The Follies of the King - Plaidy Jean - Страница 27

Yes, it was the only way.

‘I will do everything I can to hold out until you return with your army,’ said Gaveston.

‘Then, beloved friend, I must needs say goodbye at once.’

‘We shall meet again, dear lord. One day we will show these dreary barons

who is King. You and I will show them, Edward? together.’

‘Together,’ said Edward, ‘always together until the end of our days.’

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Gaveston’s enemies were at the castle gates. The garrison were offering but a weak resistance and it was becoming clear with every passing hour that they had no heart for the fight.

Gaveston tried to bestir himself but he felt defeated. How could the King

rally an army and reach him in time? His servants disliked him. He had never bothered to cultivate their friendship. In fact, he had never given a thought to anyone but himself. The King had adored him as much as he adored himself,

and there had seemed no need to placate anyone in the old days. Everything he wanted was his, give to him by his doting King.

And now the King was absent, there was no one whom he could really trust.

He noticed a marked change in the attitude of his servants. There was a

certain veiled insolence and he judged their opinion of his chances by their manner towards him. Of course, there was always the possibility that the King might rally his army and return to save him, so they dared not go too far. It was for this reason that they did as much as they were doing.

How long could he hold out? What stores were in the castle? Out there,

Pembroke and Warenne appeared to have settled down to wait . Doubtless

before long they would be joined by Lancaster. His better enemies? all of

them.

One of his servants asked leave to enter the room where he was

disconsolately sitting.

‘It is a messenger from the armies outside, my lord. he is asking if you will receive the Earl of Pembroke who would speak with you.’

‘What! Let him come in to the castle. Pembroke!’

‘He would come alone and unarmed, my lord. It is to speak with you? to

make terms.’

‘I will see him,’ said Gaveston. ‘He is a man who prides himself on his

honor. That is why they send him, I’ll swear.’

Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, confronted Gaveston. He was the son

to Henry the Third’s half-brother? a third son but his brothers had died during his father’s lifetime and he had succeeded to the title. His royal connections, his great title, his wealth and power had made him a force in the country; but he was a man who prided himself on keeping his word. If was a favorite maxim of his that honour and Pembroke were synonymous.

He looked at Gaveston with dislike. He had not forgiven him for the defeat at the Wallingford joust and he knew that because he was dark-haired, pallid, and his nose was inclined to be hooked, Gaveston had delighted in referring to him as Joseph the Jew. Since the banishment of the Jews by Edward the First, the epithet was even less complimentary than it had been before. Gaveston

guessed Pembroke bore grudges.

Pembroke came straight to the point. ‘The castle is surrounded. We can take it with ease. It may be that you prefer to surrender quietly.’

‘Why should I? The King is on his way with an army to rescue me.’

‘You cannot think that men would rally to the King to save you. There is not a man in England more loathed. I can tell you that.’

‘The King is confident in raising an army.’

“Then the King lives in a dream. He will never raise an army to save you,

Gaveston.’

‘There are loyal men in England.’

‘Loyal to England but not to a Gascon adventurer.’

‘Do you forget you speak to the Earl of Cornwall?’

‘I know full well to whom I speak. Come, man, be sensible. Do you want to

surrender with dignity or be taken by force?’

Gaveston was silent for a few moments. It was true what Pembroke was

saying. It would be a simple matter to take the castle. They would seize him ignobly, perhaps put him in chains. Pembroke was an honorable man. He knew that such an act might bring about civil war and he did not want to fight against the King. His quarrel was not with Edward but with Gaveston. But he would act if need be. Warenne would not hesitate to treat him with indignity for Warenne more than any had never forgiven him for the Wallingford joust.

Gaveston knew that this might be his only chance to make terms. He came

to a quick decision. ‘If I surrender to you,’ he said, ‘it will be on condition that I am allowed to see the King and be given a fair trial.’

Pembroke hesitated. He thought it would be unwise for Gaveston and the

King to meet again. But Gaveston should have a free trial. He had no doubt that there was enough evidence against him to condemn him to death. He had run

from Tynemouth so hastily that he had left numerous possessions behind and among them were some of the crown jewels. He would declare that the King had given them to him but that would not save him. Moreover, he had been a traitor to England again and again. He had returned when he had been banished.

To take him now? easily? to bring him to trial, that would be a triumph.

Warenne had agreed with him that they wanted no bloodshed.

‘It shall be so,’ said Pembroke.

‘I have your word as a man of honour?’

‘You have it,’ was the answer.

Pembroke left the castle to report to Warenne what terms he had made.

???????

The journey south was slow. Gaveston was a prisoner and he knew it. He

rode between Pembroke and Warenne— and he was never allowed to be out of

the sight of one of them. At night, guards slept outside his door.

Each day he waited for a sign from the King. He looked for evidence that his army was approaching. None came. Then he told himself to be sensible. Who

would fight for the sake of Gaveston? Englishmen wanted the King to give up his friend and live normally with his beautiful Queen.

At length they came to Northampton and on a June evening they arrived at

the town of Deddington, close to the Thames, and here they decided they would rest.

Pembroke with Warenne selected a house in the town and there Gaveston

should spend the night well guarded.

They themselves rode on to a castle which was a few miles away where they

knew a welcome would be awaiting them.

A terrible sense of foreboding had come over Gaveston. It was more than a

month since he had become their prisoner and very soon his trial would be

taking place. He had not seen the King and he wondered what Edward was

doing now. That he had failed to raise an army was clear. Did he know what these men were doing to his beloved friend?

Sleep did not come easily, and he longed for it. The only time he was at

peace was when he could slip into his dreams. Then he would be back in the past with Edward beside him, feeding him the sweetmeats of power, showing

him in a hundred ways that none other than his Perrot meant anything to him.

Sometimes his dreams would take the form of nightmare. His enemies would be surrounding him and at the head of them would be one with a face like a dog?

a mad dog foaming at the mouth, jaws slavering, trying to leap at his throat. Of them all, he feared Warwick. Pembroke was a man of honour, proud of his

royalty, his good name. Not so Warwick. He was the most ruthless of the

barons. Then there was Lancaster who hated him and who had, so he heard,

promised the Queen that he would destroy the man she hated more than any in the kingdom— himself.

Perhaps he and Edward had not considered the Queen as they should. She

had seemed so unimportant. Edward had admitted that he found times spent

with her irksome because they took him from his beloved, and he had not