Philippa Gregory 3-Book Tudor Collection 2: The Queen’s Fool, The Virgin’s Lover, The Other Queen. Philippa Gregory

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СКАЧАТЬ put his hand under my chin and turned my face up. ‘You’re unhappy,’ he remarked. ‘What is it? Not the betrothed, surely?’

      ‘No,’ I said.

      ‘What then? Missing Spain?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘Unhappy at court?’ he guessed. ‘Girls catfighting?’

      I shook my head.

      ‘You don’t want to be here? You didn’t want to come?’ Then, quickly spotting the little flicker of emotion that went across my face, he said: ‘Oho! Faithless! You have been turned, Mistress Boy, as often spies are. You have been turned around and now you are spying on me.’

      ‘No,’ I said flatly. ‘Never. I would never spy on you.’

      I would have moved away but he put his hands on either side of my face and held me so that I could not get away from him, and he could read my eyes as if I were a broken code.

      ‘You have despaired of my cause and despaired of me and become her servant and not mine,’ he accused me. ‘You love the queen.’

      ‘Nobody could help loving the queen,’ I said defensively. ‘She is a most beautiful woman. She is the bravest woman I have ever known and she struggles with her faith and with the world every day. She is halfway to being a saint.’

      He smiled at that. ‘You’re such a girl,’ he said, laughing at me. ‘You’re always in love with somebody. And so you prefer this queen to me, your true lord.’

      ‘No,’ I said. ‘For here I am, doing your bidding. As I was told. Though it was a stranger who came to me and I did not know if I was safe.’

      He shrugged at that. ‘And tell me, you did not betray me?’

      ‘When?’ I demanded, shocked.

      ‘When I asked you to take a message to Lady Elizabeth and to my tutor?’

      He could see the horror in my face at the very thought of such a betrayal. ‘Good God, no, my lord. I did both errands and I told no-one.’

      ‘Then how did it all go wrong?’ He dropped his hands from my face and turned away. He paced to the window and back to the table that he used for a study desk. He turned at the desk and went to the fireplace. I thought this must be a regular path for him, four steps to his table, four steps to the fireplace, four steps back to the window; no further than this for a man who used to ride out on his horse before he broke his fast, and then hunt all day, and dance with the ladies of the court all night.

      ‘My lord, that’s easily answered. It was Edward Courtenay who told Bishop Gardiner and the plot was discovered,’ I said very quietly. ‘The bishop brought the news to the queen.’

      He whirled around. ‘They let that spineless puppy out of their sight for a moment?’

      ‘The bishop knew that something was being planned. Everyone knew that something was being planned.’

      He nodded. ‘Tom Wyatt was always indiscreet.’

      ‘He will pay for it. They are questioning him now.’

      ‘To discover who else is in the plot?’

      ‘To get him to name the Princess Elizabeth.’

      Lord Robert pushed his fists on either side of the window frame, as if he would stretch the stone wide and fly free. ‘They have evidence against her?’

      ‘Enough,’ I said acerbically. ‘The queen is on her knees right now, praying for guidance. If she decides that it is God’s will that she should sacrifice Elizabeth, she has more than enough evidence.’

      ‘And Jane?’

      ‘The queen is fighting to save her. She has asked Jane to be taught the true faith. She is hoping that she will recant and then she can be forgiven.’

      He laughed shortly. ‘The true faith is it, Mistress Boy?’

      I flushed scarlet. ‘My lord, it’s only how everyone talks at court now.’

      ‘And you with them, my little conversa, my nueva cristiana?’

      ‘Yes, my lord,’ I said steadily, meeting his eyes.

      ‘What a bargain to put before a sixteen-year-old girl,’ he said. ‘Poor Jane. Her faith or death. Does the queen want to make a martyr of her cousin?’

      ‘She wants to make converts,’ I said. ‘She wants to save Jane from death and from damnation.’

      ‘And me?’ he asked quietly. ‘Am I to be saved, or am I a brand for the burning, d’you think?’

      I shook my head. ‘I don’t know, my lord. But if Queen Mary follows the advice she is given, then every man whose loyalty is questionable will be hanged. Already the soldiers who fought in the rebellion are on the scaffolds at every corner.’

      ‘Then I had better read these books quickly,’ he said drily. ‘Perhaps a light will dawn for me. What d’you think, Mistress Boy? Did a light dawn for you? You and the true faith, as you call it?’

      There was a hammering on the door and the guard swung the door open. ‘Is the fool to leave?’

      ‘In a moment,’ Lord Robert said hastily. ‘I haven’t paid him yet. Give me a moment.’

      The guard glared at us both suspiciously, shut the door and locked it again. There was a brief painful second of silence.

      ‘My lord,’ I burst out, ‘do not torment me. I am as I always was. I am yours.’

      He took a breath. Then he managed to smile. ‘Mistress Boy, I am a dead man,’ he said simply. ‘You should mourn me and then forget me. Thank God you are not the poorer for knowing me. I have placed you as a favourite in the court of the winning side. I have done you a favour, my little lad. I am glad I did it.’

      ‘My lord,’ I whispered earnestly. ‘You cannot die. Your tutor and I looked in the mirror and saw your fortune. There was no doubt about it, it cannot end here. He said that you are to die safe in your bed, and that you will have a great love, the love of a queen.’

      For a moment he frowned as he heard the words, then he gave a little sigh, as a man tempted by false hope. ‘A few days ago I would have begged to hear more. But it is too late now. The guard will come. You have to go. Hear this. I release you from your loyalty to me and to my cause. Your work for me is finished. You can earn a good living at court and then marry your young man. You can be the queen’s fool in very truth and forget me.’

      I stepped a little closer. ‘My lord, I will never be able to forget you.’

      Lord Robert smiled. ‘I thank you for that, and I will be glad of whatever prayers you offer up at the hour of my death. Unlike most of my countrymen, I don’t really mind what prayers they are. And I know that they will come from the heart, and yours is a loving heart.’

      ‘Shall I carry any message from СКАЧАТЬ