chain in the double S pattern of the king’s House of Lancaster heavily circled his shoulders, matched by a gold-linked belt around his waist, hung with a thin, sheathed, gold-pommeled dagger. He looked entirely what he was: the most powerful man in the realm after the king.

  The marquis of Dorset was younger, possibly forty, and dressed likewise in black velvet with likewise the gold double-S chain, and stood with the somewhat arrogant assurance of a man possessed of wealth and power and the certainty that he knew how to use them well. Unfortunately he was a more thickly made man than Suffolk and sallow-skinned. Neither the tight-waisted shape of the doublet nor black velvet suited him but he did not look like a man who would take well to being told so—or to anything else he did not want to hear.

  ‘That’s my lord of Dorset’s lady in talk with the bishop of Salisbury near the window,“ Bishop Pecock went on, ”and Lord Saye talking with his grace of York. Except he and York now seem to be coming our way. Or more likely, your way, Master Tresham.“

  ‘Very possibly,“ Master Tresham said. ”If you’ll pardon me?“

  As he moved away, Frevisse took the chance to say, with what she hoped sounded like innocent curiosity, “My lord bishop, I’ve heard my lord of York and Suffolk were at odds. Is that ended?”

  Bishop Pecock regarded her with a benevolent mildness that she was coming to regard as warily as she did Joliffe’s mockeries. “Not unless one of them or the other completely changes from the man he is.”

  ‘Then why is York here?“

  ‘He was invited, I daresay.“

  Frevisse fixed the bishop with a hard stare and, smiling, he gave way and said seriously enough, “Very possibly York is here so Suffolk knows he’s not elsewhere, such as with the king while Suffolk is not. Or they may be feeling their way toward a marriage alliance between one of York’s sons and a Suffolk daughter. Suffolk has the wardship of the young Beaufort heiress and intends, so it’s said, to marry her to his son and heir. If so, a marriage with York would—”

  Alice had said nothing about a marriage for John, and Frevisse interrupted, “What Beaufort heiress?”

  ‘Little Margaret Beaufort. The only child of the late duke of Somerset, my lord of Dorset’s older brother.“

  ‘The Beauforts are related to King Henry,“ she said.

  ‘They are,“ Bishop Pecock agreed. ”And never think they have forgotten it.“

  ‘Could it be argued then,“ Frevisse said slowly, sorting the pieces around in her mind as she spoke, ”that they have some claim to the throne? After the dukes of Gloucester and York? Or before York, if things are looked at a certain way.“

  Bishop Pecock beamed on her. “Concisely and precisely put.”

  ‘But the Beaufort line is illegitimate,“ Dame Perpetua protested.

  It was, being sprung from the lust of a royal duke of Lancaster and his mistress more than seventy years ago, with Bishop Beaufort the last living of their children and the present marquis of Dorset their grandson, but, “King Richard the Second, God assoil his soul, legitimated the Beauforts fifty years or so ago,” Bishop Pecock said.

  ‘But their half-brother King Henry the Fourth directly barred them from inheriting in the royal line by an act of Parliament,“ Frevisse responded.

  ‘He did, but of course acts of Parliament can be reversed if a man with sufficient power is interested in so doing.“

  Frevisse looked toward Suffolk. He had, she supposed, that kind of power. Therefore, if he married John to this Margaret Beaufort who could possibly be made heir to the throne should King Henry and the duke of Gloucester die as childless as they presently were, and also married a daughter to a son of York, then he would have a foot on both branches of the royal tree. The possibilities of power that would come from that were frightening, and quietly Frevisse asked, “Is his grace of York interested in an alliance with Suffolk?”

  ‘Unfortunately for Suffolk,“ Bishop Pecock said, ”the duke of York is not an ass.“

  Chapter 9

  Suffolk and Dorset were moving, with no obvious haste but open intent, toward York and Master Tresham now, and Dame Perpetua whispered with both eagerness and unease, “They’re coming this way.”

  Bishop Pecock murmured, “Probably because they don’t want York in much private talk with Master Tresham. It’s always better that like-minded men be kept apart if you don’t like the like of their minds. And here comes the bishop of Salisbury to join the fray. My, my. Perhaps I should go and annoy him. Pardon me.”

  With a small bow of his head to them, he moved away, into Salisbury’s course, leaving Frevisse somewhat discomfited by how much alike his mind ran to Joliffe’s. That their wry, slightly awry way of seeing things was much like her own only discomfited her the more.

  ‘I think we should go,“ Dame Perpetua whispered. ”We don’t belong here.“ She began to ease away but Frevisse held where she was, agreeing with her but watching Bishop Pecock talk at the scowling bishop of Salisbury, who openly lacked interest in what he was saying and the grace to hide it, while Suffolk said to York by way of greeting, ”You’ll have a cold ride back to the friary tonight.“

  York answered smilingly, “There’ll be a warm bed at the end of it. Better than those men on Henow Heath have.”

  Dorset, looking as if he disliked York’s smile, said irritably, “It’s Gloucester’s fault they’re there and let them remember it. He was supposed to be here before now. If he’d come when we thought he would…”

  Across that, Suffolk said smoothly to Master Tresham, “You’re staying at that man Baret’s place, aren’t you? I wanted to ask you…”

  Frevisse saw Dorset’s wife was headed toward her. Not wanti
ng to explain herself and why she was there, she faded through the doorway into the crowd and noise of talk in the other room, catching up to Dame Perpetua, who asked, “Why was it so unpleasant in there?”

  ‘Because too many people disliked each other.“

  ‘They did that. Did you see Suffolk look at the duke of York when York went to talk to Master Tresham? If a look could strike a man down, York would be dead. My head is beginning to ache. Can we go?“

  The heavy warmth, unaccustomed wine, and too much talk around her were making Frevisse’s head ache, too. She had promised to be here and she was, and had had enough and said, “We can go, surely. There’s just the matter of making our way out. You go on and find our cloaks and I’ll give our thanks and farewell to Lady Alice.”