Page 70 of Love, Remember Me

"I am always here for you, Cat," he told her. "I know that it can be sometimes lonely to be the wife of an older man." He bowed and left her presence.

What could he have meant by that? Catherine wondered. He was so handsome. Had he been flirting with her? Well, a little flirting never hurt anyone. Why could she not flirt back and still give her first loyalty to Henry? As long as no one else knew what she was doing. She giggled. Suddenly she felt happy again and she was no longer bored. The king returned to her bed two days later.

In April the queen thought that she might be with child, but either she miscarried early or it had been a false hope brought on by her natural anxiety to please the king. She wept, but the king had no time to comfort his wife. In Yorkshire a rebellion was being led by Sir John Neville, who wished to restore the more orthodox form of Catholic worship. The rebellion was fiercely put down. Henry Tudor would not have Rome meddling in his kingdom.

The king was now busy planning his summer progress to York and the northeastern counties. There was a small piece of business that he would take care of before leaving London. He would see to the execution of Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury. She was an elderly woman, who had been lodged in the Tower for two years. Her father had been the Duke of Clarence, Edward IV's brother, and she was one of the last Plantagenets. She had always been loyal to the Tudors, indeed had served as Princess Mary's governess for many years; but her son Reginald, Cardinal Pole, had sided with the pope against the king. For this Margaret Pole would pay the ultimate price.

The queen pleaded desperately for the countess's life. Catherine hated injustice, and her husband was not being fair in this matter, though Cat did not say that. "She is no traitor, my lord, and she is an old woman. Let her live out her old age in peace."

Princess Mary also pleaded for her old governess's life. The tone she took, however, was more apt to anger the king than turn his heart and save the Countess of Salisbury. "Her death will be on your immortal soul, my lord," Mary told her father piously. "Do you not have enough sins piled up already? Would you really add the unjust death of Lady Margaret to that pile? Remember the last execution you personally ordered, my liege. You have come to regret it already in less than a year's time." She looked at him with her Aragonese mother's dark accusing eyes.

She is twenty-six, the king thought irritably, but she looks older. It is all that black she wears. "Dress in a gay color the next time you appear before me," the king said in answer to his daughter's plea.

"I am no traitor," the Countess of Salisbury declared when they took her to her execution.

The executioner was young and very inexperienced. He was unnerved by the fact the prisoner made him chase her about the block. Finally she was restrained. He hacked at her head, but his hands were shaking. Those who witnessed the execution later reported that he had butchered the poor old woman. It had been an awful death for a faithful servant. The court was secretly appalled by Henry Tudor's unnecessary cruelty. In Rome, Cardinal Pole publicly declared that he would pray for the king's black soul.

Plans for the progress proceeded in an orderly fashion now. France and the Holy Roman Empire were once again on the brink of war. They seemed to find it impossible to maintain a peace between them. François I, the French king, told his ambassador in England, Monsieur Marillac, to offer the Duc d'Orleans, who was the king's heir, as a husband for Princess Mary.

"What a fine idea," the queen enthused. "It is past time poor Mary was married. This is a perfect match! The French are as orthodox in their beliefs as are the Spanish. Mary will one day be Queen of France. Imagine! Your daughter! Queen of France!"

The young queen and Mary Tudor did not get along at all. Catherine believed that her older stepdaughter did not render her enough respect. The truth was that Mary did not. She thought her father's wife a frivolous, silly chit. What Mary refused to face was that her father loved his wife. When the princess was rude to the queen, she would suffer for it. Already two of Mary's maids had been removed from her household for a slight to the queen.

"I do not trust the French," the king told his wife. "Besides, we must keep the Holy Roman emperor as an ally if the trade links so important to us are to be kept open between England and the Low Countries. There will be no French marriage for Mary."

"She is no longer a maid with the first blush of youth upon her," the queen argued quite sensibly. "If not a French prince, then who? You have turned down almost every legitimate offer from every respectable prince and potentate in all of Europe, Henry. Who is left for Mary if you do not accept this offer? How many more offers do you think you will receive for her?"

"Mary could be Queen of England one day," Henry said bluntly. "England will have no foreign king."

"You have Edward!" Catherine cried.

"Only Edward," he growled at her, "and he is not even four. What if I were to die tomorrow? Will my son even survive to succeed me? I have no other sons, Catherine. For now Mary follows Edward."

"I am certain that we will have children," the queen consoled him. "I am going to ask Nyssa de Winter when I see her how she got herself with two babies. When I learn her secret, I shall have them two at a time. Two boys, Henry! One for York, and the other for Richmond!"

He laughed. She could be so naive sometimes, but then that was the absolute charm of his rose without a thorn. She was the perfect wife for him. He had never in his entire life been so happy as he was with her. He wanted to live forever.

They departed London on the first of July. Their train was absolutely enormous. This was an important progress, unlike most summer progresses that remained in and about the Home countries. Many in the court were traveling with the king this year, unlike other years, when they returned to their own homes. There were carriages to shelter the women, although many of them preferred to ride if the weather was fair. The baggage train was huge, for it carried royal pavilions that would be set up each night to house the king and his court, as well as all the equipment necessary for the field kitchens that would feed them.

While the pavilions were being set up, the court would hunt. Wildlife, wherever the king's train passed by, was usually decimated quite thoroughly. The game, however, was used to feed them and all their retainers. The scraps were given to the beggars who followed in the king's wake hoping for alms, or perhaps even the king's touch for their illnesses. The king's touch was said to be miraculously healing.

Dunstable. Ampthill, Grafton Regis. The king's progress moved with precision exactly on schedule. The Earl and the Countess of March were due to meet their royal master and his wife at Lincoln on the ninth of August.

Nyssa had been absolutely furious when the summons had come.

"I cannot leave my babies!" she shrieked. "I am barely recovered from my confinement. Ohh, I just hate Cat for this! I will never forgive her! You must go, Varian, and tell them that I cannot leave the children. The king will certainly understand. He will send you home again to us. You must do this for me!"

"The queen has specifically requested your presence, sweeting," he told her. "Your mother is coming fromRiversEdgewith little Jane and Annie to look after Edmund and Sabrina. We have two wet nurses, and the twins will survive nicely. They will not even know we are gone."

"I don't want to go back to court," Nyssa said mutinously.

"We have no choice," he told her patiently, but the truth was he did not want to go either.

"My milk will dry up. I have only had two wet nurses in the event that I became ill, Varian, and could not nurse our babies myself. Susan has helped me greatly, but Alice has a child of her own."

"A child who is ready to be weaned," the earl said.

"You want to go!" she accused him.

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