Nigel Tranter: The Wisest Fool

Spreading his hands, he bowed before her urgency. "Very well -if needs I must."

"I would come with you-but that would wholly arouse the Master's suspicions. Force his hand, perhaps. But I shall send messages of aught I hear. Warn you if there seems to be any sudden change. I have a, a helper in Her Grace's household. Even if I cannot be with you, we can act in concert"

"So be it, Mistress. And you? Where will I reach you, if I require to?" "In the Master of Gray's lodging, here in Holyroodhouse.'' "Dear Heaven!" he said.

"And, see you, sir-if we are to work thus close together, on His Grace's behalf, we can dispense with this Mistress Gray and Master Heriot, can we not? I have never found the name Mary to displease me."

He smiled. "Your friend, my Lord Duke of Lennox, was gracious enough to be saying the same two nights ago. I told him that my friends call me Geordie."

"Dear Vicky, he is a good judge. Though, to be sure, it will not be easy to call the richest man in Scotland Geordie " "Am I that?" "So men do say. Are they wrong?"

"Say that more men owe me money than any other in Scotland! I think it is scarce the same thing!"

IT IS EIGHTEEN miles from Edinburgh to Linlithgow in West Lothian, on the road to Stirling, and George Heriot and his grooms, getting away from Holyroodhouse again without hindrance, required less than four hours, even in darkness, to reach it. So they halted at the little wayside kirk of Binning, tied their horses to tombstones, and rolled themselves in their cloaks to sleep on the floor within. If the grooms thought it sacrilegious, Heriot did not

In the event, they overslept despite the hardness of the beaten-earth floor, for they were all bone-weary with long riding. Heriot left a silver groat between the leaves of the pulpit bible to mystify the minister, and moved on to Linlithgow town to breakfast, also to shave, before presenting himself at the gatehouse of the brown stone palace up on its green eminence above the wimpling loch in the sunny, breezy, April mid-morning.

He had no difficulty in getting past the guard, for all the Queen's household knew him. He had been the Queen's jeweller since 1597 and only later entered the King's service also. Anne was not the easiest person to deal with, any more than was her husband; but Heriot was grateful to her, for it was undoubtedly through her patronage and influence that he had become not only jeweller but banker to a large part of the aristocracy of Scotland. His father before him, of the Heriots of Trabroun, had been a prosperous Edinburgh goldsmith and burgess, but it was George's connection with the Court which had brought the real wealth.

Queen Anne had her own Court, smaller but almost independent of her husband's-for the truth was that they got on only indifferently well together. It would, indeed, have required the patience and forbearance of a saint to put up with James Stewart, in matrimony-and Anne of Holstein was far from saintly, or even patient. She was moody, extravagant, pleasure-loving and strong-willed-but also she was essentially kind-hearted, even generous, and straightforward. A daughter of the vehement, restless but autocratic Frederick the Second of Denmark, she took but ill to many of James's ideas on both monarchy and matrimony.

In the royal quarters of the handsome, quadrangular palace, much older than Holyroodhouse, Heriot was informed that the Queen was still abed. He was not surprised, for frequently she did not stir before midday-partly it was suggested in protest against the King's habit of rising, and rousing the palace, in the early hours of the morning, to indulge in his passion for hunting. Also, she not infrequently had been dancing or otherwise enjoying herself until much the same hour. Now, of course, she was seven months pregnant and so had ample excuse.

Heriot requested that his presence be made known to her, if she was waking, nevertheless.

A large Junoesque lady with a magnificent figure and a smouldering, sensual look to her, presently swept in to him, in the anteroom. "Why, here is a surprise, Master Heriot!" she cried. "How came you here? We-Her Grace thought you in London. With her husband. As did I, with mine! Have you been dismissed, sent back, like the rest of us? Do not say that Jinglin' Geordie Heriot is no longer required by our odd liege lord?"

The man was careful how he answered that-however used he was becoming to the question. For this woman was thought by many to be a spy for King James. Certainly the Queen so reckoned her and cordially loathed her. But she could not get rid of her. She was indeed, in theory, her principal Lady in Waiting, maintained in that position by the King's direct orders. Nevertheless, Heriot had doubts about whose spy she might be-if any- tending rather to consider her a choice of the Master of Gray, who liked this sort of woman, while James certainly did not

"Sent back, yes, my lady-but, I think and hope, not dismissed," he said. "His Grace merely entrusted me with a message for the Queen."

"Indeed! An important message, surely, for the King to use the richest man in Scotland as his messenger?"

"That is a title I cannot claim. Indeed, I dare swear that your ladyship could buy me out twice over and scarce notice the cost!"

'You are too modest, sir. But then, you always were almost over-modest-seeming, were you not? I like a man who knows his worth! And I think you are… very worthy! In more than just money, Master George!" She came quite close as she said that, and there was no mistaking the hint of conditional promise and invitation in her throaty, deep voice.

"I am flattered, Duchess," he said, meeting her sultry and at the same time overbearing gaze. "I know my worth to within a pound or two. And yours sufficiently to recognise that you have no need for such as me!" "I said in more than money, friend." "Knowing my own worth, lady, includes knowing that George Heriot without his money, would be worth-that!" And he snapped his fingers. "Even to kindly disposed duchesses!"

She frowned frankly, drawing away a little. Her voice colder, she asked; 'The King? He is well? No mischance sent you back?" "None." "No tidings disturb His Grace?" "Should there be, lady?"

"Stop fencing with me, man!" The Duchess of Lennox was not a subtle woman-she did not have to be. "I am not some simpering miss to be foxed with words. Or the lack of them I What brings you back to Scotland, to Linlithgow, so soon? If you are not dismissed? If there is nothing amiss?"

The man thought quickly. Would anyone so devious and careful as the Master of Gray use such a matter-of-fact minion as this? James might-but in that case the Duchess was no danger. Moreover, she was one of the greatest heiresses in the land, a bride found for the Duke of Lennox two or three years before, while they were both under-age; if she anybody's spy, it was not for payment-at least, not for money. He had no wish to make an enemy of anyone so powerful, and wife of the Duke-although she was only that in name, their marriage forced on them, and his affections wholly centred on Mary Gray.

"The King grew concerned that Her Grace might require aid, guidance, possibly money," he said carefully, but less stiffly. "He chose to send me, with his messages and instructions, as perhaps able to supply such, in some measure."

She eyed him directly, ponderingly, for a moment, and then shrugged. 'To be sure, Her Grace always requires money I And guidance! As to aid, is there especial need?"

"I hope not If so, I have yet to discover it. Has your ladyship anything of the sort in mind?"

The tables turned, she shook her head. "She is troubled at not being able to see her son. But that is nothing new. And she is, of course, seven months gone with child…" She turned, as a young woman came into the antechamber. "Knock before you enter, girl!" she snapped. "I would have done, had I known that your ladyship was with the gentleman." The newcomer dipped the merest sketch of a curtsy to the Duchess. There was nothing pert or unsuitable about it, but undoubtedly her answer had been quick and could have borne more than one shade of meaning. She beamed an almost impish smile on the man. "Her Grace is ready to receive you, Master Heriot," she added.