The Boleyn Inheritance Part 6

I am starting to recognize people, and to know their names without prompting, so now the court is not such a friendless blur. I see Lord Southampton, who looks tired and troubled, as well he might be for the work he has done for me in bringing me here. His smile is strained, and, oddly, his greeting is cool. He glances away from the king as if there is some trouble brewing, and I remember my resolution to be a fair queen in this court that is commanded by whim. Perhaps I will learn what is troubling Lord Southampton; perhaps I can help him.

The king's foremost advisor, Thomas Cromwell, bows to me, and I recognize him from my mother's description as the man, more than any other, who sought alliance with us and with the Protestant dukes of Germany. I would have expected him to greet me more warmly, since my marriage is the triumph of his planning, but he is quiet and self-effacing, and the king leads me past him with only a short word.

Archbishop Cranmer is dining with us as well, and I recognize Lord Lisle and his wife. He, too, is looking weary and guarded, and I remember his fears in Calais of the divisions in the kingdom. I smile warmly at him. I know that there is work for me to do in this country. If I can save one heretic from the fires, then I will have been a good queen, and I am sure I can use my influence to bring this country to peace.

I am starting to feel that I have friends in England, and when I look down the hall and see my ladies, Jane Boleyn, kind Lady Browne, the king's niece Lady Margaret Douglas, and little Katherine Howard among them, I start to feel that this indeed can be my new home, and that the king is indeed my husband, his friends and his children shall be my family, and that I shall be happy here.

Katherine, Greenwich Palace, January 3, 1540 Just as I have always dreamed, there is to be dancing after dinner in a beautiful chamber filled with the most handsome young men in the world. And better than my greatest dreams I have a new gown, and pinned to the gown, as obviously, as noticeable as possible, is my new gold brooch given to me by the King of England himself. I finger it all the time, almost as if I were pointing at it and saying to people: "What d'you think of that then? Not bad for practically my very first day at court. " The king is on his throne looking powerful and fatherly, and Lady Anne is as pretty as she can be (given that awful dress) beside him. She might as well have just thrown the sables in the Thames as have them sewn on that taffeta tent. I am so distressed about such wonderful furs all but thrown away that it almost dims my pleasure for a moment.

But then I glance around the room *not in an immodest way, just glancing around as if looking for nothing in particular *and I see first one young, handsome boy and then another, half a dozen indeed that I would be glad to know better. Some of them are sitting together at a table, it is the pages' table, and every single one of them is a son of a good family, wealthy in their own right, and high in the favor of a lord. Dereham, poor Dereham, would be a n.o.body to them; Henry Manox would be their servant. These will be my new suitors. I can barely drag my eyes away from any one of them.

I catch a glance or two in my direction and know that p.r.i.c.kle of excitement and pleasure that tells me that I am being watched, that I am desired, that my name will be mentioned, that a note will be pa.s.sed to me, that the whole joyous adventure of flirtation and seduction will start again. A boy will ask my name, will send a message. I will agree to a meeting; there will be an exchange of looks and silly words over dancing and sports and dinner. There will be a kiss, there will be another, then slowly, deliciously, there will be a seduction and I shall know another touch, another boy's delicious kisses, and I shall fall head over heels in love again.

The dinner is delicious, but I pick at my food because at court there is always someone watching you, and I don't want to seem greedy. Our table faces the front of the hall, so it is natural that I look up to see the king at his dinner. In his rich clothes and great collar of gold you might mistake him for one of the old pictures over an altar; I mean, a picture of G.o.d. He is so grand and so broad and so weighted with gold and jewels, he sparkles like an old treasure mountain. There is a cloth of gold spread over his great chair, with embroidered curtains hanging down on either side, and every dish is served to him by a servant on his knees. Even the server who offers him a golden bowl to dip his fingers and wipe his hands d"s so on bended knee. There is another server altogether to hand him the linen cloth. They bow their heads as well when they kneel to him, as if he were of such unearthly importance that they cannot meet his eyes.

So when he looks up and sees me watching him, I don't know whether I should look away, or curtsy, or what. I am so confused by this that I give him a little smile and half look away and half look back again, to see if he is still watching, and he is. Then I think that this is just what I would do if I was trying to attract a boy, and that makes me blush and look down at my plate, and I feel such a fool. Then, when I look up, under my eyelashes as it happens, to see if he is still looking at me, he is gazing away down the hall and clearly has hardly noticed me at all.

My uncle Howard's sharp black gaze is on me though, and I am afraid he will frown; perhaps I should have curtsied to the king when I first caught his eye. But the duke just gives a little approving nod and speaks to a man seated on his right. A man of no interest to me, he must be a hundred and ninety-two if he is a day.

I really am amazed at how old this court is, and the king is quite ancient. I always had the impression of it being a court of young people, young and beautiful and joyful *not such very old men. I swear that there cannot be a friend of the king's who is a day under forty years. His great friend Charles Brandon, who is said to be a hero of glamour and charm, is absolutely ancient, in his dotage at fifty. My lady grandmother talks about the king as if he was the prince that she knew when she was a girl, and of course this is why I have it all wrong. She is such an old lady that she forgets that long years have gone by. She probably thinks that they are all still young together. When she talks about the queen, she always means Queen Katherine of Aragon, not Queen Jane or even the Lady Anne Boleyn. She just skips every queen since Katherine. Indeed, my grandmother was so frightened by the fall of her niece Anne Boleyn that she never speaks of her at all except as a terrible warning to naughty girls like me.

It wasn't always like that. I can just about remember first coming to my step-grandmama's house at Horsham and every second sentence was "my niece the queen " and every letter to London asked her for a favor or a fee, a place for a servant, or the pickings of a monastery, asked her to turn out a priest or pull down a nunnery. Then Anne had a girl and there was a good deal of "our baby the Princess Elizabeth " and hopes that the next baby would be a boy. Everyone promised me I would have a place at court in my cousin's household, I would be kin to the Queen of England, who knew where I might look for a husband? Another Howard cousin, Mary, was married to the king's b.a.s.t.a.r.d son Henry Fitzroy, and a cousin was intended for Princess Mary. We were so intermarried with the Tudors that we would be royal ourselves. But then slowly, like winter coming when you don't at first notice the chill, there was less spoken of her, and less certainty about her court. Then one day my step-grandmother called the whole household into the great hall and said abruptly that Anne Boleyn (she called her that, no t.i.tle, definitely no kins.h.i.+p), Anne Boleyn had disgraced herself and her family and betrayed her king and that her name and her brother's name would never again be mentioned.

Of course we were all desperate to know what had happened, but we had to wait for servants' gossip. Only when the news finally came from London could I learn what my cousin Queen Anne had done. My maid told me, I can hear her now telling me, that Lady Anne was accused of terrible crimes, adultery with many men, her brother among them, witchcraft, treason, bewitching the king, a string of horrors from which only one thing stood out to me, an aghast little girl: that her accuser was her uncle, my uncle Norfolk. That he presided over the court, that he p.r.o.nounced her death sentence and that his son, my handsome cousin, went to the Tower like a man might go to a fair, dressed in his best, to see his cousin beheaded.

I thought my uncle must be a man so fearsome that he might have been in league with the devil; but I can laugh at those childish fears, now that I am his favorite, so high in his favor that he has ordered Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, to take most particular care of me, and given her money to buy me a gown. Obviously, he has taken a great fancy to me; he likes me best of all the Howard girls he has placed at court, and thinks that I will advance the interests of the family by making a n.o.ble match or becoming friends with the queen, or charming to the king. I had thought him a man of fiendish heartlessness, but now I find him a kindly uncle to me.

There is a masque after dinner and some very funny clowning from the king's fool, and then there is some singing that is almost unbearably dull. The king is a great musician, I learn, and so most evenings we will have to endure one of his songs. There is a great deal of tra-la-la-ing, and everyone listens very intently and applauds very loudly at the end. Lady Anne I think has no more opinion of it than me, but she makes the mistake of gazing round rather vacantly, as if she were quietly wis.h.i.+ng to be elsewhere. I see the king glance at her, and then away, as if he is irritated by her inattention. I take the precaution of clasping my hands beneath my chin and smiling with my eyes half-closed as if I can hardly bear the joy of it. Such luck! He happens to glance my way again and clearly thinks his music has transported me. He gives me a broad, approving smile, and I smile back and drop my eyes to the board as if fearful of looking at him for too long.

"Very well done, " says Lady Rochford, and I give her a little beam of triumph. I love, I love, I love court life. I swear it will quite turn my head.

Jane Boleyn, Greenwich Palace, January 3, 1540 "My lord duke, " I say, bowing very low.

We are in the Howard apartments at Greenwich Palace, a series of beautiful rooms opening the one into another, almost as s.p.a.cious and beautiful as the queen's own rooms. I stayed here once with George, when we were newly wed, and I remember the view over the river, and the light at dawn when I woke, so much in love, and I heard the sound of swans flying overhead going down to the river on their huge creaking wings.

"Ah, Lady Rochford, " says my lord duke, his lined face amiable. "I have need of you. "

I wait.

"You are friendly with the Lady Anne; you are on good terms? "

"As far as I can be, " I say cautiously. "She speaks little English as yet, but I have made a great effort to talk to her, and I think she likes me. "

"Would she confide in you? "

"She would speak to her Cleves companions first, I think. But she sometimes asks me things about England. She trusts me, I think. "

He turns to the window and taps his thumbnail against his yellow teeth. His sallow face is creased in thought.

"There is a difficulty, " he says slowly.

I wait.

"As you heard, they have indeed sent her without the proper doc.u.ments, " he says. "She was betrothed when she was a child to Francis of Lorraine, and the king needs to see that this engagement was canceled and put aside before he g"s any further. "

"She is not free to marry? " I demand, astounded. "When the contracts have been signed and she has come all this way and been greeted by the king as his bride? When the City of London has welcomed her as their new queen? "

"It is possible, " he says evasively.

It is absolutely impossible, but it is not my place to say so. "Who says that she may not be free to marry? "

"The king fears to proceed. His conscience is uneasy. "

I pause, I cannot think fast enough to make sense of this. This is a king who married his own brother's wife, and then put her aside because he said the lifelong marriage was invalid. This is a king who put Anne Boleyn's head on the block as a matter of his own judgment under the exclusive guidance of G.o.d. Clearly, this is not a king who would be deterred from marrying a woman just because some German amba.s.sador did not have the right piece of paper to hand. Then I remember the moment when she pushed him aside, and his face as he stepped back from her at Rochester.

"It is true then. He d"sn't like her. He can't forgive her for her treatment of him at Rochester. He will find a way to get out of the marriage. He is going to claim precontract again. " One glance at the duke's dark face tells me that I have guessed right, and I could almost laugh aloud at this new twist in the play that is King Henry's comedy. "He d"sn't like her, and he is going to send her home. "

"If she confessed that she was precontracted, she could go home again, without dishonor, and the king would be free, " the duke says quietly.

"But she likes him, " I say. "At any rate, she likes him enough. And she can't go home again. No woman of any sense would go home again. Go back to be spoiled goods in Cleves when you could be Queen of England? She would never want that. Who would marry her if he refuses her? Who could marry her if he declares her precontracted? Her life would be over. "

"She could clear herself of the precontract, " he says reasonably.

"Is there one? "

He shrugs. "Almost certainly not. "

I think for a moment. "Then how can she be released from something that d"s not exist? "

He smiles. "That is a matter for the Germans. She can be sent home against her will, if she d"s not cooperate. "

"Not even the king can abduct her and fling her out of the kingdom. "

"If she could be entrapped into saying that there was a precontract. " His voice is like a whisper of silk. "If it came from her own mouth that she is not free to marry "

I nod. I begin to see the favor he would have of me.

"The king would be most grateful to the man who could tell him that he had a confession from her. And the woman who brought such a confession about would be most high in his favor. And in mine. "

"I am yours to command, " I say to give myself time to think. "But I cannot make her lie. If she knows she is free to marry, then she would be mad to say otherwise. And if I claim that she has said otherwise, she has only to deny it. Then it is her word against mine, and we are back to the truth again. " I pause as a fear occurs to me. "My lord, I take it that there is no possibility of an accusation? "

"What sort of accusation? "

"Of some crime? " I say nervously.

"Do you mean she might be charged with treason? "

I nod. I will not say the word myself. I wish that I could never hear the word again. It leads to the Tower Green and the executioner's block. It took the love of my life from me. It ended the life we lived forever.

"How could it be treason? " he asks me, as if we do not live in a dangerous world where everything can be treason.

"The law has changed so much, and being innocent is no defense anymore. "

Abruptly he shakes his head. "There's no possibility of him accusing her, anyway. The King of France is entertaining the Holy Roman Emperor in Paris at this very moment. They could be planning a joint attack on us even as we speak. We can do nothing that might upset Cleves. We have to have an alliance with the Protestant princes, or we risk standing alone to face a Spain and France that have united against us. If the English Papists rise again as they did before we will be finished. She has to confess herself betrothed to another and go home by her own free will so that we lose the girl and keep the alliance. Or if someone were to trap her into making a confession, that would be good enough. But if she persists in saying that she is free to marry and if she insists upon marriage, then the king will have to do it. We cannot offend her brother. "

"Whether the king likes it or not? "

"Though he hates it, though he hates the man who contrived it, and even though he hates her. "

I pause for a moment. "If he hates her and yet marries her, he will find some way to be rid of her later. " I am thinking aloud.

The duke says nothing, but his eyelids hood his dark eyes. "Oh, who can foretell the future? "

"She will be in the greatest of danger every day of her life, " I predict. "If the king wants rid of her, he will soon think that it is G.o.d's will that he is rid of her. "

"That is generally the way that G.o.d's will seems to be manifest, " the duke says with a wolfish grin.

"Then he will find her guilty of some offense, " I say. I will not say the word treason.

"If you care for her at all, you will persuade her to go now, " the duke says quietly.

I walk slowly back to the queen's rooms. She will not be advised by me, in preference to her amba.s.sadors; and I am not free to tell her what I truly think. But if I had been her true friend, I would have told her that Henry is not a man to take as a husband if he hates you before the wedding day. His malice toward women who cross him is fatal. Who would know better than me?

Anne, Greenwich Palace, January 3, 1540 The lady-in-waiting Jane Boleyn seems troubled, and I tell her that she can sit beside me. I ask her, in English, if she is well.

She beckons my translator to come and sit with us, and she says that she is troubled by a matter of some delicacy.

I think it must be something about precedence at the wedding; they are so anxious about the order of the service and what jewels everyone may wear. I nod as if it is a serious matter and ask her if I may serve her.

"On the contrary; I am anxious to be of service to you, " she says, speaking quietly to Lotte. She translates for me; I nod. "I hear that your amba.s.sadors have forgotten to bring the contract that releases you from a previous betrothal. "

"What? " I speak so sharply that she guesses the meaning of the German word, and nods, her face as grave as my own.

"So they have not told you? "

I shake my head. "Nothing, " I say in English. "They tell nothing. "

"Then I am glad to speak with you before you are ill advised, " she says rapidly, and I wait as the words are translated. She leans forward and takes my hands. Her clasp is warm, her face intent. "When they ask you about your previous betrothal, you must tell them that it was annulled, and that you have seen the doc.u.ment, " she says earnestly. "If they ask why your brother failed to send it, you can say that you don't know, that it is not your responsibility to bring the papers *as indeed it was not. "

I am breathless; something about her intensity makes me feel fearful. I cannot think why my brother should be so careless of my marriage, then I remember his constant resentment of me. He has betrayed his own plan from malice; at the last moment he could not bear to let me go smoothly from him.

"I see you are shocked, " she says. "Dearest Lady Anne, be warned by me, and never let them think for a moment that there is no doc.u.ment, that you have a previous betrothal still in place. You must tell a powerful and convincing lie. You must tell them that you have seen the doc.u.ments and that your previous betrothal was definitely annulled. "

"But it was, " I say slowly. I repeat in English so she cannot be mistaken. "I have seen the doc.u.ment. It is not a lie. I am free to marry. "

"You are certain? " she asks intently. "These things can be done without a girl knowing what plans are made. No one would blame you if you were at all uncertain. You can tell me. Trust me. Tell me the truth. "

"It was canceled, " I say again. "I know that it was canceled. The betrothal was my father's plan, but not my brother's. When my father was ill and then died, then my brother ruled, and the betrothal was finished. "

"Why do you not have the doc.u.ment, then? "

"My brother, " I start. "My foolish brother My brother is careless of my well-being, " Lotte rapidly translates. "And my father died so recently, and my mother is so distressed, there has been too much for him to do. My brother has the doc.u.ment in our records room, I myself have seen it; but he must have forgotten to send it. There was so much to arrange. "

"If you are in any doubt at all, you must tell me, " she cautions me. "And I can advise you what best we should do. You see from my coming to you and advising you that I am utterly loyal to you. But if there is any chance that your brother d"s not have the doc.u.ment, you must tell me, Lady Anne; tell me for your own safety, and I will plan with you what we can best do. "

I shake my head. "I thank you for your care of me, but there is no need. I have seen the doc.u.ments myself, and so have my amba.s.sadors, " I say. "There is no impediment, I know I am free to marry the king. "

She nods as if she is still waiting for something else. "I am so glad. "

"And I want to marry the king. "

"If you wished to avoid the marriage, now you have seen him, you could do so, " she says very quietly. "This is your chance to escape. If you did not like him, you could get safely home, with no word against you. I could help you. I could tell them that you had told me that you are not certain, that you may be precontracted. "

I withdraw my hands from hers. "I do not want to escape, " I say simply. "This is a great honor for me and my country, and a great joy for me. "

Jane Boleyn looks skeptical.

"Truly, " I say. "I long to be Queen of England, I am coming to love this country, and I want to make my life here. "

"Indeed? "

"Yes, on my honor. " I hesitate, and then I tell her the greatest reason. "I was not very happy at my home, " I admit. "I was not highly regarded or well treated. Here I can be somebody. I can do good. At home I will never be more than an unwanted sister. "

She nods. Many women know what it is to be in the way while the great affairs of men go on without them.

"I want to have a chance, " I say. "I want to have a chance to be the woman I can be. Not my brother's creature, not my mother's daughter. I want to stay here and grow into myself. "

She is silent for a moment. I am surprised at the depth of my own feeling. "I want to be a woman in my own right, " I say.

"A queen is not free, " she points out.

"She is better than a duke's disliked sister. "

"Very well, " she says quietly.

"I suppose the king must be angry with my amba.s.sadors for forgetting the papers? " I ask.

"I am sure that he is, " she says, her eyes sliding sideways. "But they will give their word that you are free to marry, and I am sure it will all go ahead. "

"There is no possibility of the marriage being delayed? " I am surprised at my own feeling. I have such a strong sense that I can do much for this country, that I can be a good queen here. I want to start at once.

"No, " she says. "The amba.s.sadors and the king's council will resolve it. I am sure. "

I pause. "He d"s want to marry me? "

She smiles at me and touches my hand. "Of course he d"s. This is just a small difficulty. The amba.s.sadors will undertake to produce the doc.u.ment and the marriage will go ahead. Just as long as you are certain that the doc.u.ment is there? "

"It is there, " I say, and I am speaking nothing but the truth. "I can swear to it. "