Nigel Tranter - Lord and Master

'Enough! Enough, sir. Go!'

He rose, as she reached over to ring a little silver bell. 'I go… desolate,' he told her.. 'So long as you go…'

The door opened, and Sidney stood there. 'Fair lady?' he said.

She looked from one to the other, frowning. 'Demons!' she declared. 'Limbs of Satan! Sent to tempt and try and mock me!

Both of you. Begone, begone – before I deal with you as you deserve.'

Sir Philip glanced quickly at Patrick.

That young man sighed, and bowed.

Elizabeth held out her hand to him. He stooped low over h, and then raised it to his lips. Slowly the hand turned over in his. He kissed the palm, the wrist, and was part-way up the forearm, before the Queen flicked him away.

'Off to your grey-eyed Lady Marie,' she ordered, hoarsely. 'I do not wonder that she will not marry you.'

'And the princess, her namesake, Your Grace? Have I permission to go speak with her?'

'We shall consider it, man. We shall see. But do not think it assured. Do not think anything assured.' She turned her slender back on them.

They bowed themselves out.

David waited for his brother in their lodging. 'Did you see the Queen?' he demanded. 'Did you find her more to our favour? Did you speak of the Queen – our Queen?'

'I did, Davy.'

'And what does she say? Will she release Mary?' 'Not so fast, man – not so fast! That will not be achieved in a day. But I think, yes, I think that I will convince her.' 'And the Association in the Crown? Will she agree to that?' Patrick shrugged. That is less certain. Perhaps.' The banished lords?'

'I think, that she will send them back. Time, Davy – just a little time.'

Time for Queen Mary has been long, long.'

'I tell you, I do not think that it will be long now.'

'Why are you doing this, Patrick? Urging the Protestant alliance, working for the English advantage? It is not like you, like all that you have done hitherto. Are you doing it all on behalf of Mary, ofthe Queen? At last?'

'I suppose that you might say so.'

David rubbed his chin. Then, Patrick,' he said stiffly, awkwardly, 'I would say that I love you for it I have said many things ill of what you have done, spoken against your seeming forgetfulness of our poor Queen. But this – this is a great thing that you are doing now. To go so far, to harry Elizabeth herself; to change even the King's policy and risk all…'

His brother eyed him sidelong. 'I am overwhelmed, Davy I'

he murmured'

'Marie…she will love you the better for this, also.' 'Indeed! That is,h'm, a consolation.' For once Patrick did not smile.

'When shall we know? Know whether Mary goes free? Know what is decided?'

'We can only await Elizabeth's pleasure.' Abruptly Patrick turned away. 'I am tired. I am going to bed…'

WAITING on Queen Elizabeth's pleasure was not apt to be a static business, however protracted and uncertain. The waterman had been right when he said that the Queen changed palaces day by day. She was possessed of a great restlessness and nervous energy, which seemed to drive her on to incessant movement, constant change. And all her Court and those who circled in her orbit must move likewise.

On the Tuesday, apparently without warning or prior arrangement, she decided to go on one of her frequent progresses. These peregrinations around the houses of her lords and powerful subjects served the purpose not only of satisfying her restlessness but of seeing and being seen by her people, and incidentally helping to reduce any unseemly surplus wealth which the said lords might have accumulated, and at the same time conserving her own resources; indeed, she deliberately planned her itineraries so as to include those whom she considered most in need of such blood-letting. Since she travelled with anything up to three hundred of a retinue, and expected entertainment suitable for a queen, her descent upon an establishment for even a day or two could have a salutary effect

They left Whitehall in fine style, the Queen driving in a white-painted glass coach drawn by six plumed white horses, their manes and tails dyed orange. Around her rode her gorgeously attired corps of Gentlemen Pensioners, splendidly mounted, led by Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Bacon. Then came her ladies-in-waiting, a blaze of colour, followed by her favourite courtiers – Leicester, Essex, Oxford, and the others, each surrounded by his own little court of admirers and hangers-on.

The Scots party rode with Sir Philip Sidney, who was rapidly becoming the inseparable companion of the Master of Gray, and quite soon they were joined by the dark, wiry, youngish man who had been one of the councillors at the official audience and whom Sidney introduced as Sir Edward Wotton, one of Walsingham's foremost deputies in the realm of foreign affairs. He was affable, charming, paying particular attention to Marie, and strangely enough, to David. Patrick was genially wary with him, as well he might be; anyone high in Walsingham's service was not a man to be under-estimated,

Progress was slow, for the narrow London streets were crowded with cheering people and the Queen's coach could, only proceed at a snail's pace. The Scots were interested at the crowd's obvious affection for Elizabeth. This was something new to them. In Scotland the common people were not great cheerers, and seldom saw much to cheer about in their rulers. The visitors knew of the Queen's boast that her greatest strength lay in the love of her ordinary folk, but it had never meant more than a saying to them, a mere theory.

'Why should your Queen be so well-loved by these people?' Marie asked Wotton. 'What has she done for them?

'She has given them much that they never had before, my lady,' he told her. 'She thinks for them, protects them from the fire and the gibbet of Rome, has paid back her royal father's debts to the city of London, gives them plays and spectacles, and lets them see her. No monarch before her has thought to do all this for the commonality. They love her because she loves them also.' He smiled. 'Your prince, I take it, is not so?'

She shook her head. 'No, I fear not. How could he be? He has never known the people, or they him – kept apart all his life. We had a king like that in Scotland once, who went about amongst the common folk – James Third. They called him the Gudeman of Ballengeich. But his lords resented it, and made constant trouble' Do your nobles here not do likewise?'

'Why should they? If the Crown is strong, the realm is strong, and they are secure therefore. It was not so under the late Queen Mary, Her Grace's sister, nor under previous monarchs. Only fools would change it now.'

Marie sighed. 'I wonder when it may be thus in Scotland?' she said. 'Our lords look for more than peace and the strength of the realm, I fear.'

'If a Scots king could live and reign long enough to gain his full strength, it might be so,' David put in. 'For generations we have not had a prince who did not the young and leave a child as heir.'

Patrick, a vision of elegance, riding just a little in front, with Sidney, looked back over his shoulder, and smiled at them mockingly, saying nothing.

Once free of the congested streets they made but little faster progress with the heavy coach slow on the atrocious roads. A succession of lords and gallants were summoned up to ride for awhile in the royal presence, but no invitation came for Patrick Gray. When Orkney and Marie were sent for to go forward, David drew the obvious conclusions.

'You have offended the Queen, Patrick' he declared. I fear that you have gone too fir with her. And on our Mary Queen's behalf. I am sorry.

'Never think it, Davy. Give her time. She is a woman, and will act the woman. But she will act the princess also, never fear. I believe that I have convinced her what is the best policy where our Queen is concerned. Wait, you.'