This Ravished Rose

by Anne Carsley

  The deputation waited on her once more and exhorted her ponderously. She held fast to her previous words. Then the leader said, “The King will insist. Madam. He has no more tolerance for those who flout his wishes.”

  “Surely I must do what I believe to be right!"

  “You are advised. Other counsellors shall be given to you. A sojourn in a convent may be helpful.” The threat was plain.

  “Give me time,” she bargained. “When the holy season is past, I may be more able to reconcile my duties.”

  “Very well. But when the days of Christmas are done, so are your days of opposition.” It was a statement of fact and Katherine could only nod in pretended obedience.

  Now the time she dreaded had come. Not even to Sir Anselm, that true and proven friend, could she divulge the next step, one born of necessity and hope.

  At first light she dressed herself in the garments she had worn to see James long ago and stole cautiously from the house. She had told her maid that she wished to sleep very late and did not wish to be disturbed. In the rough clothes she seemed only another prentice on her way to toil and soon lost herself in the crowded, freezing streets. It was a long journey in view of the caution that had to be maintained but eventually she stood at Baynard’s Castle, the well-guarded residence of the Duke of Gloucester and his family. They were in residence for the Christmas season and talk had it that the Duke remained here dining the day even though it was time for revelry and feasting at court.

  The guards were at first skeptical of the lowly young man who sought entrance but gold bought her way to the outer keep. There she was challenged by the commander himself who had been summoned.

  “You may give me your message, young man. I will deliver it.”

  Katherine had tried to say as little as possible for fear that her voice would betray her. Now she said, “I come from Lord Hunsdale with a message for the ears of the Duke alone.” She produced a letter which Gloucester had once written to James. It was stamped with his seal and should prove convincing enough.

  The commander was tired of arguing. He caught at her sleeve and pulled. “You do not give orders to your betters, my jumped-up lad.”

  Katherine pulled the hood from her head and the flowing hair fell about her shoulders. “I am Katherine Hunsdale, come in my lord’s name to ask a boon of the Duke whom he has served faithfully.”

  The commander was horrified but cautious. “Forgive me, Lady Hunsdale, but what has forced you to come in this guise? I must have some proof that you are the person you say.”

  “Give the Duke my message. He will recognize me for my husband’s sake.”

  A lackey was hurriedly dispatched and Katherine was taken to a small room which was furnished with a tall chair and several stools. A brazier was placed nearby for warmth. The commander stationed a guard at the door and took himself away to berate the others soundly for negligence.

  Alone in the chill, Katherine swept her hair into a semblance of order and marshaled her words, thinking of telling phrases as she paced up and down. It seemed that hours passed while she told herself that she was not afraid, that this was truly her last hope.

  “Why have you sought me in such guise, Lady Katherine?” The voice was cold and quiet. Richard of Gloucester stood in another door, one she had not noticed, frowning. He was somberly dressed in rich velvet which showed his compact soldier’s frame to be slighter than she had first thought. His eyes seemed to bore through her.

  Katherine was caught off guard, but attempted a shaky curtsey, and rose before she was bidden. Her tongue froze and she could say nothing. She wondered how long he had stood there, watching.

  “Madam?” The level voice came again as he waited.

  Katherine stared at him. An insane part of her wanted to laugh. The King’s brother waiting on her words! Then her fear returned and she lifted both hands in entreaty, “Sir, I appeal to you for justice!”

  “I suggest you petition the King.” He half turned to go but was halted by the sharp words.

  “I said justice.” Katherine was desperate now and the fierce lights burned in her eyes. The scar on her face was white and throbbing.

  Richard went to the door and spoke a few words to the guard who entered with cushions and hot wine. Another brought a chair for Katherine and they withdrew. Richard seated himself and bade her do likewise. Then he said, “I know you come for no light matter and therefore I am prepared to be patient. I did not know that James was in London, I thought he was mending in the North. I assume that he is here?”

  His very coolness was reassuring as Katherine told the tale from the beginning, leaving out only the references to Alexis. She told of Antony and their exile, of James and his strange malady and of the subterfuges by which she and Sir Anselm had bought time. She told him also of the encouragement she had received from James’s responses.

  “But now I am commanded by the expressed will of King Edward and have no other place to turn than yourself. You were my lord’s commander, surely you can help in this?”

  “How do you know that James would not be better served if matters proceeded as they have begun?” There was no emotion in the words at all.

  “I do not know. I believe that he can be cured more surely with me than with those who do not care.”

  “You think of yourself in this.”

  “Yes.” Katherine took a long drink of the now cold wine and stared at him.

  “You ask my protection when you should throw yourself on the mercy of the King. I am but his servant as we all are.”

  “But it is wrong!” Katherine felt the helplessness rising like a vise around her. He bandied words with her as in a game. “Come then, my lord. See James as he is. Surely he deserves the right to make his own choices. Willingly or not, he did take me. He does deserve better of his commander and his prince than to be forsworn, his wife harried and his inheritance squandered.”

  Richard was silent, pondering, his swift mind fitting together pieces of the tale, as he considered the information brought him months ago concerning this girl.

  Katherine’s voice was low and sharp now as she said, “He was loyal to you and yours, Richard of Gloucester, do you not owe the same to him?” She clenched the wide arms of the chair, her face flushed and angry as the words ripped out. She ignored the fact that she berated the second most powerful man in the land.

  “Lady Katherine, had you not been who you are I would not have deigned to see you this or any other day until it became necessary that I be at court. This coil smacks of intrigue and I like it not. There is far too much of and it should be stopped.” The thin features scowled and anger colored his face under the summer’s tan. “You have reminded me of my duty and I am grateful.”

  “Sir . . Katherine was caught in a sudden rush of hope.

  He was continuing, “I received a message from Hunsdale Castle several days ago which informed me that Lord James was better, though still very weak. I gather you know nothing of this?”

  Katherine shook her head. “He is as I have told you.”

  “Then I will visit my friend and soldier who, I have just been informed, lies ill at his home here in London. Naturally I will investigate the matter thoroughly.” The precise voice halted, but his air of inward looking did not change. He rose and Katherine with him. “Have no fear, Lady Katherine.”

  “How can I ever thank you?”

  Richard of Gloucester smiled then and it lit his rather forbidding face with warmth. “Loyalty, my lady.”

  His men escorted her home unobstrusively as though they walked with a lad who was giving them directions. Three hours had passed. She was able to slide quickly past her own guards and into the house, then to call lazily for her bath from the curtained bed.

  The next day the Duke of Gloucester came with panoply and fanfare to call upon Lord Hunsdale. He spoke coolly and politely to Katherine, remained closeted with James for about thirty minutes, then summoned Sir Anselm and later two of the physicians who had come to c
onfer with him. Sharp questions were put to them regarding medicine, treatment and causes. Then the entourage departed to the sound of trumpets.

  Three days later a message arrived for Katherine. It was stamped with the white boar of Gloucester and tersely worded. After the customary greetings, it read, “It is believed that the Lord James would profit best from the continuing good care of his undoubted wife, Lady Katherine. The matter will be reviewed in one year’s time by the Duke of Gloucester who interests himself personally in this matter and to whom all queries will be referred.”

  Katherine read this to Sir Anselm and told him of her journey to Baynard’s Castle.

  “It was a brave thing you did but you have made more enemies by such action.”

  “Surely Gloucester will protect us. See what he has done.”

  “He will return to the North as soon as he may decently do so. It would be best if you and James did likewise. The whims of the great cannot be relied upon. The only protection for you both is that James should recover.”

  Then Katherine told him of the progress that had been made, adding seriously, “Forgive me that I did not tell you, but I could not.”

  “No matter, it is an excellent beginning.”

  She went then to James who lay quietly but his eyes followed her as she told him of her interview with his commander. She phrased it carefully so as not to upset him and at the end of the story said,

  “It was good of him to visit you today.”

  “Yes, he told me of the summer preparation and the victories.” The words were clear and casual, the gray eyes lucid.

  Katherine wanted to throw her arms around him but she said simply, “It is good to hear you speak, my husband.”

  He smiled at her. “The dreams were not true. I know that now."

  "They were indeed false." She would have agreed to anything he said at this point.

  Later as the bells rang out for Mass, Katherine wept tears of thankfulness and Sir Anselm felt his own eyes prickle.

  Chapter 20

  Summons to Court

  The Hunsdales kept the festival of Christmas quietly, but the entire city buzzed with the great celebrations of the court, of the gorgeous costumes of the nobility, the mimings, feasting and dancing, all the pageantry of a mighty ruler. The King had finely cut new clothes which were the wonder of those who saw them. The beauty of his wife and daughters, his proud and comely sons, the pageantry, all this was the house of York at its best. So went the talk of the servants.

  Katherine listened to the tales with a faint chill. She had incurred the anger of the one who held such power. A longing for peace swept over her as she thought of the moors and the mountains near Hunsdale Castle. A good life if only James loved her.

  Katherine talked often with Lucy in the short afternoons when they sat in the solar. Lucy had known James as a very young man and sometimes she would grow speculative.

  “He was amiable then, lady, always took time to chat with you. Not that he was ever talkative, but he was not the way he came to be later, so cold.”

  How little she knew of her own husband, thought . Katherine. His father died in one of the more obscure battles before Edward took the throne and his mother soon after in grief. His brother had come into the title, wasted much of the wealth and died a profligate death. James had traveled extensively, on the King’s business some said, but he had always been, and was, Gloucester’s man.

  Lucy was going on, “James—my lord, that is—was a gay one for the ladies for a while there. He had been away for a while, over in Burgundy and then off over in those heathen places.” She stopped and stared at Katherine in consternation. It was so hard to remember that this was Lady Hunsdale to whom she spoke so familiarly of James’ past. “Lady, be sure that I meant no disrespect. I do sometimes forget myself.” Katherine laughed, the sound sweet and clear in the room. It was good to chat with a friend and that she held Lucy to be. She knew the woman loved James and that excused much. “Talk about him and the past, Lucy. It helps for me to know him as he was. You can help me to refresh his memory when he does begin to speak and grow well.”

  Lucy chattered on in relief. “A handsome one like that had all the wenches and the highborn ladies burning for him. Sometimes he would not come here for days and then he needed nursing. But all that stopped a few years ago. He stayed in the North and we missed him.”

  Katherine asked the question that she had been burning with. “He called out for a woman named Margaret in his fever. Not casually, but desperately. He loved her.”

  Lucy heard the pain in Katherine’s voice and forebore to tell her of the sweat-drenched nights, the dreams and the curses that had often sent the maids flying for the physician. She said instead, “All that was in his youth, Lady, you are his wife now.”

  Katherine said bitterly, “Other men love and are not torn apart by it. Why James?”

  “He has ever felt things deeply. His father was such a man. Fortunately, the love of youth was that of age.” Lucy put her hands to her face as she realized what she had said.

  Katherine turned a proud face to her. She had gossiped too long with the servants. Now she must be Lady Hunsdale and cease to dig in old pain.

  Lucy sought to reassure her. “I have heard only that this woman of Burgundy showed herself to be both evil and faithless and later died, as one dies of such a life. The Lord James has been heard to say that if he ever did wed it would be to a blameless woman. That you have proven yourself, Lady Katherine.”

  Katherine smiled wanly, “Thank you, Lucy. Lord Hunsdale has an ardent supporter in you.”

  Lucy did not miss the withdrawing lone and her enthusiasm waned as she said, “Ah, the winter is long, lady, and I doubt not that all will come right with the spring. Perhaps a visit to the shrine of the Virgin will be taken then?”

  Katherine touched her cross at her throat and her eyes looked beyond Lucy as she said, “Pray God it may be so.”

  Early in the new year Katherine and James went riding, as they did almost daily, in the company of grooms and several soldiers. James might have been merely a taciturn gentleman, deep within himself. Katherine waved the retainers to ride far behind. She wanted to continue with the illusion that she was secure in her own world and that resolution of their problems was near.

  She saw a bird curve sharply over the shining expanse of the river in the pale winter sun. She turned to James and pointed, smiling. His eyes followed the line of hers, then turned back to her bright face framed in the white fur hood. A tendril of reddish hair had escaped and brushed her temple. He pulled his horse close to hers and lifted his gloved hand to her shoulder. His hawk eyes looked deeply into hers.

  “Katherine.” His voice was deep and compelling. “I begin to remember.”

  She sat, chilled to the bone. What did he remember? Her harsh words to him and her attempt to make him take her as his wife?

  “I have been ill a long time. You must tell me of all that has happened.” He half smiled and suddenly it was with them as it had been in the beginning.

  Katherine felt the fires kindle at this new tenderness. She said, “Much has happened, my dear lord. But you must be very careful.”

  “Aye.” The light left his eyes suddenly and they were misty again as he moved back into that world of his own.

  “Jamie!” It was a cry of loss. Still, this was a good sign, she thought optimistically. Better even, since he had spoken to her and not to another. It would be long before Katherine could cease to blame herself for the last lapse.

  They rode rapidly back to the house. The servants had seen and the word spread that the master was better. A messenger was dispatched for Sir Anselm.

  Katherine took James into the solar where the sun streamed in and spoke gently to him but he had retreated again.

  Sir Anselm told her, “There is every reason for hope, Katherine. It may take a long time but I think he will recover.”

  “We may not have time.” Katherine was agitated for every day th
at passed brought fear that the King’s deputation would arrive again.

  It began to seem that she was right as the days lengthened into late January and there was no further change. The change, when it came, was so slight and sudden that she could scarce credit it. Previously, his communications had been with Katherine only but one day a maidservant was cleaning in his room while he sat by the window looking out at the gray day. She sang as she worked, a song of summer’s sweetness and sorrow for the coming of winter. When she finished, a deep voice said, “Sing it again.” She had done so, then the lord looked at her in a dazed fashion and had risen to his feet. The girl ran babbling to Katherine who came at once. He did not speak but she knew that he was aware of all that happened. That night he sat long with her and Sir Anselm in the solar while Lucy hovered close. He watched them, his eyes lifting from one face to the other as each spoke. The conversation was necessarily desultory and the musicians were summoned. The songs were familiar and he joined in, slowly at first, then more and more.

  Katherine spent much of that night on her knees in the chapel, offering passionate gratitude to the God she believed had forsworn her.

  The day came very soon when James spoke more and more to Katherine and others in questioning, wonder. Finally, he began to speak as himself.

  “Much of the time is a blank, ever since that borderer ripped my stomach open. There have been gray shapes, dreams, fires, beyond that nothing. Tell me.” Katherine had known that this time would come. Sir Anselm had told her, “You must be honest with him when he asks. Withhold nothing for his grasp on this world is fragile. He must trust you.”

  Now she looked at the strong profile etched against the background of the flames by which they sat. She would need a different kind of strength, a day to day kind. Still she said, “The tale is long and full of confusion. I would not give you stress.”

  He laughed ruefully, “I myself am full of confusion. I will be full of stress if I do not know all that has transpired.”

  Katherine told him all that had happened, omitting only the mention of the messages as she had done with Gloucester. When she was done James stretched his hands toward the fire and looked at her. The gray eyes were very calm.