Виктория Холт - My Enemy the Queen

"His brother Guildford had married Jane," she went on. "That sly fox Northumberland had seen to that. It could have been Rob —imagine that. But Fate married him off so he was not available, and although it was a mesalliance, it is one for which we must be grateful. So there we were in the Beauchamp Tower. The Earl of Sussex came to me. I remember it clearly. Would not you, Cousin Lettice, if you thought that before long your body would be deprived of its head? I had made up my mind that it would be no ax for me. I would have a sword from France." Her expression was blank suddenly and I knew she was thinking of her mother. "But in fact I never intended to die. I determined that it must not come to that, and I stood firm against them all. Something within me said: 'Have patience. In a few years all this will have changed.' Yes, I swear it. I knew this would come to pass."

"It was the prayers of Your Majesty's subjects which you heard," I said.

She never saw through flattery, or perhaps she did and liked it so much that she gobbled it up like a gourmand who knows it is bad for him but finds it irresistible.

"That may be. But I was taken to the Traitor's Gate and for a moment—though only for a moment—my heart failed me. And as I alighted and stood in the water, because the fools had misjudged the tide, I cried out: 'Here lands as true a subject, being prisoner, as ever landed at these stairs. Before Thee, oh God, I speak it, having no other friend but Thee alone.'"

"I know it well, Your Majesty," I told her. "Your brave words were recorded. They were both brave and clever, for the Lord, put thus on His mettle, must prove that He was as good an ally as all your enemies put together."

She looked at me and laughed. "You amuse me, Cousin," she said. "You must stay with me."

Then she went on to explain: "It was all so romantic. But then anything concerned with Rob always is. He made friends with the warder's boy, who adored him. Even little boys are aware of Robin's charm. The boy brought him flowers and Robin sent them to me ... by way of the child ... and there was a note for me enclosed in them. Thus I knew he was in the Tower and where. He was always audacious. He might have got us straightway to the block, but then, as he said when I taunted him with this, we were both halfway there already. And he never visualized failure; that is a quality we share. When they allowed me to walk out for exercise in the precincts of the Tower I went past Robert's cell. Oh, they were afraid to be too harsh with me, those jailers. Wise men! There was a chance I might remember ... one day. And so should I. But I found Robin and saw him through the bars of his window and that encounter sweetened our prison stay for both of us."

Once she started talking of Robert she found it difficult to stop.

"He was the first to come to me, :Lettice," she went on. "That was right and fitting. The Queen, my sister, was sick unto death. Poor Mary, my heart went out to her. I was ever her good and faithful subject as all should be to their sovereign. But the people were sickened by what had happened during her reign. They wanted an end to religious persecution. They wanted a Protestant queen."

Her eyes were slightly veiled. Yes, I thought, it was so, my Queen. And if they had wanted a Catholic queen would you have obliged? I had no doubt in my mind as to the answer to that. Her religion sat lightly on her; perhaps it was as well; the late Queen had been so heavily weighed down by hers that it had ruined her good name with her people and made them rejoice in her death.

"A queen must rule through the will of the people," said Elizabeth. "Praise God, it is a truth which is clear to me. When my sister was near to death, the road to Hatfield was crowded with those who would come to pay homage to Elizabeth, whose name, but a short while before, few of them dared mention. But Robert had always been for me, and it was meet and fitting that he should be the first to come to me. He stood before me, freshly arrived from France. He would have been with me before, he told me, but by so doing he would have put me in danger. And he brought gold with him ... a token that should it be necessary to fight for my rights he would be beside me and would raise money to support me ... aye, and he would have done so."

"His loyalty did him credit," I said, and added slyly: "And brought him much good. Your Majesty's Master of Horse, no less."

"He has a way with horses, Lettice."

"And with women, Your Majesty."

I had gone too far. I realized that at once and a shiver ran through me. • "Why say you that?" she demanded.

"A man of such excellent parts, of such fine countenance and figure must surely enchant all that is female, Madam, walk they on two or four legs."

She was suspicious and although she allowed my comment to pass, my face was slapped none too gently a short while later because, she said, I handled one of her gowns clumsily. But I knew it was not for the gown but for Robert Dudley. Those beautifully shaped hands could deliver a sturdy blow, particularly when some jeweled ring cut into the skin. A gentle reminder that it would be unwise to displease the Queen.

I noticed that on the next occasion when Robert was present she watched him closely—and me. We did not look at each other and I think she was satisfied.

Robert was completely unaware of me in those days. He was firmly bent on one ambition from which nothing could make him swerve. At that time the determination to marry the Queen occupied him day and night.

I often wondered about his poor wife in the country and what she thought about the rumors. The fact that he never brought her to Court must have aroused her suspicion. I thought what fun it would be to bring her there. I imagined myself calling on Lady Amy and suggesting that she accompany me back to Court. I liked to picture myself presenting her. "Your Majesty, my good friend, Lady Dudley. You have shown such favor to my lord that passing Cumnor Place in Berkshire and meeting the lady, I was sure you would wish to give Lord Robert the pleasure of his wife's company." By which I betray that mischievous streak in my nature—also my annoyance because I, Lettice Knollys, so much more attractive than Elizabeth Tudor, was ignored—not even seen at all—by the most handsome man at Court; and all because she possessed a crown and I had nothing but myself.

I would, of course, never have dared to bring Lady Dudley to Court. There would be more than a sharp slap on the cheek if I did. I could see myself returning to Rotherfield Greys never to emerge again.

I was amused when an old woman was arrested for having slandered the Queen. It amazed me that a woman of no fixed address who spent her life tramping the countryside, doing odd jobs for which she could get food and lodging, should think she knew more of what happened in the Queen's bedchamber than those of us who were in attendance on her.

However, it seemed that old Mother Dowe, while doing some mending for a lady, had heard that lady say that Lord Robert had given the Queen a petticoat for a gift. Later Mother Dowe offered the information that it was not a petticoat which Lord Robert had given the Queen, but a child.

If the story had been clearly conjecture and utterly incredible, there would have been no need to take any notice of a mad old woman; but in view of the Queen's attitude towards Robert and his towards her, and the fact that they were undoubtedly often in each other's company unattended, the story could have been believed. Thus the old woman was arrested and the news of that arrest spread through the country at great speed.

Elizabeth showed her growing skill by dismissing the woman as mad and allowing her to go about her business, thus earning her undying gratitude, for the poor creature must have anticipated cruel death for spreading such rumors; and very soon the case of Mother Dowe was forgotten.