Murder Most Royal: The Story of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard

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Murder Most Royal: The Story of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard Page 32

by Jean Plaidy


  “Guess!” she cried shrilly. “I do not have to guess—I know!”

  She pulled away his hands and swung round to face him; they kissed passionately.

  He said: “Such good news I have today, Catherine! I can scarce wait to tell you.”

  “Good news!”

  “The best of news. I hope that you will agree that it is.”

  “Tell me, tell me! You must tell me.”

  He stood, surveying her, laughing, harboring his secret, longing so deeply for the moment of revelation that he must keep it back, savoring afresh the pleasure it would give him to tell her.

  “Very well, I will tell you, Catherine. Her Grace is to have a new gentleman usher. What do you think his name is?”

  “Francis . . . you!”

  He nodded.

  “Then you will be here . . . under this very roof! This is wonderful news, Francis.”

  They embraced.

  “It will be so much simpler to meet, Catherine.”

  She was smiling. Yes, indeed, it would be much easier to meet. There would be many opportunities of which he did not as yet dream.

  She was flushed with pleasure, bright-eyed, dreaming of them.

  Some young ladies and gentlemen came upon them kissing there. Among them was Francis’s great friend Damport.

  Francis and Catherine broke free on seeing them, and were greeted with laughter. One of the young men said in mock dismay: “You often kiss Mrs. Catherine Howard, Derham. Is it not very bold of you?”

  Derham answered: “Who should hinder me from kissing my wife?”

  “I trow this matter will come to pass!” said one of the ladies.

  “What is that?” asked Derham.

  “Marry! That Mr. Derham shall have Mrs. Catherine Howard.”

  Derham laughed with pleasure. “By St. John!” he cried. “You may guess twice and guess worse!”

  They were all laughing merrily, when Catherine broke up their mirth by pointing to a barge that went down the river.

  “Look ye all!” she cried. “Is that not Sir Thomas More!”

  They all fell silent, thinking of the man. They knew he had come near the block when the nun of Kent had burned for her heresies. What now? they wondered, and a gloom was cast over their merriment. They watched the barge pass along the river on its way to Westminster; and when it was out of sight, they sought to laugh again, but they found they had no mirth in them.

  Jane Rochford’s brief sojourn in the Tower had frightened her considerably. There, in her prison, as she looked down on the river at the pomp of the coronation, she had realized that only her own folly had brought her to this pass, and that in future she must be wiser. She would always hate Anne, but that was no reason why she should shout the dangerous fact abroad. Her short incarceration had been in the nature of a warning to herself and others, but she came out chastened, determined to curb her hysterical jealousy. She apologized to Anne, who accepted her apology, her dislike for Jane being but mild, and she thinking her too colorless to feel much interest in her. So Jane came back to court as attendant to Anne, and though they were never even outwardly friends, there was a truce between them.

  It was about a year after the coronation when Jane, who had a habit of discovering the secrets of those around her, made a great discovery.

  There was among Anne’s attendants a young girl of some beauty, of modest, rather retiring demeanor, somewhat self-effacing; a member of what had come to be known as the anti-Boleyn faction—that set which had held out for Katherine, and were quiet now, though seeming to be watching and waiting for a turn in events.

  Jane had intercepted a glance the King had given this girl, and she had felt a deep exultation. Could it be, wondered Jane, that the King was contemplating taking a mistress . . . that he had already been unfaithful to Anne? The thought made Jane laugh aloud when she was alone. How foolish she had been to murmur against Anne! What a poor sort of revenge, that merely put oneself into the Tower! Revenge should be taken subtly; she had learned that now.

  How amusing to carry the news to Anne, to falter, to shed a tear, to murmur: “I am afraid I have some terrible news for you. I am not certain that I should tell . . . I am grieved that it should fall to my lot to bring you such news . . .”

  She must watch; she must peep; she must go cautiously. She listened at doors; she hid behind curtains. She was really very bold, for well she knew what the wrath of the King could be like. But it was worth it; she discovered what she had hoped to discover.

  She then must turn over in her mind how she would use this. She could go to Anne; she could have the story dragged from her seemingly reluctant lips; it would do her good to see the proud eyes flash, the anger burn in those cheeks, to see haughty Anne humiliated. On the other hand, what if she went to George with the news? She would have his complete attention; she would have his approval, as he would say she had done right in coming to him. She could not make up her mind what she wanted most, and she must do so quickly, for there were others in the court who pried and peeped, and would be only too glad to have the pleasure of doing that which she had worked for.

  In the end she went to George.

  “George, I have something to tell you. I am afraid. I hardly know what to do. Perhaps you can advise me.”

  He was not very interested, she noticed with a sudden jealous rage; he thought it was her own affair. But wait until he learned it concerned his sister Anne!

  “The King is indulging in a love affair with one of Anne’s ladies.”

  George, who had been writing when she came in, hardly looked up from his work. He was perturbed by this news, but not greatly. Knowing the King, he considered such affairs inevitable; they were bound to come sooner or later. The main point was that Anne should realize this and not irritate the King further than he was already irritated by the birth of a daughter. If she remained calm, understanding, she could keep her hold on him; if she were jealous, demanding, she might find herself in a similar position to that of Katharine. He would warn her to treat this matter with the lightness it deserved.

  “Well,” said Jane, “do you not think it was clever of me to have discovered this before most?”

  He looked at her with distaste. She could not hide the triumph in her eyes. He pictured her, spying; he discovered early in their married life that she had a gift for spying. And now she was all excitement, happy—and showing it—because she had knowledge which was certain to hurt Anne.

  “I am sure,” he said, “that you enjoyed making the discovery and were clever in doing so.”

  “What mean you?” she demanded.

  “Just what I say, Jane.”

  He stood up, and would have walked past her; she stopped him, putting her hands on his coat.

  “I thought to please you, George. I wish I had gone straight to Anne now.”

  He was glad she had not done that. Anne was nervous; she was irritable; she was inclined to do the first rash thing that came into her head these days.

  He forced himself to smile at Jane. He patted her hand.

  “I am glad you told me first.”

  She pouted.

  “You seemed angry with me a moment ago. Why, George? Why? Why does everything I do anger you?”

  He could feel blowing up, one of those scenes which he dreaded. He said: “Of course I was not angry. You imagine these things.”

  “You were angry because you think she will be hurt. It does not matter that I risk my life . . .”

  “To spy on the King!” he finished. He burst into sudden laughter. “By God, Jane, I should like to have seen His Majesty, had he come upon you peeping through a crack in the door!”

  She stamped her foot; her face was white with rage.

  “You find this comic!” she said.

  “Well, in a measure. The King, taking his guilty pleasure, and you doing that for which you have a perfect genius . . . spying, congratulating yourself . . .”

  “Congratulating myself!”

 
“Oh, come! I swear I never saw you so pleased with anything.”

  Her lips trembled; tears came into her eyes.

  “I know I’m not clever, but why should you laugh at everything I do!”

  “Everything?” he said, laughing. “I assure you, Jane, that it is only on rare occasions that I can laugh at what you do.”

  She turned on him angrily.

  “Perhaps you will not find this such a laughing matter when I tell you who the lady is!”

  He was startled now, and she had the joy of swing that she had all his attention.

  “I forget her name. She is so quiet, one scarcely notices her. She is a friend of Chapuys; she is of those who would very gladly see the Queen displaced from the throne . . .”

  She saw now that he was deeply perturbed; this was not merely a king’s light love affair; this was high politics. It was very likely that the girl had been primed to do this by the enemies of Anne.

  George began to pace up and down; Jane sat in a window seat, watching him. Quite suddenly he went towards the door, and without a glance at Jane strode from the room. Jane wanted to laugh; but there was no laughter in her; she covered her face with her hands and began to cry.

  George went to Anne. She was in her room, reading quietly, making marks with her thumbnail at those passages which she meant Henry to read. She was interesting herself in theology, because the subject interested him. She was trying now to bind him to her in every way she knew; she was uneasy; she thought often of Katharine and what had happened to her; she now wondered why she had not previously been more sympathetic towards Henry’s first Queen. Bitterly she would laugh at herself; did she not understand the old Queen’s case because her own was becoming distressingly similar?

  “You look alarmed, George,” she said, laying aside her book.

  “I have alarming news.”

  “Tell me quickly.” She gave a somewhat hysterical laugh. “I think I am prepared for anything.”

  “The King is philandering.”

  She threw back her head and laughed.

  “I cannot say I am greatly surprised, George.”

  “This is no ordinary philandering. It is important, when we consider who the girl is.”

  “Who?”

  “Jane does not remember her name.”

  “Jane!”

  They exchanged glances of understanding.

  “Jane made it her affair to discover this matter,” said George. “This time I think Jane has done us a service. She described the girl as meek and mild as milk.”

  “Ah!” cried Anne. “I can guess who she is!”

  “She is of our enemies,” said George. “It may well be that she has been made to do this to work your ruin, Anne.”

  Anne stood up, her cheeks flaming.

  “She shall be banished from the court! I myself will see her. She shall come to me at once . . . I . . .”

  He lifted a restraining hand.

  “Anne, you terrify me. These sudden rages . . .”

  “Sudden! Rages! Have I not good cause . . .”

  “You have every cause in the world, Anne, to go carefully. You must do nothing rash; everything you do is watched; everything you say is listened to. The throne shakes under you! You must say nothing of this to the king; you must feign ignorance for a while. We must go secretly and in great quiet, for this is no ordinary light flirtation.”

  “There are times,” she said, “when I feel I should like nothing better than to walk out of the palace and never set eyes on the King again.”

  “Be of good cheer. We’ll think of something. There is one point you must not forget: Give no sign to the King that you know anything. We will, between us, think of a plan.”

  “It is so . . . humiliating!” she cried. “By my faith! I have suffered more indignities since I have been the Queen than I ever did before.”

  “One of the penalties of being Queen, Anne! Promise . . . promise you will go cautiously!”

  “Of course, of course! Naturally I shall . . .”

  “No,” he said, with a little grimace, “not naturally, Anne; most unnaturally! Remember Mary . . .”

  “What of Mary?”

  “You know well to what I refer. How could you have been so wild, so foolish, as to say that if the King went to France and you were Regent, you would find a reason for putting Mary out of the way!”

  “This girl maddens me. She is foolish, obstinate . . . and . . .”

  “That we well know, but the greater foolishness was yours, Anne, in making such unwise statements.”

  “I know . . . I know. And you do well to warn me.”

  “I warn you now. Remember previous follies, and keep in good temper with the King.”

  “I had thought he seemed more tender of late,” she said, and began to laugh suddenly. “To think it was naught but his guilty conscience!”

  “Ah!” said George. “He was ever a man of much conscience. But, Anne, he is simple; you and I know that, and together we can be frank. He has great pride in himself. His verses . . . If he thought we did not consider them the best ever written in his court, he would be ready to have our heads off our shoulders!”

  “That he would! He has indeed great pride in himself and all his works. George . . .” She looked over her shoulder. “There is none other to whom I could say this.” She paused, biting her lips, her eyes searching his face. “Katharine had a daughter, and then . . . all those miscarriages! George, I wonder, might it not be that the King cannot breed sons?”

  He stared at her.

  “I understand not,” he said.

  “Not one son,” she said, “but Richmond. And Richmond . . . have you noticed? There is a delicate air about him; I do not think he will live to a great age. He is the King’s only son. Then there is Mary who is normal, but Mary is a girl and they say that girls survive at birth more easily than boys. There is my own Elizabeth; she is also a girl . . .” She covered her face with her hands. “And all those still-born boys, and all those boys who lived to breathe for an hour or so before they died . . . George, was it due to any weakness in Katherine, think you, or was it . . . ?”

  He silenced her with a look. He read the terror behind her words.

  She said in a whisper: “He is not wholly well . . . The place on his leg . . .” She closed her eyes and shivered. “One feels unclean . . .” She shivered again. “George, what if . . . he . . . cannot have sons?”

  He clenched his hands, begging her with his eyes to cease such talk. He got up and strode to the door. Jane was in the corridor, coming towards the room. He wondered, had she heard that? Had she heard him rise from his seat and stride to the door? Had she retreated a few paces from the door, and then, just as it opened, commenced to walk leisurely towards it? He could not tell from her face; her eyes glistened; she had been weeping. It seemed to him that she was always weeping. He would have to be careful with her; he was sure she could be dangerous.

  “Oh . . . Jane . . . I was just telling Anne . . .”

  Anne threw a haughty glance at her sister-in-law, but Jane did not care, as George was smiling at her.

  “Come inside,” said George.

  Jane went in, and the three of them sat together; but Anne would not speak of this matter before Jane. She wondered at her brother’s show of friendship for his wife. Could it be that he was reconciling himself to his unhappy marriage, trying to make something out of it at last?

  The King hummed a snatch of a song. Anne watched him. He sparkled with jewels; he looked enormous; he was getting corpulent, he was no longer the handsomest prince in Christendom; he was no longer the golden prince. He was a coarse man whose face was too red, whose eyes were bloodshot, and whose leg was a hideously unwholesome ulcer. His eyes were gleaming; he was the lover now, and she remembered the lover well. How often had she seen that look in his eyes! Always before, the look had been for her. Strange indeed to know his desires were fixed on someone else—strange and terrifying.

  She said: “Th
e song is charming. Your own?”

  He smiled. She was reclining on the bed he had given her before her confinement. It was a beautiful bed, he thought. By God, she should think herself lucky to have such a fine bed! He doubted whether there was such another bed in the world. Its splendor suited her, he thought indulgently. Anne! There was no one like her, of course; not even little . . . Well, he had never thought she was, but she was sweet, and Anne was fractious and could be maddening—and a man needed a change, if but to prove his manhood. He felt tender towards Anne at moments like this, when she said: “The song is charming. Your own?” It was when those great black eyes of hers seemed to look right through him and see more of his mind than he cared for anyone to see, that he was angry with her. She was more clever than a woman ought to be! Learned foreigners delighted to talk to her of the new Lutheran theories, and did great homage to her because she could converse naturally and easily with them. He liked that not. Any glory that came to a queen should come through her king. Her beauty might be admired; the splendid clothes she wore, also; but her cleverness, her sharp retorts that might be construed as gibes . . . No, no; they angered him.

  He would have her keep in mind that he had raised her up, that she owed all she now enjoyed to him. By God, there were moments when she would appear to forget this! She could please him still, could make him see that there never had been any like her, nor ever would be. That in itself irritated him; it bound him, and he did not like to be bound. He could think with increasing longing of the days before he had known Anne, before this accursed leg began to trouble him, when he was a golden-haired, golden-bearded giant of a man, excelling all others in any sport that could be named; riding hard, eating, drinking, loving, all in a grander manner than that of other men; with Wolsey—dear old Wolsey—to take over matters of state. She had killed Wolsey as surely as if she had slain him with her own hands, since but for her Wolsey would have been alive to this day.

  More was in the Tower. And she had done this. And yet . . . there was none could satisfy him as she could; haughty, aloof, as she well knew how to be, always he must feel the longing to subdue her. Sometimes his feeling for her was difficult to explain; sudden anger and fury she aroused in him, and then as suddenly desire, blinding desire that demanded satisfaction at any price. Nay, there was no one like her, but she had cut him off from the days of his glowing manhood. He had met her and changed from that bright youth; during the years of his faithfulness he had been steadily undergoing a change; now he would never be the same man again.

 

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