The Red Rose of Anjou - Plaidy Jean - Страница 26

All the tableaux and scenes which were enacted were for the union of Henry and Margaret and the theme was that for which they had all been longing. Peace. It was true they had all believed that peace would come with the conquest of France. There had been a time some twenty years before when that dream had seemed to be at hand. And then Henry the Fifth had died suddenly, cut down in his prime, and since then the scene had changed.

Well, if this was not great victory, it was peace and peace would mean an end to the exorbitant taxation which had been crippling trade and making them all poor.

At the bridge at Southwark the pageant represented Peace and Plenty. There was one puppet display with Justice and Peace as the figures. These approached each other and after much juggling met in the kiss of peace. Then Saint Margaret appeared; and there were dancers and children reciting and in the hair of every girl was a daisy.

It was a great triumph. Henry was delighted with the impression she had made on the people and refused to have his spirits lowered by the knowledge that they were cheering a peace which had not yet been made. The marriage had taken place, yes... but the only concession which had been agreed on was a truce. We must have peace, Cardinal Beaufort had said; and Henry agreed with him.

‘My brother would rise up and curse you if he could,’ was Gloucester’s comment. ‘Peace. Never. We are going to fight on until we put the French crown where it belongs: on the head of the King of England.’

Gloucester was hot-headed. He always had been. But why had he come to Blackheath and been so affable? And Margaret had shown her contempt for him. He must explain to her.

He did.

‘I could not understand,’ she told him, ‘how you could have been so gracious to him. He is no friend of yours.’

‘That I know well. I don’t trust him. I always double the guards when he is near. I am sure he would do me some harm if he could.’

‘And yet you behaved as though he were your very dear uncle!’

‘He was playing a part, Margaret. I had to play one too.’

‘I could not hide what I felt.’

He smiled at her tenderly. ‘You are so good, so honest. But, my dearest, Gloucester is a dangerous man. He has his followers. He has always been a favourite with the Londoners.’

‘Then the Londoners are false to you.’

‘Indeed not. You saw their welcome. They are powerful, you know. They stand on their own at times...If they express their disapproval we have to be wary.’

‘And you...a King.’

Henry laughed. ‘Dear Margaret, you are wise and clever. But you have something to learn.’

She did not answer but she thought: ‘I will never accept those who are my enemies. I will not pretend to love them.’

Meanwhile Gloucester was discussing the Queen with the Duke of York. There was a bond between them. They both believed they had a claim to the throne. Gloucester would have to wait for his nephew to die; but York descending on both sides of the family from Edward the Third and through his mother from the Duke of Clarence who had been older than John of Gaunt, secretly believed he had a higher claim than Henry himself. So Gloucester felt he could be sure of York’s agreement.

‘She slighted me,’ said Gloucester. ‘I wonder I did not ride off right away. The impulse to do so was there. But I restrained myself

‘You restrained yourself admirably. We were all astounded. You seemed as though you positively admired the girl.’

‘She is pretty enough, I grant you. But there is a strong will there. I can see our Henry will be as wax in her hands.’

‘Then it will be the Queen with whom we have to deal.’

Gloucester clenched his fist. ‘I will think twice before I submit to the will of a woman...and a French one at that. This is a disastrous marriage. We have given away so much and gained what? A French Queen! Mark my words, we shall be called upon to give away more. We should be waging war on France, not making a marriage with her.’

‘We have gained little, it is true. Minorca, Majorca! Empty titles! And they are after Maine...?’

‘I tell you this,’ said the Duke of Gloucester, ‘I shall not allow the daughter of so-called King Rene to insult me with impunity.’

‘The little girl will have to learn her place,’ agreed York, ‘and that means that although she is allowed to sit on a throne and wear a crown on her pretty head she will have to take account of her noble subjects.’

‘Ah yes, our dainty little Queen has much to learn.’

At the end of May the coronation took place. It was a splendid occasion and the people crowded to Westminster to have a share in it. There was rejoicing throughout the capital and in spite of the fact that the royal exchequer had to be drained to its dregs to provide for it, all seemed very satisfied.

Wine flowed from the conduits in the streets of London; the people danced and sang.

‘This marriage means peace,’ they declared. ‘Peace at last. Long live King Henry and his pretty little Queen.’

They would not remain for long in this state of euphoria.

MYSTERIOUS DEATH

Margaret was happy. Henry was all she could have wished and he was devoted to her. He had had her emblem of the daisy shown in every possible place; it had even been enameled and engraved on his plate.

‘The young fool is besotted by the French wench,’ commented Gloucester.

He would have his revenge, though. He would be equal with them all. He had never managed to outwit that wily old bird the Cardinal, nor Suffolk; but he would have done but for that unfortunate matter over Eleanor and the waxen image. He often wondered not how such a clever woman could have become involved in such practices but how she could have been so careless as to have been caught. She had been working for his advancement, of course. She had wanted to see him on the throne.

He would have been there but for people like the Cardinal and Suffolk. They thought they were clever arranging this French marriage but they had not seen the end of that yet. All they had was a temporary truce, and the French would soon be making further demands. He could see it coming.

Meanwhile, Margaret reveled in her role as Queen. She dazzled Henry with her prettiness and her quick wit. She visited the Cardinal at his mansion of Waltham and there she was received with great pleasure.

The old man delighted in her youthful charm. She was such a dainty creature and he was amused to think that such a delicate-seeming person could conceal a woman of strong will which she undoubtedly was.

But she was willing to submit that will to him.

‘I know,’ she told him, ‘that there is so much I have to learn and I want you to teach me.’

This seemed the utmost wisdom to the Cardinal for in spite of the adulation she was receiving she realized her shortcomings and she could not have sought a better teacher.

His old eyes misted over as he watched the beautiful young creature and she raised her blue eyes to his and said: I shall never forget our first meeting. I knew then that you would be my friend.’

‘You are so young and yet from the first I saw your latent wisdom,’ said the Cardinal. ‘There is no one on earth I would rather see than you beside the King on the throne.’

‘I hope I may come and see you often now that you do not always find it easy to come to Court.’

‘What a plague old age is when a beautiful Queen invites a man to Court and he is too infirm to take advantage of the honour. My dearest lady, whenever you come to see me I shall deem it the greatest honour that could befall me.’

Margaret enjoyed such compliments, particularly coming from this old man of the Church who was, she had quickly sensed even now, the most important man in England.

He talked to her of affairs in England. He said that what England needed was peace and he was sure the King realized this. She was heartily in agreement with that because it was exactly what her uncle the King of France wanted. The trouble, she knew, was that he wanted it on certain terms which the English might not be prepared to give.