The Boleyn Inheritance Part 9

"Yes, but take care, " I say.

He gives me the most rueful sweet smile, bows, and steps to one side.

He limps from the arena, and the victor of this first joust takes a slow canter around the outside circle, his lance held upright, acknowledging the shouts from the crowd who have won their bets on him. I look back at my ladies, and Lady Lisle is gazing after the young man as if she adores him; Katherine Howard, with a cape thrown around her costume, is watching him from the back of the box.

"Enough, " I say. I have to learn to command my ladies. They have to behave as my mother would approve. The Queen of England and her ladies must be above question. Certainly the three of us should not be gawping after a handsome young man. "Katherine, get dressed at once. Lady Lisle, where your husband his lords.h.i.+p? "

They both nod, and Katherine whisks away. I sit back on my throne while another champion and his challenger ride into the ring. This time the p"m is very long and in Latin, and my hand creeps to my pocket where a letter rustles. It is from Elizabeth, the six-year-old princess. I have read it and reread it so often that I know I have her meaning, indeed, I almost have every word by heart. She promises me her respect as a queen and her entire obedience to me as her mother. I could almost weep for her, dear little girl, creating these great solemn phrases and then copying them over and over until the handwriting is as regular as any royal clerk. Clearly, she hopes to come to court, and, indeed, I do think that she might be allowed to enter my household. I have maids-in-waiting who are not very much older than her, and it would be such a pleasure to have her with me. Besides, she lives all but alone, in her own household with her governess and nurse. Surely the king would prefer her to be near us, to be supervised by me?

There is a fanfare of trumpets, and I look up to see the riders drawn to one side and saluting as the king limps across the arena to the front of my box. The pages spring to open the doors so that he can mount the steps. He has to be heaved up by a young man on either side. I know enough about him by now to know that this, before a watching crowd, will make him bad-tempered. He feels humiliated and self-conscious, and his first desire will be to humiliate someone else. I stand and curtsy to greet him; I never know whether I should put out my hand or reach forward in case he wants to kiss me. Today, before the crowd that likes me, he draws me to him and kisses me on the mouth, and everyone cheers. He is clever at this; he always d"s something to please the crowd.

He sits on his chair, and I stand beside him.

"Culpepper took a hard knock, " he says.

I don't quite understand this, so I say nothing to it. There is an awkward silence, and clearly it is my turn to speak. I have to think hard to find something to say and the correct English words. Finally I have it: "You like to joust? " I ask.

The scowl he turns on me is quite terrifying; his eyebrows are drawn down so hard that they almost cover his furious little eyes. I have clearly said utterly the wrong thing and offended him very deeply. I gasp. I don't know what I have said that is so very bad.

"Excuse me, forgive " I stammer.

"I like to joust? " he repeats bitterly. "Indeed, yes, I would like to joust, but for being crippled with pain with a wound that never heals, that is poisoning me every day, that will be the death of me. Probably in a matter of months. That makes it agony to walk and agony to stand and agony to ride, but no fool thinks of it. "

Lady Lisle steps forward. "Sire, Your Grace, what the queen means to say is, do you like to watch the joust? " she says quickly. "She did not mean to offend you, Your Grace. She is learning our language with remarkable speed, but she cannot help small errors. "

"She cannot help being as dull as a block, " he shouts at her. Spittle from his pursed mouth sprays her face, but she d"s not flinch. Steadily she sinks into a curtsy and stays down low.

He looks her over but d"s not tell her to rise. He leaves her in her discomfort and turns to me. "I like to watch it because it is all that is left for me, " he says bitterly. "You know nothing, but I was the greatest champion. I took on all comers. Not once, but every time. I jousted in disguise so that no one did me any favors, and even when they rode as hard as they could I still defeated them. I was the greatest champion in England. n.o.body could defeat me, I would ride all day, I would break dozens of lances. Do you understand that, you dullard? "

Still shaken, I nod, though in truth, he speaks so fast and so angrily that I can understand hardly any of this. I try to smile, but my lips are trembling.

"No one could beat me, " he insists. "Ever. Not one knight. I was the greatest jouster in England, perhaps in the world. I was unbeatable, and I could ride all day and dance all night, and be up the next day at dawn to go hunting. You know nothing. Nothing. Do I like to joust? *good G.o.d, I was the heart of chivalry! I was the darling of the crowd, I was the toast of every tournament! There was none like me! I was the greatest knight since those of the round table! I was a legend. "

"No one who saw you could ever forget it, " Lady Lisle says sweetly, raising her head. "You are the greatest knight that ever entered a ring. Even now I have never seen your equal. There is no equal. None of them in these days can equal you. "

"Hmm, " he says irritably, and falls silent.

There is a long, awkward pause, and there is n.o.body in the jousting arena to divert us. Everyone is waiting for me to say something pleasant to my husband, who sits in silence, scowling at the herbs on the floor.

"Oh, get up, " he says crossly to Lady Lisle. "Your old knees will lock up if you stay down for much longer. "

"I have letter, " I say quietly, trying to change the subject to something less controversial to him.

He turns and looks at me; he tries to smile, but I can see he is irritated by me, by my accent, by my halting speech.

"You have letter, " he repeats, in harsh mimicry.

"From Princess Elizabeth, " I say.

"Lady, " he replies. "Lady Elizabeth. "

I hesitate. "Lady Elizabeth, " I say obediently. I take out my precious letter and show it to him. "May she come here? May she live with me? "

He twitches the letter from my hand, and I have to stop myself from s.n.a.t.c.hing it back. I want to keep it. It is my first letter from my little stepdaughter. He screws up his eyes to stare at it, then he snaps at his page boy who hands him his spectacles. He puts them on to read, but he shades his face from the crowd so that the common people shall not know that the King of England is losing the sight of his squinty eyes. He scans the letter quickly, then he hands it with the spectacles to his page.

"Is my letter, " I say quietly.

"I shall reply for you. "

"Can she come to me? "

"No. "

"Your Grace, please? "

"No. "

I hesitate, but my stubborn nature, learned under the hard fist of my brother, a bad-tempered, spoiled child just like this king, urges me on.

"So why not? " I demand. "She writes me, she asks me, I wish to see her. So why not? "

He rises to his feet and leans on the back of the chair to look down on me. "She had a mother so unlike you, in every way, that she ought not to ask for your company, " he says flatly. "If she had known her mother, she would never ask to see you. And so I shall tell her. " Then he rises to his feet and stamps down the stairs, out of my box, and across the arena to his own.

Jane Boleyn, Whitehall Palace, February 1540 I have been expecting this summons to confer with my lord the duke at some stage during the tournament, but he did not send for me. Perhaps he, too, remembers the tournament at May Day and the fall of her handkerchief and the laughter of her friends. Perhaps even he cannot hear the trumpet sound without thinking of her white-faced and desperate on that hot May Day morning. He waits until the tournament is over and life in the palace of Whitehall has returned to normal and then he tells me to come to his rooms.

This is a palace for plotting, all the corridors twist round and about each other; every courtyard has a little garden at the center where one may meet by accident; every apartment has at least two entrances. Not even I know all the secret ways from the bedrooms to hidden water gates. Not even Anne did, not even my husband, George, who stole away so often.

The duke commands me to come to him privately after dinner, and so I slip away from the dining hall and go the long way round in case anyone is watching me before entering his rooms without knocking, in silence.

He is seated at his fireside. I see by the servant clearing the plates that he has dined alone and eaten better than we did in the hall, I imagine. The kitchens are so far from the dining hall in this old-fas.h.i.+oned palace that the food is always cold. Everyone who has private rooms has their food cooked for them in their own chambers. The duke has the best rooms here, as he d"s almost everywhere. Only Cromwell is better housed than the head of our house. The Howards have always been the first of families, even when their girl is not on the throne. There is always dirty work to be done and that is our speciality. The duke waves the server away and offers me a gla.s.s of wine.

"You can sit, " he says.

I know by this honor that the work he has for me will be confidential and perhaps dangerous. I sit and sip my wine.

"And how are matters in the queen's rooms? " he asks agreeably.

"Well enough, " I reply. "She is learning more of our language every day, and she understands almost everything now, I think. Some of the others underestimate her understanding. They should be warned. "

"I hear the warning, " he nods. "And her temper? "

"Pleasant, " I say. "She shows no signs of missing her home; indeed, she seems to have a great affection and interest in England. She is a good mistress to the younger maids, she watches them and considers them, and she has high standards; she keeps good command in her rooms. She is observant but not overly religious. "

"She prays like a Protestant? "

"No, she follows the king's order of service, " I say. "She is meticulous in it. "

He nods. "No desire to return to Cleves? "

"None that she has ever mentioned. "

"Odd. "

He waits. This is his way. He stays silent until one feels obliged to comment.

"I think there is bad feeling between her and her brother, " I volunteer at last. "And I think Queen Anne was beloved of her father, who was sick from drink at the end of his life. It sounds as if the brother took his place and his authority. "

He nods. "So no chance of her being willing to step down from the throne and go home? "

I shake my head. "Never. She loves being queen, and she has a fancy to be a mother to the royal children. She would have Prince Edward at her side if she could, and she was bitterly disappointed that she could not see the Prin *the Lady Elizabeth. She hopes to have children of her own, and she wants to gather her stepchildren around her. She is planning her life here, her future. She will not go willingly, if that is in your mind. "

He spreads his hands. "Nothing is in my mind, " he lies.

I wait for him to tell me what he wants next.

"And the girl, " he says. "Our young Katherine. The king has taken a liking to her, hasn't he? "

"Very much so, " I agree. "And she is as clever with him as a woman twice her age. She is very skilled. She appears completely sweet and very innocent, and yet she displays herself like a Smithfield wh.o.r.e. "

"Charming indeed. D"s she have ambitions? "

"No, only greed. "

"She has no thought that the king has married his wives' maids-in-waiting before now? "

"She is a fool, " I say shortly. "She is a skilled flirt because that is her great delight, but she can plan no more than a lapdog. "

"Why not? " He is momentarily diverted.

"She has no thought of the future; she cannot imagine beyond the next masque. She will do tricks for sweets, but she d"s not dream that she might learn to hunt and pull down the greatest prize. "

"Interesting. " He bares his yellow teeth in a smile. "You are always interesting, Jane Boleyn. And so: to the king and queen. I escort him to her room every other night. Do you know if he has yet managed to do the act? "

"We are all certain that he has not, " I say. I lower my voice though I know I am safe in these rooms. "I think he is unmanned. "

"Why d'you think that? "

I shrug. "It was the case in the last months with Anne. We all know that. "

He gives a short laugh. "We know it now. "

It was George, my George, who told the world that the king was impotent when he was on trial for his life. Typical of George, with nothing left to lose, to say the unsayable, the one thing he should have kept secret. He was daring to the very steps of the scaffold.

"D"s he show her that he is discontented? D"s she know that she d"s not please him? "

"He is courteous enough, but cold. It's as if he d"sn't even think of her with pleasure. As if he cannot get pleasure from anything. "

"D'you think he could do it with anyone else? "

"He is old, " I start, but the quick glare from the old duke reminds me that he is no stripling himself. "That should not prevent him, of course. But he is sick with the pain of his leg, and I think that this is worse recently. Certainly it smells worse, and he limps very heavily. "

"So I see. "

"And he is costive. "

He makes a face. "As we all know. " The latest movement of the king's bowels is of constant concern to the court, for their own interest as much as his; when he is bound his temper is much worse.

"And she d"s nothing to arouse him. "

"She discourages him? "

"Not exactly, but my guess is that she d"s nothing to help him. "

"Is she mad? If she wants to stay married, it all depends on her getting a son from him. "

I hesitate. "I believe that she has been cautioned against appearing light or wanton. " I can hear a little gurgle of laughter in the back of my voice. "Her mother and her brother are very strict, I think. She has been severely brought up. Her great concern seems to be not to give the king cause to complain that she is amorous or hot-blooded. "

He lets out a crack of laughter. "What are they thinking of? Would you send a king like this a block of ice, and expect him to thank you? " Then he sobers again. "So do you believe that she is a virgin still? He has managed nothing? "

"Yes, sir, I think she is. "

"She will be anxious about these matters, I suppose? "

I take a sip of wine. "She has taken no one into her confidence, as far as I know. Of course she may speak to her own countrywomen in their language, but they are not intimate, there is no whispering in corners. Perhaps she is ashamed. Perhaps she is discreet. I think she is keeping the king's failure as a secret between the two of them. "

"Commendable, " he says dryly. "Unusual in a woman. D'you think she would talk to you? "

"She might. What do you want her to say? "

He pauses. "The alliance with Cleves may no longer be so important, " he says. "The friends.h.i.+p between France and Spain is weakening. Who knows? It may be falling apart even as we speak. So if they are not allies, then we no longer need the friends.h.i.+p of the Lutherans of Germany against the united Papists of France and Spain. " He pauses. "I am going to France myself, on the king's command, to the court of King Francis to find how friendly he is with Spain. If King Francis tells me that he has no love of Spain, that he is weary of them and their perfidy, then he might choose to join with England against them. In such a case we wouldn't need the friends.h.i.+p of Cleves; we wouldn't need a Cleves queen on the throne. " He pauses for emphasis. "In such a case we would be better with an empty throne. We would do better if our king was free to marry a French princess. "

My head is spinning, as it often d"s when I talk with the duke. "My lord, are you saying that the king could make an alliance with France now, and so he d"s not need the Queen Anne's brother as his friend anymore? "

"Exactly so. Not only d"s he not need him, the friends.h.i.+p of Cleves could become an embarra.s.sment. If France and Spain are not arming against us, we don't need Cleves, we don't want to be tied up with Protestants. We might ally with either France or Spain. We might want to join the great players again. We might even reconcile with the Pope. If G.o.d were with us, then we might get the king forgiven, restore the old religion, and bring the church in England back under the rule of the Pope. Anything, as always with King Henry, is possible. In all of the Privy Council there was only one man who thought that Duke William would prove to be a great a.s.set, and that man may be about to fall. "

I gasp. "Thomas Cromwell is about to fall? "

He pauses. "The most important diplomatic mission, that of discovering the feeling in France, has been given to me, not Thomas Cromwell. The king's thoughts that the reform of the church has gone too far are shared with me, not with Thomas Cromwell. Thomas Cromwell made the Cleves alliance. Thomas Cromwell made the Cleves marriage. It turns out that we don't need the alliance and that the marriage is not consummated. It turns out the king d"s not like the Cleves mare. Ergo (that means therefore, my dear Lady Rochford), ergo we might dispense with the mare, the marriage, the alliance, and the broker: Thomas Cromwell. "

"And you become the king's chief advisor? "

"Perhaps. "

"You would advise him into alliance with France? "

"G.o.d willing. "

"And speaking of G.o.d, he reconciles with the church? "