In the Shadow of the Crown - Plaidy Jean (книги хорошем качестве бесплатно без регистрации .txt) 📗

I said to her, “You will have to be prepared.”

“Yes. What shall I wear? What am I to do?”

“You will just be there. You will do nothing. It is just a gesture…to show this is a family matter.”

She clasped her hands and looked ecstatic. Edward was smiling, well pleased. I could not fathom Seymour's expression; but I felt sure that he must be very unhappy to have lost his bride.

MY FATHER WAS DETERMINED that there should be no delay. On the 10th of July of that year 1543 Archbishop Cranmer granted a license for the marriage, and two days later it took place.

Elizabeth and I were present, and with us was our cousin, Lady Margaret Douglas. The ceremony took place in the Queen's Closet at Hampton Court and was presided over by Gardiner, the Bishop of Winchester.

The King was attended by that other Seymour, Edward, now Lord Hertford. Thomas had tactfully retired from Court. I wondered whether it was because he could not bear to see the one he loved married to someone else, or that he feared the King might have discovered his feelings for the lady. In any case it would be discreet for him to banish himself. Over the years I had learned something of men, and I was almost certain that Thomas Seymour's feelings might not go as deep as he would charmingly indicate they did. Men such as he charm effortlessly. He did it automatically, and such men should not be taken seriously. Perhaps Lady Latimer had done just that. I was desperately sorry for her. How did she feel as the nuptial ring was put on her finger? Surely her thoughts must be with her predecessors?

I greatly admired my new stepmother. She was a woman of remarkable courage, and it was sad to think that she, who had been a nurse to two husbands, should have a similar task awaiting her… but with an alarming difference. This last marriage could take her by a few steps to the scaffold; and that was a thought which must always be with her.

Yet after she had overcome her initial fear she gave no sign that it haunted her. As for the King, he was delighted. Most people thought that here was a wife who was personable enough to please him and of a temperament to soothe him; and in any case they might hope for a more peaceful life ahead.

We were of an age to be friends, and I felt this could be a happy state of affairs between us.

On the day of her marriage she gave me a gold bracelet set with rubies. I exclaimed at their beauty.

“I want you to think of me when you wear it,” she told me. “It is a very special wish of mine that we shall be friends.”

I was touched and replied that it was what I hoped for.

“You must not think of me as a mother,” she said. “How could you? I know how dearly you loved your own mother. But perhaps we could be as sisters. I shall regard you and dear Edward and Elizabeth as my own… that is, if they will allow me to.”

“They will be pleased to. Both of them have lacked a mother.”

She nodded. “I want you to accept this money,” she went on. “I know that it is sometimes difficult for you to meet your expenses.”

“Oh please…you are too kind to me.”

“There must be no reluctance to help each other. That is how it is with sisters…is it not? Or it should be.”

She gave me ?25, which was quite a princely sum to me.

She went on, “I want to make things happy … between you all and your father. You are at Court now … but Elizabeth shall come, too.”

“That is what she wants more than anything.”

“It is her right, and I shall do my best.”

“She will love you for it.”

“And for other things besides, I hope.”

I said earnestly, “I believe this is a happy day for us all now that you have become the Queen.”

“I pray so,” she said very seriously. “I hope so. You are to come with us on our journey. It is the King's wish.”

“Yes, he has changed toward me of late. Since he was… alone…he has sought my company. Perhaps now he will not want me there.”

She shook her head. “No, there will be no change. You are the King's daughter, and if it is in my power I shall remind him of this…if by some chance he should forget.”

“You must walk carefully,” I said before I could stop myself.

“Never fear,” she replied. “I shall take every step with care.”

BEFORE THE ROYAL PARTY could leave Hampton on what I supposed was to be a honeymoon, there was trouble over a group of reformers at Windsor.

The teachings of Martin Luther were taking a hold in some parts of the Continent and there were people who were working hard to bring them to England. Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, was a firm Catholic, though he wholeheartedly supported the King's supremacy of the Church, but it was the Catholic Church and the only difference from the old religion was that the King was Head of the Church and not the Pope as before.

This was how the King preferred it to be. It was not the religion he objected to—only the power of the Pope to dictate to him. So, Gardiner was favored by him.

He was, however, watchful of those who wanted change, and as a result Anthony Pearsons, a priest, and three others, Robert Testwood, Henry Filmer and John Marbeck, were arrested. John Marbeck was a chorister at Court whose singing had particularly pleased the King.

Books favoring the new religion had been found in their apartments which was enough to condemn them all to the flames.

The Queen asked me to come to her, and when I arrived I found her in deep distress.

She dismissed all her attendants and we were alone.

“What ails Your Majesty?” I asked.

She looked over her shoulder nervously.

I said, “None can hear us.”

“It is these men,” she said. “They will be burned at the stake.”

“They are heretics,” I reminded her.

“They are thinkers,” she replied.

“It is forbidden to have books such as they have had in their possession.”

“How can that be a crime?”

“It is a crime because it is against the law.”

“If men are not allowed to think…if they are not allowed to have opinions, how will the world ever advance?”

“They may have opinions if they coincide with what is the law of the country.”

She covered her face with her hands. “I cannot bear this intolerance.”

“Tell me,” I said. “Why does this affect you so deeply?”

“Because these men will be burned for their opinions.”

“A foretaste of what they will suffer in Hell.”

“Do you think God would be as cruel as men?”

“We are taught that Hell awaits the wicked.”

“All these men have done is read books and talk of religion.”

I stared at her. I was horrified… not so much because of her faith— which was diametrically opposed to my own—but because of what this could lead her to. Here she was, a few weeks married to my father, already confessing that she was as guilty as those men. She was leaning toward heresy. Yet such was my affection for her that I could only think of the danger she was in.

“Your Majesty…my lady…”

She held her head high. “I shall always uphold the right of men and women to act according to their consciences,” she said.

“Please… please do not mention this to anyone.”

Suddenly she put her arms round me, and I forgot my reserve sufficiently to cling to her. Already I loved the woman, and I wanted to protect her. My thoughts were all for her safety.

“You must never, never talk like that to anyone,” I said.

“Not yet …” she answered.

“You think…”

“There may come a time. Life is changing. Opinions change. The truth will shine through in the end.”

“You mean… the reformed Church?”

“I mean that whatever is right must prevail.”

“My lady…my dear stepmother, I want you to be here to see it.”

“How fortunate I am to have you as my friend!”

“I want our friendship to last. I do not want it to be cut short. I have lived through some dangerous years…”