Stephanie Merritt: Conspiracy

‘You will follow Henri’s instructions to the letter,’ Catherine said. ‘And keep away from the Tuileries from now on. I sincerely hope not to cross paths with you again, Doctor Bruno. My advice is to stop meddling in the affairs of princes if you intend to keep your head attached to your neck for the long-term. As I said, you are a dangerous man. But the greatest danger you pose is to yourself, I fear.’

‘It is a lesson I will take to heart, Your Majesty.’ I scrambled to my feet and offered a hasty bow. I wanted to remind her about the book but I felt that might be stretching her patience too far, in the circumstances.

‘See that you do. Come, Balthasar. And you, Ruggieri.’ She flicked her gnarled fingers in his direction and the old sorcerer heaved himself up, looking at me with undisguised glee.

‘Now we shall see my latest prediction come true,’ he cackled, showing his broken teeth. ‘When I said you should not be in Paris much longer.’

‘Will you take a wager on it?’ I drew myself up, defiant; whatever my fate was to be, I would not go down to the sound of this pseudo-magician’s mockery.

He assumed an air of gravitas. ‘One does not make wagers with the gift of prophecy.’

‘Then what on earth is the point of having it?’ I said, as I walked away.

Henri sat in his mother’s chair, slumped like a straw effigy that had lost its stuffing. His skin looked grey, his eyes dim and unfocused.

‘It’s been a lot to take in,’ he said, with uncharacteristic understatement.

‘I know, sire. I’m sorry. Perhaps your lady mother is right – I should have kept my knowledge to myself.’

‘God, no. Don’t be absurd. She must realise she can’t just go about disposing of people with impunity because they’re in the way. This isn’t Florence.’ He pulled his gaze back to me with an effort. ‘It’s chilling, Bruno – to realise someone has manipulated every aspect of your life without your knowing. With nothing but my best interests at heart, so she says.’ He shook his head in sad amazement. ‘This can never be made public, of course – you understand that? None of it.’

I opened my mouth to reply, but he pressed on:

‘Because of Joseph de Chartres. If Guise or his sister ever learn that he was murdered by someone in my household, they would drive a mob on to the streets calling for justice. They would not rest until we were dragged from the palaces and torn to pieces. So these deaths must be whitewashed. Paul Lefèvre was attacked by thieves. De Chartres was killed in a gaming-house brawl. Léonie tragically took her own life. These will be the official verdicts, set down in the records.’

‘Guise will not accept that.’

‘I think he will, in the end. My mother intends to negotiate with him. She proposes to offer the League a number of concessions that will encourage him to forget about the priest and the friar. I have agreed and given her authority to do so.’

‘What about Balthasar?’

‘Banished from my household and my wife’s. I have been firm about that. He was spying on me anyway. There was always something shifty about him.’ Henri stretched out his legs and contemplated the buckles of his shoes.

‘I mean to say – will he not be punished for the two murders?’

He let out a long sigh and shifted in his seat to look at me from beneath lowered brows. ‘If you mean in the sense of tried and executed, then no. That would be impossible, for the reasons I have already explained. And because I have made a treaty with my mother. His freedom for yours.’

‘Mine?’ I blinked at him. ‘I haven’t murdered anyone.’

‘You should know Catherine well enough to realise that is neither here nor there. You have seriously inconvenienced her. People who do that tend not to last long, as we have seen.’ He sat forward and beckoned me to the chair beside him. ‘I have told her that if any harm should come to you, I will strike her immediately from my royal council. That would be worse than banishment to Catherine, to be denied her say in the running of the kingdom. She knows I am deadly serious.’

You are deadly serious now, I thought, taking my seat. But she also knows well that you are a man of mercurial temper, and the righteous anger you feel today will soon be forgotten. You will not defy her to defend me for ever. Instead, I said:

‘That is a relief. Now I need only worry about the Duke of Guise trying to kill me.’

‘I’ve asked her to speak to Guise about you.’ He pushed a lock of hair out of his eyes. ‘Tell him you are under royal protection. Don’t worry – you will be part of her negotiations.’

I did not find this greatly reassuring; Catherine was entirely capable of striking a private bargain with Guise to get rid of me in some way which would not implicate her, regardless of Henri’s instructions. She might consider that an ideal solution. Even if, by some miracle, Guise agreed to leave me alone, that still did not solve the problem of Paget and Stafford and the fact that they suspected me of uncovering their dealings.

‘Thank you, Your Majesty,’ I said, without much conviction.

‘I will lend you one of my bodyguards for the time being,’ he added, as if he guessed at the tenor of my thoughts. ‘And, Bruno-’ he leaned across and rested a hand on my wrist. ‘I know what you have risked for my sake, to do this thing I asked of you. Neither of us could have foreseen where it would lead. Some men would have chosen to make their own lives easier by keeping the information to themselves.’

‘I have never perfected the art of making my life easier.’

He looked at me with a sad smile. ‘That is because you are cursed with integrity. But I know you also did it in the hope of reward. You are neither a fool nor a saint.’

‘Your Majesty, I-’

‘No need to deny it. You want patronage. Of course you do. And I will keep my word. When I am well, I will think on what I may do for you. For now-’

‘That book,’ I blurted, before he could change the subject. ‘The one she bought from the English girl. She said she wanted me to decipher it, but that was before. But I would still do it, without payment, if you could tell her-’

He nodded. ‘I will see what I can do.’

‘One more thing-’

A crease appeared between his brows; he did not like bargaining. I pressed on, quickly.

‘The Gelosi . The Duchess of Montpensier is holding them in her house, as punishment for my breaking in – though I did not steal anything from her, as she believes. They are supposed to travel to Lyon today, but I fear she will not release them without a royal command.’

‘Christ’s wounds, that woman.’ He grasped the carved armrests and heaved himself to his feet. ‘She is another who has ambitions to rule France. Her brother should rein her in. Believe me, I know about wilful sisters,’ he added darkly. ‘I will send soldiers for the players right away – she needs to learn that she cannot make her own laws in my kingdom. God save us from women with dreams of power, eh, Bruno?’

I bowed my head in assent so he could not see me smiling.

‘On that note,’ he said, pulling his robe around him, ‘I am going to visit my wife. There is one who has been nothing but obedient and kind to me.’ A brief look of remorse passed over his face. ‘I may not have been much of a husband to her, but by God, I will protect her from my mother’s schemes while I still breathe. That much at least I can do.’ He stepped down from the edge of the dais and paused, his eyes on the floor. ‘Do you think, Bruno, if I had been more attentive to my wife, those three people would not now be dead?’

‘You cannot blame yourself, sire,’ I said, though it seemed unusually perceptive of him to say so. ‘It does no good to speculate.’