The Game Of Kings Part 25

Mariotta was silent. Then, unexpectedly, a tear appeared and made its way down one cheek. "But," said Mariotta miserably, "how can I change now?.

Sybilla rose and with an odd compound of a sigh and a smile, sat down in her own carved chair. "Time will do it for you, my infant, and much too quickly. Your tragedy was that the man you became involved with was the very person who created the flaw in Richard's maturing. And if that was anyone's fault, it was probably mine. . . . How prosy we are; drunk with the dear indulgences of synthesis and self-pity and criticizing other people's love affairs. Do you feel better or worse?.

"Better," said Mariotta; and crossing to sit on the arm of the Dowager's chair, bent to kiss one flawless cheek.

Tom Erskine was with them when, much later, Christian arrived from Threave. She was aching and dirty, with more than weariness in her eyes. Sybilla, watching the blind face, seated her quickly, and the girl wasted no time. Turning the fine eyes on the Dowager, she said simply, "They have Francis..

The reaction was curious. "Who?" demanded Erskine. And "Who?" said Sybilla in a tone so different that the blind girl gave a quick, rueful smile. Sybilla possessed herself of one of Christian's hands.

"So," she said. "We are coming into the open. Tell us." And she did so.

At the end, the Dowager spoke. "Richard knows nothing of this? Good. Tom-you're not to tell him, either. The longer we can keep them apart . . . I wonder .

"Stop wondering," said the girl. "It's my turn now..

"Go on," said Sybilla gently.

"I made a mess of things at Threave," said Christian bluntly. "There was some pretty dangerous horseplay going on, and by the time it was stopped they knew I wasn't quite-disinterested. After that I was guarded; Sym as well. But the point is this. He had great hopes, apparently, of an encounter with a man called Samuel Harvey: he was on his way to meet him at Wark when he was taken-I got that much out of Buccleuch's idiot son. Well, he's missed that meeting now. But maybe another could be arranged-for us. At any rate, George Douglas is mixed up in the business somehow, and I'm going to see him. If persuasion or threats can do anything, I'm going to make him help..

"Help? Help who?" demanded Tom Erskine, bemused.

There was a moment's silence. "My younger son," said Sybilla quietly. "We are a tenacious family, and you have a very kindhearted fiancee. Helping Lymond has been rather a concern of ours-am I right, Christian?-for some months now..

Christian opened her hands in mock despair. "How did you guess?.

"n.o.body ever," said the Dowager sorrowfully, "credits me with normal thought processes. When a mysterious man creates a royal scandal on the banks of the Lake of Menteith with the keenest ears in Scotland strolling utterly oblivious-by her own account-in the locality, I begin to wonder. I also wonder when a delicately reared child sends a court into fits with a riddle which I invented myself. And when Andrew Hunter and Richard both mention a name I have heard you repeat, and the name is connected with Lymond . .

"And then you probably noticed the gypsy..

"I noticed, certainly, that the gypsies who put in such a timely appearance before I lost all my silver were the same ones you were so anxious to speak to in Stirling-yes..

"Was that why you kept Johnnie Bulb beside you?.

"To begin with. I'm disappointed in Johnnie," said the Dowager with some severity. She opened a workbag, took out her embroidery,and put the horn-rimmed spectacles on her nose. "Johnnie turned out to be rather much of an individualist. It would serve him right if someone taught him a lesson..

"Bulb . . . ?" said Mariotta. "But that's the man who I don't understand," she said despairingly.

"We're congratulating each other on how clever we've been," said Sybilla. "Quite without reason. For there is the dear man in prison at Threave, and here we are, doing very little about it..

"You've been helping Lymond?" said Mariotta, and stood up.

Sybilla looked up. She put down her needle, drew off her spectacles and gave Mariotta all her attention. "I'm sorry, my dear," she said. "Sit down. We're rushing a little ahead of you in our worries, that's all. You see, my son Lymond is not quite the drunken renegade of the legend..

"He didn't entice me to Crawfordmuir?" said Mariotta. "He didn't kill my baby? Insult me? Try to burn you out? Corrupt Will-kill Richard-take advantage of Christian? A moment ago you yourself called him superficial and glittering."Gently, the Dowager replied. "I told you what attracted you to him. I didn't say there was no more to discover. He's caused no intentional harm to me or to you: you can't, I think, seriously accuse him of destroying your child; and I think he had his reasons for what happened afterward. He has a great deal, naturally, still to account for, but-.

"Don't let's be misled," said Tom Erskine suddenly. "You want to think the best of him, of course. But his aim all along has been to obliterate Richard. I can't presume to tell anyone to choose between their own children, but it seems to me that the danger to other people is something to take into account. Christian, I didn't know you even met this fellow..

For a moment, the girl was silent. Then she said, "I met him in September, but it would hardly have been fair to ask you, or anyone else, Tom, to share that particular secret..

Erskine said with a sudden anger, "But you might have been killed!.

"Perhaps," she said. "But I don't think so. In any case, I'm safe now, amn't I? And the truth can do none of us any harm. Sybilla, I'm calling at Boghall, and then going straight on to Dalkeith. I'll let you know what happens. Tom . .

He said heavily, "You're determined to go on with your chainpionship of this-this-.

"Outlaw? I want to finish what I've started, Tom. Is that a bad thing? If I'm right, then I'll have prevented an injustice. If I'm wrong, then the popular point of view-and yours-is vindicated. In any case, you are the man I am contracted to marry. You don't suppose I have forgotten that?.

He had no words to meet that kind of attack.

Afterward, when Christian had gone, he came back and sat for a long time, sunk in thought, before the Dowager's parlour fire. Eventually he looked up, drawing Sybilla's kindly eye. "She isn't the sort of person to be easily deluded..

"Or stupidly bedazzled..

"And yet, beyond rhyme and reason . . . why?" demanded Tom of the air.

"Because she thinks one of her lame ducks is about to turn into a swan," said Sybilla. Her lenses flashed in the glare like scarlet lamps.

Searching, questioning, his eyes moved from Sybilla to her daughter-in-law. "The man's a saint?.

"No," said Sybilla. "Not a saint. An artist in the vivesection of the soul. But only because he has known the knife now for five years..

"It's d.a.m.ned nice of him," said Erskine, "to make sure we all suffer too..

"I told you he wasn't a saint," said the Dowager. "And there's a limit to everyone's endurance. I only hope-" Unexpectedly, she halted.

"What?" said Mariotta.

"That if he's going to break under it, he doesn't break too soon. He's probably the only person in the world now who can restore Richard to any sort of terms with his own future. If not indeed," said Sybilla, taking off her spectacles, "the only person who can send him back to you..

. * *On Sunday, the third of June, the day alter this discussion, Francis Crawford of Lymond was sitting on the crumbling wall of a sheepfank on the Scottish side of the River Tweed, throwing pebbles idly into the reaming waters.

It was a restful, a delicious scene. Plump clouds like amoretti hung in a blue sky; shining rooks cawed from among shining leaves and an otter with a half-eaten fish shivered the bog orchis with his shoulder as he pa.s.sed. Lymond watched him go, and tossed another pebble into the water.

Across the river, the green edge of England lurched upward into an uneven ridge and plunged behind into the hollow where lay the village of Wark. On top of the ridge, toe to toe with its own deliquescent outline, reared the English Border fortress of Wark, on whose tower walk stood Gideon Somerville, both hands shading his eyes.

"There, sir," said the soldier beside him.

"I see." Gideon scrutinized the seated figure, far across the water. The bent head was unmistakable. "He hasn't tried to cross the river?" There was a ford of sorts at that point.

"No, sir. But the river's a bit high..

"I see that. All right. Send a boat across for him and bring him to my room..

Downstairs, waiting at his desk, it seemed to Gideon a long time before the door opened. Someone said, "The Master of Culter, sir," and shut it again, and Gideon looked up.

It was the familiar, elegant presence, but quieter, less dynamic than he remembered. Lymond came only a few paces into the room; not far enough to catch the dying light from the windows, and Gideon saw only the pale gleam of his head, with indistinguishable, two-dimensional features, as if face and hands had blown like flock to their appointed places in the shadows. Lymond's voice was pleasant, unchanged. "Armageddon," he said.

"Hardly," answered Gideon dryly. "You got my message?.

"Admirably delivered. Yes. Mr. Harvey came?.

"And went. We waited for you all day yesterday..

"Then," said Lymond dispa.s.sionately, "I'm too late..

Gideon was annoyed. He said brusquely, "Mr. Harvey was in charge of a convoy urgently wanted at Haddington. I could hardly keep him indefinitely to suit your convenience. Our arrangement was quite clear..

"I know. My fault. I was detained," said Lymond. "The little squirrel, full of business. It was good of you to make the appointment at all..

"I set some store by keeping my word. The matter was not, it seems, of very great moment to you after all..

There was a pause. Then Lymond, rather helplessly, began to laugh. "Strike on, strike on, Glasg~rion. Propbete de malbeur, babillarde . . ." And as once before, was betrayed by the uncertain, wanton luxuriance of voice. "You're drunk," said Gideon, disgusted to the soul, and slammed back his chair.

"Drunk?" The voice was alight with sell-mockery. "O my G.o.d( . . Of Paradise ne can I not speak properly, for I am not there. d.a.m.nably, d.a.m.nably sober, Mr. Somerville," said the Masterunsteadily.

Gideon crossed the room in three steps. Faultlessly erect, his clothing a b.l.o.o.d.y pulp, his eyes brilliant, Lymond spoke quietly. "-But sicker than Rudel. Don't be alarmed. It's merely the effects of insufficient transport over d.a.m.nable country in inclement weather. I was locked up in Threave until yesterday morning..

Gideon said incredulously, "You came here on foot?.

"Most of the way. Running like a dog. And aquatics, too: hence the mess. I was sorry to give your boatman the trouble of fetching me, but nothing short of Buccleuch's bloodhounds would make me swim any more..

"I'm d.a.m.ned sorry." Gideon was uncomfortably shocked.

"It might have been worse. But it would be a courtesy," said Lymond with care, "if I could make myself presentable before we talk..

In ten minutes of Gideon at his most practical, the prisoner of Threave found himself, unresisting, in bed at Wark.

* * *At his own request, Lymond came back to the study at nightfall, clean, bandaged, freshly dressed and anointed, as he pointed out, with delicate things of sweet smell. He seemed, if not exactly full of energy, at least perfectly composed.

"I warned you about Scott," said Gideon, who had opened by demanding an explanation of the Master's delay.

"It was my own fault for being so intent on the unfortunate Harvey. As to that-.

"You say," said Gideon, interrupting calmly, "that you have disbanded your men?.

"Cry and with many a piteous peep-by G.o.d, they hated it. Yes..

"And are now therefore entirely at my disposal?.

"The Scot, the Frencheman, the Pope and heresie, overcommed by Trothe have had a fall. Again yes..

"I wish to G.o.d," said Gideon with mild exasperation, "that you'd talk-just once-in prose like other people..

"All right," said Lymond, and quoted with malice. "And as for Scottishe men and Englishe men be not enemyes by nature but by custome; not by our good wyll, but by theyre own follye: whiche shoulde take more honour in being coupled to Englande than we shulde take profite in being joyned to Scotlande . . . One G.o.d, one faythe, one compa.s.se of the see, one lande and countrie, one tungue in speakynge, one maner and trade in lyvynge, lyke courage and stomake in war, lyke quicknesse of witte to learning, hath made Englande and Scotlande bathe one..

"Do you believe that?" asked Gideon.

The blue eyes were level. "What do you want to find out? Whether I profess the 'd.a.m.nable opinions of the great heretic Luther'?.

"You quoted Ascham. I wondered why..

"I also quoted the late King James the Fifth. I echo like a mynah, that's why. Sticking to birds: if I were a wren, I shouldn't want a crocodile's egg in my nest..

"Even to protect you from other crocodiles?.

"On the contrary. We are remarkably pest-free in our part of the world. It's England, I think, that needs this alliance..

"Well, of course," said Gideon impatiently. "Look at the mess at Boulogne. Between the Protector and the Emperor and the King of France, Europe's become a crocodiles' convention. I don't want to become part of the Holy Roman Empire, and it wouldn't do Scotland any good either. You're a threat to three million people out of all proportion to your size. You can't expect us to leave you alone, to watch you siphon up the dregs of Europe and inject them into our backside. Your Government agree~l to this miserable marriage, and then broke its word. It announces that it can't abide anti-Papists and it can't let down its dear old ally France. But your man Panter has been in Paris all the same, soliciting for a separate peace on behalf of Scotland with the Emperor..

"Chess," remarked Lymond. He spoke on equal terms, concisely, with little trace of the dilettante manner. "And France has been to London soliciting for a separate peace with England. All moves inthe game. And sometimes the feint turns into genuine play; sometimes not. France may sell us for Boulogne: I don't think so, but she may. Or she might simply use us as a temporary blind for her real attack. The Lutherans among us think so, and so does the n.o.ble faction in need of English money. Religion and cupidity are on your side.

"Against that, you haven't seen what your late king managed in the way of practical persuasion, with Somerset following. You haven't seen abbeys brought to the ground, villages annihilated by the hundred, a n.o.bility decimated, a country brought to poverty which thirty years ago was graced above any other in Europe with the arts of living. That has bred hate, and hate is a factor like any other..

"If hate can be learned, it can be forgotten," Gideon said. "I know all about chess: I would rather have an honest emotion-even hatred. The Emperor presses us to help his Flemish subjects recover the money you owe them, since the poorer you are, the more easily you will fall to us, and the worse off the French will be. Nothing emotional about that. Or about the Scots Commissioners trying to reopen negotiations for the royal marriage at every threat of danger, while the Queen Dowager perfects her plans to bring the French in and keeps Arran quiet with a promise to marry the Queen to his son..

He sat forward in his chair.

"What if she succeeds? Where's your inde-independence then? You'll be a province of France, under an implacably Catholic King, with French in your key positions and your fortresses. I know all about Henry's claim to be King of Scotland. I know all about the broken promises on both sides-the reprisals, the sinkings, the Border raids and the rest of it. But will you be any better off under the French? Because you will be under the French. Mary of Guise will marry that child to the King of France if she possibly can. What has France ever done for Scotland? Look at Flodden..

"Look at Haddington," said Lymond. "Now you are conjuring up crocodiles. France has too many commitments to spare enough troops to rule Scotland. Good lord, if England can't do it, then France isn't likely to. That leaves Scotland under a regent in the Queen's absence-and if I were the Scottish Government, the Queen would become absent, d.a.m.ned quickly, from now on.

"Where are they worse off than they are now? And in the future, they can expect the Queen's children to rule France and Scotlandbetween them. Another royal line will put in an appearance and the two countries will probably fall apart again with little harm done. That's French diplomacy.

"The alternative is English force: reprisals and raids and counter-raids and broken promises, as you say. Of course you must try to secure this alliance. You might have achieved it in the last reign but for Henry. It was he who fostered the cult of the honest emotion, and you're still paying for the mistake..

He paused, his hand straying unconsciously to his bandaged shoulder. "Chess can be just about as brutalizing; I grant you that. You know about the Border raids last year, back and forth: you burn me and I'll dismember you. The one the Scots made in March, for instance-Lord Wharton made two reports on it; one for the Protector, and one with all the damage exaggerated to be pa.s.sed to the King of France. The purpose was to justify your invasion in September. Were you at the battle of Pinkie?.

"I was. It was as precise an exhibition of honest emotion as you're likely to see. It won't be the last. I told you religion' was on your side, and that's the bloodiest emotion I know. If this develops into a religious war, then G.o.d help us..

Gideon, intensely 'interested, noticed that his own affairs had no place in Lymond's mind, and that he had dropped entirely most of his irritating mannerisms. 'The Englishman scratched his chin with his clasped thumbs. "What's your solution? Why not let the children marry?.

Lymond said slowly, "I haven't got a solution. But I'll give you a few objections, if you like. The Queen's five and the King's nine. If Mary's brought up in London, as Somerset is stipulating, she'll either lose or be accused of losing interest in Scotland long before she gets to marrying age. And that small excuse is enough to touch off a religious and baronial war up here that might make the Protector's efforts look silly. It only needs some fool to crown himself, and the whole process of expostulation and invasion begins again..

"But," said Gideon, "if she goes to France, won't the same thing happen?.

"Not quite. There'd be less religious friction. And Mary of Guise would have the power and the standing to keep the throne warm for a little time, at least..

Gideon said thoughtfully, "The alternative, I suppose, is to let you keep the Queen peacefully until she's of marriageable age. And then-.

"-To arrange a marriage with Edward as a good conduct prize on both sides. That's the unemotional solution. France would hate it; so would the Douglases. Would Somerset agree to such a wait?.

Their eyes met.

Gideon shook his head slowly and wryly. "It isn't any use getting intelligent about it. His Grace's own position is d.a.m.ned shaky. He needs action, and success, right away. There's always the Princess Mary, you see. He's bound to try and get hold of your Queen..

"In fact, stalemate..

Gideon studied him, over the rim of his hands. "Why aren't you at Edinburgh with your people?.