The Last Heiress

by Bertrice Small

  Her Howard relations were almost wild with fury over her actions. They wanted her to yield to Henry Tudor and get what she could from him for them. The Duke of Norfolk, the head of the family, thought her mad, but he did not desert her. Eventually Anne would yield to Henry, and they would all profit from her lost virtue. But queen?

  She would never be queen. In the end the king would marry a princess as he should, and Anne would be given a husband, and that would be the end of it. That was what they told her. But Anne would not give over. “I will be queen,” she insisted to her uncle, the duke.

  “I remember your mother saying that you were musical,” the king said to Elizabeth.

  Actually Elizabeth played several instruments, but she knew the instrument of choice at court now was the lute. “I play the lute, your majesty, and I sing,” she answered with a small smile.

  “I am composing a special song for a certain lady right now,” the king said to Elizabeth. “You will learn it, and sing it for us when it is finished.”

  “I would be honored, your majesty,” Elizabeth said with a curtsey.

  “Let us go boating!” Mistress Boleyn suddenly cried. “The river is sweetly still, and the day so fair, my lords.” She drew away from the king and began dancing towards the Thames, singing as she went. “Now is the month of May, when merry lads do play! Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la! Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la!”

  The king looked amused. He turned away. He had other guests to greet. He well knew his beloved. She had grown impatient with him. He had given Mistress Meredith too much attention, and she was jealous. But Anne was no fool, and she knew she had no reason to be jealous, so she was embarrassed by her emotions. When she turned to look back at him, Henry Tudor winked at her. The relief in her smile touched him. Sweet Annie, he thought.

  Flynn Stewart led Elizabeth by the hand as they followed Mistress Boleyn down to the riverbank, where several small punts were pulled up on the mud. “Have you ever been in a punt?” he asked her as he helped her into it.

  “No, but I can swim should you tilt us into the water,” Elizabeth assured him as she sat down on a cushion in the flat bottom of the boat.

  He grinned. “ ’Tis good to know, for I am not particularly skilled with a punt pole.”

  “Then why are we doing this?” she wanted to know.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted, and his amber eyes were dancing with amusement.

  Elizabeth began to laugh, and Flynn Stewart began to laugh.

  “What is the jest?” Mistress Boleyn asked. She had not entered a punt but was standing on the shore surrounded by her gentlemen friends.

  “Why are we here? On the riverbank?” Elizabeth asked Anne Boleyn. “Are you really going boating?”

  Anne thought a minute, and then she shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “These little punts are too inclined to be tipsy. I cannot swim.”

  “Then please tell me why you suggested it?” Elizabeth wanted to know.

  “I thought it might be fun,” Anne replied, “but on reflection I do not. Get out of the punt, Elizabeth Meredith! We will play cards instead. You do have monies to bet?”

  “I do, but I warn you I am an excellent player of card games,” Elizabeth responded. “Flynn, help me out of this dangerous little craft.”

  He stepped forward to give her his hand, but his foot slipped in the mud of the riverbank. The Scotsman began to fall forward, and in doing so reached to steady himself on the punt’s prow. Instead he accidentally shoved it out into the river. Anne Boleyn cried out with alarm. The gentlemen about her stood openmouthed, staring as the little boat began to drift. One had the presence of mind to try to help Flynn Stewart up. He looked horrified at Elizabeth’s plight.

  How tiresome, Elizabeth thought, but if I do not do something right away, I shall surely be caught by the current. The Scotsman was facedown in the mud, and none of the other finely dressed dandies seemed inclined to come to her aid. Quickly she undid the tapes holding her skirts to her bodice. She undid her sleeves and pulled them off, along with her French cap and veil. She kicked her shoes from her feet. Then, standing gingerly in the little punt, she dove into the river, leaving much of her clothing behind. Surfacing, she stroked the few feet to the riverbank to be pulled out by Flynn Stewart, now on his feet and covered in mud.

  “Are you all right?” he wanted to know.

  “Except for a want of clothing, sir, aye.” She stood in the sleeveless bodice, now ruined, her silk chemise clinging to her legs, her feet bare.

  “Surround Mistress Meredith,” Anne Boleyn’s voice suddenly spoke sharply. “Put your backs to her so she may be protected and not embarrassed by your gawking. George, go and find her a long cloak! I don’t care if it’s May; she’ll catch her death of cold.” She squeezed into the circle now obscuring any view of Elizabeth to join her. “You are very brave, and it was so quick-witted of you to do what you did. I am so sorry you have lost your gown. I will have the king send you a new one, for ’tis all my fault.” She smiled her small cat’s smile at Elizabeth. “You will forgive me, won’t you?”

  Elizabeth nodded, her lips twitching with her amusement. “You all looked so astounded to see me suddenly out in the river.” She began to giggle.

  Anne found the sound infectious, and she too began to giggle.

  “My sister will be furious,” Elizabeth said. “I suspect when she learns of this incident she will wish I had floated out to sea fully clothed rather than take my gown off and swim to shore.” She began to laugh. She couldn’t help herself.

  Anne Boleyn laughed with her. “But I was so afraid for you,” she admitted.

  “And none of your fine friends would move a muscle to save me.” Elizabeth cackled. “I could see them thinking they could not damage their own garments. It never occurred to them to take them off as I did.”

  “Ohhh, what a fine show that would have made.” Anne howled with laughter. “My brother has legs like a stork!”

  Suddenly the king was there, and Philippa and Lord Cambridge.

  “What has happened?” Henry Tudor demanded to know.

  Anne explained between the laughter that she and Elizabeth could not seem to control now. She finished by saying, “You must give her a new gown, Henry, for it was my fault she had to swim back to the shore and lost her own.”

  “My sister is not properly garbed?” Philippa pushed into the widening circle of gentlemen, and gasped. “Elizabeth! What has happened to your skirts? To your beautiful sleeves and cap?”

  “Were you not listening, Philippa? They are in the punt, floating down to the sea,” Elizabeth replied. “I am sorry, but it was an accident.”

  “You will never live down this unfortunate incident!” Philippa cried. “Could you not have waited for someone to rescue you? If word of such behavior is spread about, we shall have no luck at all in what is a difficult task to begin with. What respectable man wants a woman who removes her garments in public?”

  If was fortunate that Philippa did not see the gentlemen with their backs to her, who were all smiling broadly at her distressed query.

  “I think your sister showed great bravery and intelligence, Countess,” the king said quietly. “It would have been difficult to rescue Elizabeth. By the time a barge could have been dispatched the pole-less punt would have been in the current with no means of guiding it to safety. The river is busy, and all the main shipping channels come up from the sea to the London pool here. She could have been hit by a larger vessel, thrown into the Thames in her heavy skirts, and drowned. We are fortunate indeed she is safe.”

  George Boleyn dashed up now with an all-enveloping cape. Elizabeth was wrapped in it, and Flynn Stewart picked her up.

  “Where shall I carry her, my lord?” he asked Lord Cambridge.

  “We shall go back to my house,” Thomas Bolton said. He was somewhat astounded by what had taken place. “Follow me, sir.”

  “I am perfectly capable of walking,” Elizabeth protested.

  “Shut up!
” Philippa spat furiously, and totally out of character. “You have already caused enough of a scene. Let us at least attempt to repair the damage. Can you not behave like a lady just once in your life, Elizabeth?”

  Elizabeth looked to Anne Boleyn and rolled her eyes. Mistress Boleyn winked back at her with perfect understanding.

  Flynn Stewart followed Lord Cambridge, who hurried through the royal gardens and into a light wood. On the other side of the trees he came to a tall brick wall. Tom Bolton opened a small door in the barrier. Ducking his head, the Scot stepped through the door into the gardens of Lord Cambridge’s dwelling. “So you are the owner of this charming jewel box,” he said. “I have admired it often on our visits to Greenwich.”

  “It suits me, as do all my dwellings,” Thomas Bolton said.

  They entered the house, and the older man led his guest up two flights of stairs, Philippa following behind them, still spitting her outrage angrily.

  “Ah, here is Elizabeth’s apartment.” He opened the door, calling, “Nancy, come quickly. Your mistress has had a slight mishap.”

  Nancy came hurrying as Flynn Stewart set his burden on her feet.

  “Mishap? You call this a mishap, Uncle?” Philippa exploded. “I call it social ruination of the worst kind! When in the history of the court did a respectable young woman take off her garments and jump into the river? Not in my lifetime, or yours!”

  “Thank you, sister, I am quite all right,” Elizabeth said wickedly.

  Flynn Stewart thought it wise to withdraw. He did so with a bow to the chamber’s inhabitants, feeling sympathy with them as he made his hasty escape.

  The women did not notice him. Lord Cambridge nodded, and mouthed his thanks.

  “It was an accident, Philippa,” Elizabeth tried to palliate her older sister. “We were going to go punting, then changed our minds. Master Stewart fell attempting to aid me in disembarking from the punt. The little boat got pushed into the river, and they all stood there staring, not knowing what to do next. I had no choice. And I certainly couldn’t have swum back to shore in all those heavy skirts. I would have drowned with the weight of them pulling me down. I’m sorry, but it is rather amusing in retrospect.”

  Philippa drew a long, deep breath to calm herself. Why was it that Elizabeth could make her so angry? “If you had not been consorting with that creature and her minions, this would have never happened. And how was it that you were, I should like to know?”

  “A bath, Nancy,” Elizabeth said quietly, and, nodding, the young servant hurried off to prepare the bath for her mistress.

  “Well?” Philippa demanded.

  “Master Stewart introduced me to Mistress Boleyn,” Elizabeth said.

  “I knew I should not let you go off with that royal by-blow,” Philippa said. “I watched you until he broke his word and took you from my sight. Was it then he involved you with that creature? You cannot speak to her again, Elizabeth. Mother would be most distressed. The queen is our friend.”

  “The queen is not here. Nor is she likely to be again,” Elizabeth snapped. She was wet, and she was chilled. She could smell the river on her skin, and it was not a pleasant scent at all. She stank of garbage, offal, and brackish salt water. “I like Anne Boleyn, Philippa. But more important, the king likes her.”

  “ ’Tis a passing fancy, and that is all there is to it,” Philippa replied weakly.

  “It has not passed in eight years,” Elizabeth shot back, “nor is it likely to, sister. The queen is finished unless a miracle occurs and she produces a healthy son for the king. Do you see that happening, Philippa? He does not even live with her any longer, which means he does not bed her either. I am mindful of Queen Katherine’s kindnesses to our family, but she is not here, and she is no longer in favor.”

  “How can I possibly find you a good husband,” Philippa said, “if you will not behave properly? I know the queen is out of favor, but her favor was of value to us once. Without it, I am at a disadvantage, Elizabeth, yet it is my duty to help you make a proper match with the right man.”

  “There is no man here at court who would suit me, Philippa. I could not keep Friarsgate as well as I do had I not learned to judge men’s character quickly. When I went into the river today the men with Mistress Boleyn just stood there gaping. Not one of them would soil his fine garments, and not one of them had the wit to remove them so they might enter the river and aid me. I saw that at once, which is why I saved myself. The Scot might have come to my rescue had he not been facedown in the muck, but he was. How could I entrust Friarsgate to men like that, sister?”

  “If you will not cooperate with me,” Philippa said as if Elizabeth had not spoken, “I shall wash my hands of you for good and all.” She was near tears, for failure was not a part of her nature, and her younger sister was being so stubborn.

  But Elizabeth would not give way to Philippa’s bullying. “You must do what you think best,” she said softly, “but there is no man here worth my time.”

  “Then why did you come to court if you did not mean to take a husband?” Philippa demanded, now angry.

  “I came to please our mother, and to please Uncle Thomas, who really did need an excuse to come south this spring. Did you not, Uncle?”

  “I think I shall avoid quarreling with either of you, my darlings,” Lord Cambridge said. “We are here. It is May. Let us enjoy the good times.”

  “Philippa”—Elizabeth attempted to placate her elder sibling—“it is just the first day of May. My mishap will be quickly replaced by someone else’s faux pas by the morrow. Let us not war with each other, I beg you.”

  “If you do not want a husband, then what good am I to you? To Mother? You asked for the responsibility of Friarsgate, and you have done a fine job of caring for it, if our mother is to be believed, and she is. But I feel a certain obligation to Friarsgate, as it was to have been mine once. You have a duty to supply Friarsgate with the next heir, Elizabeth, and refusing to do so because you do not wish to give up your own authority is both selfish and childish!”

  “Ho! Is the pot calling the kettle black, sister? You did precisely what you chose to do to live your own life as you wished to live it. You renounced Friarsgate. How dare you tell me what to do!” Elizabeth cried. “I took up the burden you cast aside.”

  “Aye, I did not want Friarsgate, but I do know how to accept my duty and do it well,” Philippa shot back. “Do you think you will be young forever? You will be twenty-two on the twenty-third of this month. You are an old maid, sister. Mother had birthed all of us by the time she reached that age. You are growing long in the tooth, and you must wed soon if you are to have a child of your body to inherit in the next generation. What will happen if you do not? It will go to one of Logan’s lads for want of another. Is that what you want? Mother will have no other choice.”

  “The choice of the next heir is not Mother’s,” Elizabeth said quietly. “It is mine.” Aye! She needed a husband, but from what she had seen today there was little hope of finding one among the king’s court. Still, she did not want to quarrel with Philippa, who really was trying to help. She sighed. “I am sorry you were embarrassed by my accident today, sister. I shall endeavor to have no more mishaps while I am here, but know that I shall begin my journey home in June.”

  “It is not enough time,” Philippa complained.

  “If there is a man I can consider, and who will consider coming north with me, he will be found in that time. But if, as I believe, there is no one here who will suit me, there is no use in my remaining. I will have been gone almost three months by the time I return. Edmund is old now, Philippa. He is no longer used to shouldering the entire burden of Friarsgate, as he did when our mother was away. No one else can but me.”

  “Which makes it even more important for us to find you a husband,” Philippa said eagerly. “You need a helpmeet. A woman should not be managing such an estate as yours, Elizabeth. A husband would be more suited to the task, I am certain.”

  Lord
Cambridge waited for the explosion certain to follow Philippa’s words, but to his surprise it did not come. He actually believed he saw Elizabeth bite her tongue.

  The footmen had been lugging pail after pail of steaming water through the dayroom and into the bedchamber. Now Nancy came out to announce to her mistress that her bath was ready, and likely to get cold if Elizabeth did not come quickly.

  “I appreciate your kindness, Philippa, but you will understand my adventure has left me chilled and stinking. I must bathe. Go back to your friends. You also, Uncle. I believe it best that I spend the rest of my day in bed recovering from my ordeal.” She smiled sweetly at them both.

  Lord Cambridge wasn’t in the least fooled, but he bowed, saying, “I believe, dear girl, that you are absolutely right. By tomorrow all will have blown over. Will is here should you need him. Come, Philippa, my angel. ’Tis May Day, and the celebrations have only just begun.”

  “You will be all right?” Philippa’s tone had softened, and she evinced concern for her younger sibling. “Uncle is correct, of course. Few if any will remember your mishap by the morrow. Ohh, I hope Crispin comes soon!” She kissed Elizabeth’s cheek, and then, taking Lord Cambridge’s arm, they departed the dayroom.

  Elizabeth sighed gustily with her relief. “What a pother Philippa makes over naught,” she said to Nancy. “Did you hear?”

  “Enough,” Nancy said. “Gawd! I hope they can find that punt. Them sleeves was beautiful, mistress.” She was a tall, lanky girl with a plain but pretty face. Her braids were nut brown, and her eyes a light blue. Like Elizabeth, she had never before been away from Friarsgate, but she had to admit she was enjoying her adventure. She helped Elizabeth out of the remainder of her sodden garments and into the hot tub. “I’ll take these to the laundress,” she said. “I think they’re salvageable. Are you really going to spend the rest of the day in bed?”