Disgrace And Favour

by Jeremy Potter

  ‘Take me to court with you now and become my patron.’

  ‘I have business of my own which brooks no interference. If I had not, I would still not oblige you. Your friendship with the Kerrs pleases me not, and a patron out of favour is no crutch for a man of ambition.’

  Mistrust of charm made Carey speak bluntly. He dug his heels into his horse’s flanks so that it outpaced Overbury’s. Forced to follow behind, the boy coloured crimson at the snub, yet his lips tightened with determination. At the gate to the city he drew abreast and parted with a well-schooled bow.

  Carey rode on, barely acknowledging the salute. In London there would be weightier subjects for thought than the sons of country magistrates. Boldly he directed himself to the house of his brother George, with whom he stood on terms of mutual detestation. There he learned that his father’s funeral had taken place two days before. The tomb was to be the finest in the abbey church at Westminster, more magnificent than those of all the kings buried there.

  The bailiff told him that his brother was with the court in Hertfordshire. In one of her parsimonious moods (which were growing ever more frequent) the Queen had decided to visit Theobalds and live for a week or more at the expense of her Principal Secretary. Sir William Cecil had become my Lord Burleigh and could afford the honour.

  After a night’s rest Garey set out again. My lord’s palace of Theobalds was more splendid than he had imagined. My lord himself was reported to be occupied with affairs of state in the garden, sunning his old bones in the dying warmth of summer. Carey sought him among the granite columns and pyramids on which the perquisites of office had been lavished, among the Italian fountains and the exotic shrubs round his man-made lake, until at last he ran him to ground in a summer house - alone with twelve Roman emperors in marble.

  The statesman’s glance was as shrewd and alert as ever, but his body had crumpled with the years and his face looked deathly. He greeted Carey without expression: with no friendliness or hostility, no expectancy or surprise. Here, thought Carey, is the master for young Overbury to ape.

  ‘Have you taken a wrong turning on the road to Berwick, Sir Robert?’ There was menace in the old man’s voice. ‘I do not recollect signing an order for your recall.’

  ‘News reached me that my father is dead. I have come to solicit for the wardenship in my own right. I trust your lordship will do me the kindness to second my endeavours with the Queen.’

  ‘The kindness is already done. Patience would have spared you your journey. Orders will reach you at Norham within the week. You are to continue as warden in your own right.’

  Burleigh returned his attention to the papers in front of him, signifying the end of the interview. But he had sought no thanks, and Carey had not been so long in the wilds as to have forgotten the way of the world.

  ‘Then I am appointed? Appointed for life?’

  He pressed the question and Burleigh sighed.

  ‘Have I not spoken plainly? You are to continue in your post until a new appointment is made. Let me add only, Sir Robert, that my summer house is an inappropriate headquarters for guarding the Scottish border.’

  ‘Then I am not appointed. To be acting warden is to be nothing. A whim can turn me out at any time. Tell me how I can be sure of receiving this appointment under the Great Seal.’

  ‘Why should you doubt it?’

  ‘Because to be warden of the East March one must become Governor of Berwick also. If I am not, a new governor will turn me out.’

  ‘Even if it were your brother John?’

  ‘Especially if it were my brother John.’

  ‘If you quarrelled less, life would be easier. You have wasted your time coming to visit me. There is nothing I can do until the Queen has made up her mind. It may take her many weeks or months. Meanwhile you are secure. You have my word on that.’ Again he signified the end of the interview, but again Carey would not leave.

  ‘Whatever Her Majesty decides about the wardenship, I am secure at Norham. She granted me the reversion of the castle on my father’s death. No appointment to Berwick or the East March can override my legal rights as Captain of Norham for the remainder of my life. Your lordship will be so kind as to remember that and, if need be, remind the Queen of it.’

  ‘What a hot-head you are, Sir Robert! Did you not bring a lawsuit against your eldest brother, and are you now threatening me?’ Whether the old man was angry or amused, Carey could not tell.

  ‘My brother endeavoured to deprive me of property legally mine. I brought the law on him, as you say, and the law upheld my rights. Any man would do what I did - and do it again.’

  ‘Let us not dispute about the law. Your rights at Norham shall be scrupulously observed. Nevertheless the problem of the appointment is not easily resolved. The Governor of Berwick is warden of the East March. The two posts are one, and outside Berwick itself Norham is our principal stronghold in the march. The captaincy of Norham cannot become an independent command.’

  ‘That is not what I propose. Since all three appointments merge into one, and since I am indisputably Captain of Norham, it follows that the other two must be mine as well. That is the only solution and I have ridden the length of England to place it fairly before you.’

  ‘But for your marriage, it might have been possible.’

  ‘The matter of my marriage is years old. It is surely forgotten now.’

  Burleigh clicked his remaining teeth. ‘You know better than that, Sir Robert. The Queen never forgets and rarely forgives. My counsel to you is to remount your horse and ride straight back to your castle before word reaches her that you are here. If you heed this advice you have my promise that she shall not learn of your visit from me. Otherwise I fear that her gracious wrath may prove fatal to your cause. Now you must excuse me. I come to this place for seclusion in order to attend expeditiously to pressing matters.’

  ‘At least while I am here, give orders for me to be paid what is owed to me. My fee is deep in arrears. The air in Northumberland bites cold and my wife and household require clothes on their bodies.’

  ‘You shall be paid, fear not.’ Burleigh raised a bony finger to forestall interruption. ‘No; I cannot say when, but you shall have what is due. Be sure of that. Now go.’

  Carey went, angry and empty-handed. But not far. He ordered a servant to take him to his brother Edmund, who held office in the Queen’s household. This brother regarded him with little more affection than the others, but with his father dead Carey could think of nowhere else to turn.

  Sitting at a desk in his chamber, Edmund Carey glanced up from a letter in astonishment and alarm. ‘Robin! What are you doing here?’

  ‘I came to pay my last respects to our father, but I came too late, it seems. News travels slowly to the north.’

  ‘You lie. You came about the wardenship. What devil possesses you, brother? News coming from the north travels with speed enough.’ He tapped the letter. ‘John writes that you are intent on setting the whole Border ablaze; that you knocked him down when he made an attempt to reason with you. The Queen will not like to hear that, nor will George, whom I presently expect. Have you permission to leave your post?’

  ‘I came of my own accord.’

  ‘Then for the love of God leave at once; otherwise you will be disgraced. I will not answer for George. If he chooses to report your presence to the Council, you will be arrested.’

  ‘Poor George! A baron now, but not an earl. His loss is greater than ours, and he was ever a bad loser. I will certainly leave rather than meet him, but first you must take me to the Queen.’

  ‘And disgrace myself too? Never!’

  ‘I entreat you, Edmund. My wife and I will be beggared. We have nothing but that bare estate in Suffolk which George would have stolen from me.’

  ‘The fault is your own. Every one of us warned you not to offend the Queen by marrying, yet you defied us and chose a pauper. By this time you could have supplanted Essex and made all our fortunes. The family has t
rouble enough over the matter of the earldom without your adding to our sorrows. With one quarrelsome member lately dead, let us not be brought to ruin by another. Return to Norham and stay there until you are summoned. We will make our best endeavours on your behalf.’

  ‘But first on your own, no doubt. Where is the Queen?’

  ‘She is not here.’

  ‘Do not lie to me, Edmund. I do not wish to make a practice of knocking my brothers down.’

  ‘I will not be called a liar. She is not here, I say.’

  Carey moved forward and placed his fists on the desk in front of his brother. ‘For the second and last time I demand to be told where the Queen is. Are you not one of her menials?’

  ‘She has gone to dinner at Enfield House. Afterwards she will amuse herself by shooting at buck in the park. If you value your life you will not disturb her.’

  ‘Enfield.’ Carey weighed the information in his mind.

  ‘Have I your word that you will not approach her?’

  The question received no answer. His mind settled, Carey had swung on his heel and left the room. The palace was crowded with men unknown to him. Already his exile had been too long: he was a stranger at the seat of power. Then, as he strode scowling through the picture gallery, a voice bade him welcome and he recognized a fellow campaigner from the French wars.

  ‘Will Killigrew!’

  ‘The same. So they have sent for you, Robin? That is good news. I am overjoyed to see you back and not surprised at the look on your face. The court is not what it was.’ He lowered his voice. ‘The smell of death is in the air and the vultures are gathering. But tell me how you fare.’

  ‘This is well met. Let me answer you in private.’

  ‘Where the Queen is in residence there is not a cupboard where a man may be private. But the day is fine, so we will take the air. I will row you on the lake. In that way no one shall overhear us.’

  In the boat, surrounded by water and shielded from sight by the bushes on the banks, they were alone and could speak their minds. As they stepped in, Carey had seen his two brothers hurry out of the palace with attendants and look around them. He could waste no time.

  ‘Tell me, Will, are you still of the Privy Chamber?’

  ‘For my sins I am. The Queen grows daily more black-humoured. It is old age, I suppose. It seems to be her belief that queens should be excused from death. English queens, that is. The prospect of dying frightens and offends her. What else she believes, it is hard to discern. I think she is displeased with God for removing her courtiers without her permission. She remains fretful at not having Walsingham’s advice, and he has been dead these six years. In the loss of her cousin Knollys, and now your father, she has suffered personal affronts. Burleigh will be the next to go. She is already treating him like a deserter.’

  ‘Who will succeed him?’

  ‘His crippled son Robert, if the old man has his way.’

  ‘What of our former captain, Essex?’

  ‘He is still in favour. He and Ralegh. But for how long, who can tell? They are the two proudest men in England and will not stoop to address each other civilly. Ralegh is here with the Queen, so Essex has made some excuse to visit his estates.’

  ‘That is an ill omen for me. I had hoped for his intercession with the Queen, since my coming to court is without leave.’ Carey recounted the circumstances, adding: ‘And if, like old Burleigh and my rascally brothers, you bid me begone, I shall defy you all by jumping out of this boat and going direct to Enfield, to fling myself dripping into the royal presence.’

  ‘I shall bid you no such thing,’ laughed Killigrew. ‘That is the counsel of cowards. You stand at the parting of ways and must dare or lose. But you will dare better with a dry skin and a full belly, so first we will have dinner, then we will ride over to Enfield together.’

  Carey clapped the other’s arm in gratitude. ‘Thanks be to God that there are yet some men like you at court, Will, but I fear my family is intent on preventing me. Burleigh is not concerned if I choose to risk my career, but my own dear brothers will have me put under restraint if we set foot in the palace again.’

  ‘Then we will walk across the fields and eat at an inn.’

  ‘When we reach Enfield, how am I to approach her?’

  ‘You will stay outside the park. When she comes out to shoot, I will go and speak for you. Once she has learned you are here, she will be too curious to let you away without conversing with you. If her mood chances to be sunny you will at least gain a hearing. If it be black, as I fear, you will find yourself a convenient person to be scolded or despatched to an empty dungeon in the Tower. Much will depend on how quickly she has gobbled her food.’

  ‘What will you say to her?’

  ‘That, taking a walk, I have met a man to whom she is more beholden than many another who makes a greater show of love and service. She will press me to name him and after due reluctance, I will let her know that it is you. Before she can say another word I will tell her that, not having set eyes on her for many moons, you could not for a day longer endure being deprived of the joy of her presence. In short, that, sighing, you took post from the extremity of her realm solely for the purpose of warming yourself in the radiance of her grace, kissing her hand in humble duty and affection, and returning on the instant. She will not for one moment believe them, but the words will please her.’

  They made their escape from the palace grounds, and the walk to Enfield raised Carey’s spirits. The country was gentle after the rawness of the north and the inn’s food more appetizing. Outside the deer park Killigrew left him, and he sat under a tree waiting for what seemed an eternity. When he attempted to rehearse what he would say, his tongue stumbled over the words. He almost wished he had stayed in Norham. The naked warmth of his wife’s body had been hard to leave: he softened at the recollection until a voice startled him.

  ‘Her meat at dinner was tough. I had a stormy time of it, but she will see you.’

  Will Killigrew had returned. Carey scrambled to his feet, brushed down his clothes and straightened his hat. Then he moistened his lips and smoothed his beard and moved resolutely forward to try the Queen’s uncertain fancy.

  5

  Like Burleigh, the Queen had grown older. Her bodyguard and maids of honour dismissed, she sat on the terrace alone. Against the balustrade, beside her chair, stood her bow already strung. Still as coming death, she seemed posed in the likeness of some wrinkled Diana, a goddess who had outlived her generation.

  As soon as he caught his first sight of her petrified figure Carey began to run. He ran until he had drawn close - close enough to dive prostrate at her feet. No royal hand being proffered, he showered his ardent kisses on the pompons of her shoes. When he dared to raise his face, the Gorgon eyes were on him, reconnoitring in force. How well he remembered those two black beads of death-dealing suspicion, the cause of three hundred severed heads rotting at that minute above London Bridge.

  The nose was as hooked as a Jew’s; the baldness concealed beneath a flaming red wig. The thin lips, parted, revealed two rows of teeth as black almost as the eyes. Whether they were parted in a smile or a snarl he could not guess. The white oblong mask of the face betrayed no feeling. With his courage quailing he waited in vain for her to speak.

  ‘Your Majesty grows ever younger and more lovely.’ He made the declaration with all the fervour at his command.

  At first she gave no sign of acknowledgment, then she uttered a single word: ‘Farewell’.

  ‘Farewell?’ he faltered.

  ‘If your friend Master Killigrew is to be believed, you have ridden from the north for no other cause save that of saluting your sovereign. Afterwards - and I have his word on it - you are resolved to return on the instant to the post which you have deserted. Your salutation is done. Farewell then.’

  Carey rose to his knees perplexed. Was she teasing or in earnest? Was he expected to accept the dismissal as final or turn it lightly aside with another complimen
t? The moment scarcely seemed propitious for making his much rehearsed petition. Accustomed to quick decisions, he resolutely told himself that he had come too far to back away and abandon the venture. His face was level with her bosom. As a virgin she kept it uncovered in the house, but in preparation for her exercise in the park a lace neckerchief lay loosely round her shoulders and across her bodice. Boldly he snatched it aside and planted a loyal kiss in the shallow cleft between the shrivelled breasts.

  Startled into motion, the Queen flung her hands over her bosom and sounded a cry of alarm. Three gentlemen of the guard hurried out of the house to her aid. Carey stood upright and bowed his head in an attitude of submission.

  Before the guard could seize him the Queen halted them with a gesture. ‘So, Sir Walter,’ she rebuked the first of them, ‘you would permit your mistress to be ravished in the precincts of her own court? Is this the fashion in which you see fit to perform your duties?’

  ‘We retired and your royal person was left unprotected, madam, by your own express command; but you have no cause for alarm. Give the order and I will run this ruffian through with mine own sword.’

  ‘That would scarce have healed your sovereign’s maidenhead,’ the Queen told him, ‘and I fear it would vex my dear lord of Essex under whose captaincy the ruffian served our cause in France. You will remember my late Lord Chamberlain’s youngest son. He is wild and intemperate like his father, but intends me no harm, as I believe. Indeed he may even be the brave knight whom my lord had in mind when he advised me to procure another captain for my guard.’

  Ralegh coloured. ‘If Your Highness bids me resign my post, I resign it forthwith.’ He glowered at Carey and did not trouble to conceal his anger from the Queen.

  ‘My lord of Essex is over-kind,’ said Carey. ‘This is not the post I came to seek.’

  ‘God’s teeth,’ exclaimed the Queen, rounding on him in turn. ‘If, as you would have me believe, you cannot live except in my presence, would you spurn the signal honour of protecting my person?’