Page 105 of Love, Remember Me

For the next few weeks they heard no news, and then without warning, on the morning of Thursday, the ninth of February, the Duke of Norfolk arrived with the other members of the Privy Council. They came unannounced. Only the warning of a serving maid who saw the barges on the river heading toward Syon gave them a brief time to prepare.

Catherine Howard curtsied to the lords crowding into her dayroom. "I had heard you were at Leddinghall," she said to her uncle.

"I was," he answered her sourly, "but since I am first the king's good servant, and he asked me to return, I did."

"And how are my aunt of Bridgewater, and my uncle William and his wife; my brother Henry, his wife, their children, and my cousin Varian? And, oh yes! How is the dowager?" she asked him pointedly.

"You are too pert, girl, and particularly under the circumstances," he answered her harshly.

"I am no girl, my lord, but a woman," she told him.

"Too many times over, it would seem," he snapped angrily. "Now be quiet, Catherine, for I have been sent to deliver to you most serious news. The Act of Attainder, passed originally against you on the twenty-first day of January, has now been read twice more, on the sixth and seventh days of this month. You have been condemned to death, as has Lady Rochford."

"Has Henry signed my death warrant?" she asked him.

"Not yet," Norfolk said quietly.

"Then there is hope!" she cried softly.

"There is no hope," he said coldly. "Dissuade yourself of that fantasy, madame. You are condemned to die."

"When?" Her face was pale, as were the faces of her women.

"The date has not been set yet," Norfolk answered.

"If I must be slain," Catherine Howard said, "can it please be in secret? I do not wish to be an entertainment for the people."

"You will die on Tower Green, as did your cousin Anne. There will be just a few witnesses for posterity, and to satisfy the law," he told her gently. "Despite your cruelty to the king, he does not wish to be cruel to you, Catherine. Now prepare yourself to leave Syon one day in the near future. You should not be in residence in the Tower for more than a day or two." He bowed to the assembled household, and then, with the rest of the council, he departed, escorted out by Lord Baynton.

"Henry will not kill me," Catherine Howard said desperately, refusing to believe her fate. "I know him. He is just angry. He has the right to be, but he will not kill me."

Kate Carey wept softly in Lady Baynton's arms afterward. "There is little mercy in my uncle," she sobbed. "Why does Cat believe that the king will spare her? Does she really know him so little? She is guilty, and my aunt, Queen Anne, was not; yet Queen Anne died on Tower Green. I am so afraid for Cat. What will happen when she can no longer hide from the truth?"

"She will have no choice but to face it," Lady Baynton said.

"She hides from it now," Nyssa comforted Kate, "because it is the only way she can keep from going to pieces. We must be brave for her, Kate, because we are all she has to help her through this ordeal."

Lady Baynton prepared the small wardrobe Cat would need in her last few days of life, while the others kept the former queen entertained so that her mind would not dwell upon the inevitable. None of them were prepared, however, when the Privy Council arrived the following morning to remove Catherine Howard from Syon House.

Cat had not slept well the night before, and was just arising from her bed. Informed that her uncle and the rest of the council were there to escort her to the Tower of London, Cat shrank back amid her pillows. "No! It is too soon! I cannot go today!I cannot!"

Struggling to keep from weeping, the serving woman prepared her tub, all hot and fragrant with damask roses, Cat's favorite scent. They bathed her, washed her hair, then dried her and dressed her in clean undergarments.

"How long is this all going to take?" grumbled the Duke of Suffolk.

"My lord, you sent no warning of your coming," Nyssa said gently. "She had a bad night, and slept ill, so arose late this morning. It is her custom to bathe first. Surely you would not deny her such a small thing? We know her time is so very short."

Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, knew himself to be rebuked, but it had been done with such sweetness, he could find no anger in himself to respond to her.

"Will she then eat?" demanded Norfolk.

"Aye," Nyssa said, looking directly at him.

He turned away from her. Her look had been accusatory, and he knew exactly what she meant by it. She was holding him responsible that her husband was locked in the Tower among that unfortunate lot of his relations. The truth was, he did feel guilty, but would never admit to it. Why should he?

A small meal was brought into the former queen's bedchamber, but Cat could not eat this morning. She was simply too afraid. She sent the food away. Now they were dressing her all in black velvet, and putting her fur-lined cape with the gold frog closures about her, the French cape with the gold trim over her head. She was handed a pair of leather gloves lined in rabbit fur.

When she was led out into her dayroom and saw the grim faces of the men who had once deferred to her, Catherine Howard was overwhelmed with a terrible fear. "I will not go," she said in a tight little voice.

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