The Red Rose of Anjou - Plaidy Jean - Страница 24

‘I wish to see her. Does she know I am here?’

I think not, my lord. But you may rest assured she is as eager to see you as you are to see her.’

Fearful that he might find her hideously disfigured and might not be able to hide his revulsion, Henry said on impulse: ‘I will not come to her as the King. I wish you to tell her that I am a squire who has brought a message for her from the King. Then I may see her as she is...naturally...without ceremony, you understand.’

‘Perfectly, my lord. I will tell her that the King’s squire has brought a letter from him.’

Margaret was seated in a chair. She was pale and wan and had a rug wrapped round her. Suffolk came to her and told her that the King had sent one of his squires with a message for her. Did she feel well enough to receive him?

‘But I must receive the King’s squire,’ she said.

‘Then I will bid him come to you.’

Vaguely she saw a slight young man, simply dressed, with a self-effacing manner. She scarcely looked at him as he knelt before her and presented her with a letter. She took it while he watched her as she read it.

‘Is there an answer, my lady?’ he asked.

She shook her head. ‘I will write to the King when I feel a little better,’ she said.

When the squire had gone she lay back in her chair and Alice came in to her.

‘I understand,’ said Alice, ‘that a squire brought a letter to you. What did you think of him?’

‘The squire?’ cried Margaret. ‘I scarcely noticed him.’

Alice began to laugh. ‘You have no idea then who that squire was?’

Margaret continued to stare at her.

Alice went on: ‘It was the King. He was so eager to see you and he did not want to disturb you by a formal visit so he came as a squire.’

‘The King!’ cried Margaret aghast. ‘My husband. But I allowed him to stay on his knees!’

‘Serve him right,’ said Alice. ‘If he comes as a squire he must expect to be treated as one.’

‘Oh Alice,’ cried Margaret, ‘you ask what I thought of him. I wonder what he thought of me!’

Henry was meanwhile writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He had seen the Queen in private and he was delighted with her. She was all that he had believed her to be but it was clear to him that she was still very weak and forsooth they must wait awhile before the marriage could be celebrated.

###

The marriage was to take place on the 22nd day of April in the Abbey of Titchfield and the Bishop of Salisbury would perform the ceremony. Margaret was quickly recovering from her malady; she was young and healthy and the fact that her indisposition had not been that dreaded one which at first had been feared was a sign, said those about her, that she would be fortunate in her new land. Alice could not help commenting that it would have been even more fortunate if there had been no illness at all, but she did not say so to Margaret who in her weak state of health was happy to be assured of good omens.

She thought a great deal about the humble young squire who had knelt before her; she greatly wished that she had taken more notice of him; but she did know that he had a gentle face and that made her feel reassured.

Henry was thinking a great deal of Margaret. She had seemed so young and frail wrapped in her rugs and he had been overwhelmed by tenderness. She was also very pretty in spite of being pale but that somehow made her vulnerable. He was delighted with what he had seen and he was looking forward to their marriage with an enthusiasm of which he would not have believed himself capable before he had seen her.

He prayed earnestly that the marriage would be a happy one. He was, as ever, desperately in need of funds for a wedding was necessarily an expensive matter and he had been forced to raise money on the crown jewels to pay for it. He had had the wedding ring made from one of gold and rubies which had been given to him by his uncle Cardinal Beaufort. It was his coronation ring. His uncle had so often during his reign come to his aid with the money he would need. The Cardinal seemed to have inexhaustible coffers into which he could plunge in an emergency, and Henry often wondered how, without this uncle, he would have survived all the difficulties which beset him. Now he was going to use the Cardinal’s ring for Margaret.

Presents were arriving for the Queen—one of them was rather extraordinary and rather difficult to handle. 11 was a lion, which after it had been duly admired had to be sent to the menagerie at the Tower.

So the wedding took place. It was not as grand as the proxy wedding in France had been but as the bride and bridegroom held hands they ceased to be afraid of each other and they realized that affection was already beginning to grow.

Solemnly they made their vows and as they listened to the Bishop’s address they both inwardly vowed they would do their duty.

‘Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.

For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands; happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house; thy children like olive plants round thy table.’

They were young; there were many years before them. It was their duty to produce heirs to the crown. They both vowed they would not be found lacking.

For Margaret Henry was the perfect husband. Gentle, courteous, eager to be loved and to give her the utmost devotion. She recognized his weakness and that endeared him to her. She wanted someone to lead, to guide, to take care of. And she sensed that Henry was just the man for that.

And Henry saw in Margaret the young girl who was lovelier every time he looked at her and he could not forget the small fragile-looking creature he had first seen wrapped in rugs. He had begun to fall in love with her then.

Thus the marriage appeared to have a successful beginning.

###

For the first few days after the ceremony the royal pair were lodged at the Abbey. They had an exhausting programme ahead of them and Henry felt that after her short convalescence and all the ceremonies of the wedding Margaret needed a rest.

They were pleasant days getting to know each other, Henry revealing his feelings slowly, Margaret becoming more sure of herself as the hours passed.

They would have to go to London for her coronation, Henry explained, and that was to take place at the end of May.

‘But first,’ Henry told her, ‘we must make our progress through the country. Everyone will want to see you. I am anxious to show them what a beautiful bride I have.’

Feeling stronger every day Margaret was growing excited at the prospect of her life as Queen of England. She was realizing how dull it had been until now when she had been a background figure—a younger daughter of a King who was not quite a King and was always trying to find some way of avoiding creditors.

She had developed a taste for attention when she had become important in the marriage business and the King of France had seen her as a means of recovering Maine and Anjou. Now she had a country of her own. She had a husband who was already beginning to adore her, to respect her, to talk to her and listen to her opinions. The King ruled the country and the Queen would rule the King. It was a very pleasant prospect.

Alice brought her down to earth sharply.

She had been looking through her wardrobe. I had no idea,’ said Alice, ‘that you had so little with you. What of the clothes you will need for your ride to London? The people expect a show of splendour from a Princess now a Queen.’

‘But I have no more than those you see.’

‘Those with which you travelled through France. You can’t mean that you plan to wear those again. Besides...they are not fine enough. Where is the wardrobe your father must have provided for your arrival in England?’