The Italian Woman Part 11

Why did not her uncles thwart the plans of these men? To whom could she turn? A little while ago she had only to express the smallest wish and there were many to hurry to gratify it, to count themselves honoured to serve her who, they all agreed, was the most enchanting of princesses.

And now there was no one to help her. She knew why. The Queen Mother had decided that there was no longer a place for her in France.

Mary had wept until she had no tears; she had shut herself in her apartments, declaring that she was too sick to appear. Someone must help her. She had not realised when Francis died and that had been a great tragedy to her that this greater tragedy must follow. She had thought that so many people at the French court loved her that they would never let her go.

There had been many n.o.ble gentlemen who had worshipped her with their eyes; the poet Ronsard had written his verses especially for her. They would have died for her, so she had believed; and now she was to be sent away from them, to a cold and miserable land where there was no gaiety, no b.a.l.l.s, no gallants, no poets only dour men such as these who had come to France, to disapprove of that gaiety and beauty of hers which the French had loved.

She could not believe that it could happen to her the Queen of France, the pampered Princess. She thought of her arrival in France, of Francis's father, King Henry, on whose knee she had sat and who had loved her, and whom she had loved; she thought of the attention which had been paid to her by Diane de Poitiers, and in those days Diane had been virtually Queen of France. She thought of the fun of playing with the royal Princes and Princesses, of having lessons with them and showing everyone how much more clever, how much more charming she was than they. For years she had thought of this land as her home, and that she would never leave it. How could anyone be so unkind as to let her go? She had loved Francis oh, not as madly as he had loved her but adequately. It had been so pleasant to be adored, and she had been truly sorry when he had died; but she had not thought that his death would mean her banishment from the gay land to which she felt she belonged.

There was, however, a ray of hope. Little Charles loved her. Naturally, one did not think of a little boy, not yet eleven years old, as a husband; yet betrothals even marriages were arranged between youthful kings and queens.

There were visitors to her apartments those who came to condole but she had a feeling that none of them really cared. Her brothers-in-law Henry and Hercule came; but they were too selfish to care what happened to her. Hercule was too young to appreciate her beauty, and Henry had never cared very much for the beauty of women. Margot made a show of crying with her, but Margot did not care and would be glad to see her go, for the selfish creature looked upon Mary as a rival. Margot knew what it meant to be admired, for although only eight she was a true coquette, and she wanted the admiration of the men who admired Mary to be directed to herself; so while she said that it was very sad and that she had heard that Scotland was not a very pleasant place, she was smoothing her dress and patting her lovely black hair, and thinking: When Mary has gone, I shall be the most beautiful Princess at court.

As for Charles, she was not allowed to see him.

Why did not her uncles arrange for her a marriage to the new King of France? They neglected her now, and she saw that the attentions which they had showered upon her such a short while ago had not been for herself, their little niece whom they loved, but for the Queen of France, whom they wished to use in order to rule her husband.

She was sick with fright. There was not only the wretchedness of leaving a land which she had come to regard as her home; there was not only the nostalgia which she would feel, she knew, for the rest of her life if she were sent away; there was the perilous sea voyage to be faced, and her terrifying relative who sat on the throne of England had not guaranteed her a safe pa.s.sage. She was afraid of the red-headed virgin of England, and well she might be, for some said that she, Mary, had more right to the English crown than the b.a.s.t.a.r.d daughter of Anne Boleyn.

While she was occupied with these gloomy thoughts, the door of her apartment opened so silently that she did not hear it, and her mother-in-law must have stood watching her for some seconds before she was aware of her presence.

'Madame!' Mary sprang off her bed and bowed.

Catherine was smiling, and the very way in which she stood there, the very way in which she smiled, told Mary that she herself, so recently the petted Queen of France, was of no importance now in the eyes of the Queen Mother.

'My child, you have spoilt your beauty. So much weeping is not good for you.'

Mary cast down her eyes; she could not meet those under the peaked headdress.

'You must not grieve so for poor Francis,' said Catherine maliciously.

'Madame, I have suffered sadly. First I lost my husband, and now ... they are threatening to send me away from here.'

'Poor Mary! Poor little Queen! But in your great grief for your dear husband, leaving France will not seem so very important to you. I think that G.o.d gives us these blows, one following another, in order that we may become hardened to bear them. To leave France which I know you love when Francis was alive would have been a tragedy for you. But now, in the shadow of a greater tragedy, it will seem as nothing, for how much more you must have loved Francis than your adopted country! That is so, is it not, my daughter?'

'I loved Francis dearly, yes. And, Madame, I think that, if I were allowed to stay here, I could still, in time, find some happiness in France.'

'Ah,' said Catherine lightly. 'Then what a pity it is that you must leave us!'

Mary went on her knees and took Catherine's hand. 'Madame, you could let me stay.'

Now that Mary could not see her face, Catherine let her expression change. This was the girl who had called Catherine de' Medici 'Daughter of Merchants', had dared to slight her because she had seen others do it. She had taken her cue from Madame de Poitiers. Well, it had not been possible to take revenge on that woman, but on Mary it would be. Not that Catherine cared greatly for revenge for its own sake. If it had been politic for Mary to have stayed in France, she would have forgotten past slights and humiliations. But now she could settle old scores and help her schemes of power politics at the same time. She could allow herself to get full enjoyment from this little by-play. This girl had dared to spy on her!

'I let you stay?' said Catherine. 'You over-estimate my power.'

'No, Madame. You are the Regent of France. All power is yours.'

'My dear, I share it with the King of Navarre; and then there is the Council; and the King, though a boy, has his say in affairs.'

'Then I must speak to the King. He will understand. He will help me.'

'The King is indisposed. I could not have him disturbed. As you know, his health is not of the best.'

'Oh, Madame, have you no pity? You would send me from France ... from my native land?'

'Nay, child. It is the land of your adoption, as it is mine. I doubt not that when you, a little girl of six, heard that you were to leave your home and sail across the seas to France, there to be brought up among strangers, I doubt not that you shed many tears. Well, this is such another upheaval in your life. In a year's time you will be laughing at these tears. You will be loving the mists of your native wilderness as you love our snows and sunshine.'

'Madame, I shall never love any land but France.'

'And you a Queen of Scotland!'

'And a Queen of France, Madame.'

'And a Queen of England!' said Catherine with a malicious laugh. 'Your cousin in England is not going to be very pleased with you for using that t.i.tle!'

'You know it was at the wish of your husband, the King, and of my husband. I did not wish it.'

'Yet you seemed very proud, nevertheless very proud of it. Poor Mary! They are no longer here to answer to the virago of England for their sins. But I am sure she will forgive you and love you.'

'She will hate me. She has always hated me. She has refused me safe pa.s.sage to Scotland.'

'Doubtless your charming ways will stand you in good stead with her as they did with me. You know how your pretty ways have endeared you to me. I have no doubt that Elizabeth of England will learn to love you as I have.'

Catherine wanted to laugh aloud. She was well aware of the red-headed Queen's feelings towards this girl, this Queen whose existence was a threat to her hold on the throne of England. How would Elizabeth have reacted had she found the girl spying on her? Mary would not have got off so lightly as she had with Catherine. She would have had her head off by now.

'Be of good cheer,' soothed Catherine. 'You will grow to love your little kingdom. You will be able to think of us, and we shall think of you.'

'Madame, the little King Charles loves me. If I go, he will be broken-hearted.'

'Nonsense. He is only a child.'

'He is old for his years. He used to say that if his brother Francis had not had the good fortune to marry me, he would have asked to be allowed to do so.'

'He is a precocious boy, that one. Thinking of marrying at his age!'

'It was his love for me.'

'You will no doubt find many to love you ... in Scotland. And any alliance, as you will see, between you and King Charles is out of the question. You have been the wife of his brother. It would be ... immoral. You remember what happened when a King of England married his brother's widow. Ask Queen Elizabeth to remind you. She will remember.'

Mary cried out: 'Will you not have pity on me? I beg of you ... I implore you ... do not send me away.'

Catherine began to walk up and down the apartment. She let herself think back over the past. She saw this girl as a child at her Latin lesson; she remembered the curl of the haughty lips, the whispered words: 'Daughter of Merchants'. She remembered the girl who had quickly learned how wise it was, how diplomatic, to seek the favour of Diane de Poitiers and to treat with indifference the real Queen of France. She remembered also the anguish she had suffered because of her husband's love affair with the Lady Fleming, who had been this girl's governess. But for the coming of the little Scot she would not have had to endure that.

But away with revenge! What did it matter? It was just something to enjoy like the melons of which she was so fond, or a chine of beef which made her mouth water at the very thought of it, or a goblet of rare wine. Revenge was an ephemeral pleasure. The real reason why Mary must go was because, if she stayed and was married to Charles, those arrogant uncles of hers would be in power again, and that situation against which Catherine had fought with all the means at her disposal, even unto speeding her son along that road to death that intolerable situation would be re-created.

Mary was indeed a little fool to expect such favours.

'There, my child. Calm yourself. You will be Queen of Scotland, Queen of your native land. I hear the scenery is charming, and that Monsieur John Knox awaits you. I am sure you will have a very lively time. As for your cousin of England, I am sure you have as little to fear from her as from me. Now bathe your eyes. I will send you a lotion to brighten them.' Catherine turned to the door. 'Rest then, and enjoy your last days in France.'

And so, a sorrowing girl rode north to Calais. To her it seemed that the procession was like a funeral cortege. She wept bitterly and continually, and the last she saw of the land she loved was through eyes swollen with grief.

She had had one short interview with the distracted King, who had wept with her and begged her to stay and be his wife in spite of his mother, for he loved her. But even as he had talked she had seen the madness in his eyes, and she knew that she could no more hope for help from him than from Queen Catherine.

She had said farewell to her powerful uncles after begging them to let her stay.

'I will live simply,' she had cried. 'I will be merely the dowager Queen of France. I have my dowry of Poitou and Touraine. I will live in France as a simple lady. I will give up everything ... only do not send me to that wild country. Let me stay here ... in my home.'

But the uncles had conferred with one another. They were not yet fully cognizant with what had happened at court. There were too many intrigues being conducted. The Queen Mother had seemed like a harmless snake coiled up in sleep, and now she had raised her head and shown her fangs, and those fangs, they knew, were poisonous. They a.s.sured Mary that if they could arrange a marriage for her, this should be done, for she could be sure they had her welfare at heart. Let her look upon this as a visit to Scotland, for it was right that she should occasionally visit the country of which she was Queen. Very soon, they doubted not, she would be returning to France for as brilliant a marriage as her first one.

'King Charles would marry me now,' she said.

'He is too young yet. Later ... we may arrange it. Trust us, niece.'

'Make it soon, I beg of you. Make it soon.'

They a.s.sured her that they would. They kissed her fondly, and then she was forced to set out with that miserable cortege.

Although it was April, the weather was bleak, for spring came late that year.

'The whole countryside mourns with me,' said Mary Queen of Scots. 'Oh, Holy Mother of G.o.d, how I dread this voyage! I dread it more than death.'

And as they went aboard the ship which was to carry her across the grey, heaving sea, away from the land where she had known such joy, to the land where she was to know great sorrow, she remembered not the last hours of her husband, the tender smiles of the poet Ronsard, the adoration of young King Charles, but the cold, snake-like stare of the woman who could have spared her this agony of exile. She knew now that the woman to whom she had been so indifferent in the past was not the colourless creature she had imagined her to be. She knew now what people meant when they called her Madame le Serpent.

She looked back for as long as she could at the receding sh.o.r.es of France; and as the cold spray touched her cheek she tried to imagine the unknown future which seemed to her already darkened by the shadow of the grim John Knox and the red-headed Queen of England who might even prevent her reaching Scotland.

She was frightened and miserable; she felt that her heart had been broken at the order of a woman whom she had never known until now.

It was not to be expected that the Guises would allow matters to go on as they had since the death of King Francis. They realised that affairs had come to this pa.s.s because they, like the rest of those around her, had not been allowed to see how strong was the Queen Mother.

In unexpectedly using the Bourbons playing them off against the Guises she had caught them at a disadvantage, but obviously this must be changed, and it was decided that the first blow should be one which struck at Catherine's affections. The whole court knew how she doted on Prince Henry; he was to her, it was said, 'like her right eye'. Well, her son Henry should be taken from her, and she should not have him back until she realised who were the real masters of France.

The Duke's plan was simple, and to put it into effect he called in his own son Henry to help him. More than anyone on Earth the Duke loved this eldest son of his, and all his feelings for the boy were deeply reciprocated. Duke Francis saw in Henry of Guise, at present the Prince of Joinville, all that he himself must have been at his age. Their similarity, not only in appearance but in character, was remarkable, even for father and son. Young Henry of Guise would willingly have died at his father's command, and Duke Francis would as eagerly have given his life for his son. Therefore the Duke knew that it was quite safe to tell young Henry of the plot to kidnap the royal Henry.

'We shall do him no harm. It is just to teach his mother a lesson.' But Henry of Guise would not have cared if they had done Prince Henry any harm. He had no real feeling for the boy, whom he despised as weak, effeminate and everything that he and his father were not.

'Tell no one of this ... not even Margot.'

'As if I would!' cried Henry of Guise; and his father laughed, for it was a joke shared between them that women were well enough for the hours of pleasure, but must not be allowed to interfere with the real business of the day. The most endearing thing about his father, as far as Henry of Guise was concerned, was this a.s.sumption that he was already a man.

'As if you would!' echoed the Duke, putting an arm about the boy. 'Now listen. You will be playing with Prince Henry. You must see to that, and that the two of you are alone. I and the Duke of Nemours will approach and ask him to come away with us for a little jaunt. The Duke of Nemours will make the suggestion while I am talking of this jaunt to you ... and it will be as though I do not care whether he comes or not. But you will care, my son. You will talk to him of Lorraine and what good fun it would be if he would come with us.'

'I will do it, Father. When shall we go?'

'At night.'

'But the Prince's apartments are guarded.'

'Never worry your head about that. We'll get him through the window, and a coach will be waiting.'

Henry of Guise laughed with delight. He stood up very straight and tried to a.s.sume the bearing of his father; he greatly regretted that he had not a scar of battle beneath his eye. Sometimes he wondered whether he would make such a scar so that men would say, 'Is that Le Balafre Pere or Le Balafre Fils?'

He was determined to play his part correctly. He was absent-minded with Margot. She reproached him and tried to make him caress her, but Henry of Guise became aloof as he imagined his father would be before some great battle; this was no time for dalliance with women.

At the appointed time he was at his post with Prince Henry, and he so arranged it that they were alone.

He flashed a secret smile at his father, Duke Francis, as he approached with his friend and ally, the Duke of Nemours, just as he had said he would.

Nemours talked to the little Prince while Duke Francis turned away and engaged his son in conversation.

'Good day to you, my lord,' said Nemours.

'Good day,' said Prince Henry. He touched his ears to make sure his earrings were in place.

'And what religion is yours, my Prince? Are you Papist or Huguenot?'

The crafty Medici eyes were immediately alert. He was no fool, this Prince Henry, and he knew very well that all the trouble in the land had arisen through the conflict of religion. At the mention of the subject he was on guard.

He said haughtily: 'I am of my mother's religion.'

'That is well,' said Nemours. 'It shows you are a dutiful son.'

Now it was the turn of little Henry of Guise. He ran to the Prince and said: 'My father is taking me on a visit to our chateau of Lorraine. Please come with us.'

Prince Henry's Italian eyes went from the Dukes to the boy. 'I do not think,' he said, 'that my mother would wish me to desert my brother, the King.'

Henry of Guise persisted. 'It will be fun in Lorraine. There you will have the first place. Here you are merely the brother of the King. My mother has some beautiful jewels. I doubt not that you would enjoy seeing her sapphires.'

'What sort of sapphires?' asked Prince Henry with interest.

'All sorts. And she has beautiful cloths from Italy. We turn out her trunks and dress up in them. You should come with us.'

Prince Henry's eyes began to shine, for there was nothing he enjoyed so much as dressing up. He wanted to hear more about the cloths and the jewels of the d.u.c.h.ess of Guise.

'Come and see for yourself,' said Henry of Guise slyly.

'Very well,' said the Prince. 'I will come for a short visit.'

Francis of Guise pressed his son's shoulder gently and approvingly; and the two boys ran off whispering together.

The Prince asked suspiciously, when they were out of earshot of the men: 'Why do we go without the consent of my mother?'

'Oh ... it is but a short visit, and it will be over so soon. There is no need to trouble her.'

'I do not think I should go without my mother's consent.'

Henry of Guise was alarmed, and, seeking to make the adventure more exciting, he whispered: 'It will be the greatest fun. We are going to climb through our windows, and there will be a coach waiting to take us to Lorraine.'

The Prince was thoughtful; he was not so fond of rough, boyish games as his friend was. Henry of Guise was only a young boy; it did not occur to him that such a manner of going could possibly be a deterrent. Prince Henry smelt his perfumed kerchief and studied the rings on his hands. The smile about his mouth was very sly, and he sought an early opportunity of going to his mother.