Chapter 13
The Queen readily gave Kate permission to leave court, but it was with some reluctance that she packed her saddlebags and set off, attended by a groom. It had been hard saying goodbye to Francis, for she was sad to leave him and clung to him tightly before they parted.
She stayed at an inn near Croydon the first night, then they rode south via Edenbridge until they came to the gates of Hever.
The castle was in chaos. Men in royal livery were carrying out furniture, pictures, plate, and numerous other things, and loading them onto waiting carts. And there was Mother, in the midst of them, wringing her hands and looking very distressed.
“They’re taking everything!” she wailed, embracing Kate. “Even our family portraits. What would the King want with those? They’ve removed all the plates and cutlery—we won’t even have a cup to our name! Oh, Kate, this is terrible!”
Kate went in search of the steward, who was in his office, talking to one of the royal officials.
“My mother is very upset,” she said. “Can’t you leave us some necessities?”
The officer looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Mistress, but I have my orders. Everything is to be removed.”
“But what shall we do?”
“You must leave by nightfall.”
Mother came in, beside herself. “I’ve told them not to touch my gowns! I brought them here from Calais.”
“I’ll see that they are left for you,” the man said. “I am so sorry to inconvenience you ladies. I am only doing my job. And if it helps, there are good inns at Chiddingstone or Penshurst, where you could lodge tonight.”
“I thank you, but we will go to Henden Manor, my house at Ide Hill.” She turned to Kate.
“It was part of my inheritance from my father, and the King has just granted us leave to take possession of it. I inherited half of the Boleyn estate; the other half is the King’s.
Your uncle Rochford, Grandfather’s only surviving son, died without heirs, so Anne and I were left as co-heiresses.
Her share went to her daughter, the Lady Elizabeth, which is why the King has claimed it.
And I, fortunately, am not left destitute.
I visited Henden when I first arrived. It is a fine house and Will and I will make it our home—for now.
But I have my eyes on a greater property, which I will tell you about later. ”
They went outside and watched the men loading the last of their former possessions.
“It is as if they are taking all my memories away,” Mother said, her gray eyes filling with tears.
“Did you manage to save anything?” Kate asked.
“A few small items. They are in my chest. But they wouldn’t let me take the portraits of my parents. Not that I would have hung them anywhere.” Her voice was bitter.
Suddenly, Kate had a thought. There was a small round portrait of Aunt Anne in her bedchamber, which she wanted to save for Elizabeth, for it was important that the child learn the truth about her mother.
“Wait here!” she said, and darted across the drawbridge and into the castle.
It looked so bare, stripped of its furnishings.
Just an empty shell. No one would ever have known that one of the highest families in the land had lived here, or that a king had once come a-courting.
But there was no time for reflection. She dashed upstairs, nearly colliding with an officer coming down, a bundle of curtains in his arms.
“I need to use the privy,” she said as she pushed past, leaving him no doubt wondering why she hadn’t used the one downstairs. But she was worried that she would be too late. She wasn’t. The portrait was still on the wall. She shoved it under her cloak and made her way back to her mother.
“I’ve got my portrait of Aunt Anne,” she told her.
Mother looked concerned. “Are you sure no one saw you take it? Stealing the King’s property would be seen as a heinous offense.”
“No, there was no one upstairs. Besides, he won’t want it. He probably hates to be reminded of her.”
“He doesn’t like to be reminded of any of his past loves,” Mother said.
“Surely he honors the memory of Queen Jane?”
There was a pause. “Aye. But no one else. Well, we had best be on our way,” Mother said briskly.
They asked the men to load their chests onto a cart, then mounted their horses and turned away.
They had not gone more than a few yards when Mother reined in her horse and looked back.
“This is the final time a Boleyn will leave Hever. We are the last of the family. We will not come this way again.”
Kate was remembering Great-Grandmother’s strange predictions about Hever. Had she seen in her visions the castle as it would be under the new owners, whoever they would be? Well, Kate was unlikely to find out. She would not return here, even if she was invited.
They passed through the gatehouse and dismounted by the village church.
“I have a mind to say farewell to your grandfather one last time,” Mother said.
They walked up the aisle to where a large tomb stood beside the altar.
On it lay a fine brass showing the late Earl of Wiltshire in the robes of the Order of the Garter.
“It doesn’t look a bit like him,” Mother said, and Kate had to agree. “I don’t grieve for him,” she went on. “I’m glad he’s gone, for he made my life a purgatory. Is that very wicked of me?”
“No,” Kate said. “I didn’t like him either. He frightened me because he was always so critical of me and Harry, and we knew he didn’t want us at Hever.”
“No,” Mother said, gazing down at the brass.
“He served only his own interests, and I think he saw me as his one failure—before Anne’s fall, of course.
It’s hard to believe he voted her guilty.
It was his own neck he was thinking of. Your grandmother never forgave him, even though he said he had done it to spare her the loss of a husband as well as her children. ”
“I’m not surprised she felt like that.” Kate turned to her mother. “He was cruel. How could the death of my father make you a failure? It wasn’t your fault that you were widowed. It must have been a terrible loss.”
Mother looked uneasy. “It was, not least because your father looked to rise even higher at court. But God deemed otherwise. And Grandfather did not want the responsibility of providing for us. I suppose I should have been glad that the King made him, but it was a mixed blessing. Anyway, that’s all in the past now. I shall not come here again.”
They walked outside, into the spring sunshine.
“Why isn’t Grandmother buried here?” Kate asked.
Mother made a face. “Would you like to lie alongside that man for all eternity? No, she did not. Instead, she chose to be buried with the Howards at Lambeth.”
“Did she turn against you for marrying Will?” There was so much of her family history that Kate did not know.
“They all did. I don’t remember my mother ever saying a kind word to support me.
I did not see either of them again after I left for Calais, so I never made my peace with them.
That does not bother me. But I am glad that Anne spoke kindly of me at the end, as I was glad of the letter she sent me.
It was as if I was dead to the rest of them. ”
Kate was beginning to feel a little hurt that Mother had not yet asked about her imminent wedding.
Yet what could she have expected, with Mother so preoccupied with her own troubles?
And this was a challenging day. But as they strode back to the lychgate where their horses were tethered, Mother finally took her hand.
“I’m so sorry, Kate. Here I am, fretting about everything, and I haven’t even mentioned your marriage.
I am truly happy for you, and longing to meet Francis.
Will speaks so highly of him—he sounds the perfect husband for you. ”
“Oh, he is!” Kate cried, squeezing her mother’s hand, and proceeded to tell her all about him.
Mother smiled properly for the first time that day. “I rejoice to see that you are very much in love, and I am glad of it. You deserve it, dear girl.”
They mounted and trotted off in the direction the cart had taken.
“Mother, all I ask is that Francis and I enjoy the kind of happiness you have with Will. I want us to stay in love all our lives together. You have, haven’t you?”
Mother smiled. “Love is a precious thing and needs nurturing. The love you have is a good basis for the future, but sometimes you must work to keep it alive. And that first ‘in-love’ feeling deepens over time; marriage is not all about passion. It’s kindness and tenderness that matter.
Be good to each other; be patient. That’s the best advice I can give you. ”
“It sounds like good counsel,” Kate said, looking around her at the hedgerows abundant with spring flowers, the broad fields, the tunnel of trees through which they were riding, and the azure sky above.
Oh, it was glorious to be alive! The world away from the court was a wonderful place, and it would be perfect if only Francis were here to share it with her.
—
Henden Manor was a large timbered house with a Wealden tiled roof, set in the middle of a glorious hunting park. Kate did not feel bad about leaving her mother there, for the place was so welcoming and peaceful, and Mother was eager to arrange it the way she wanted.
“It will do until I can gain possession of Rochford Hall,” she said.
“It lies in Essex, and it came to the Boleyns through your great-grandmother, but her kinsman, the Earl of Ormond, has laid claim to her inheritance. Nevertheless, I am determined to fight for it, because she was her father’s sole heiress, so it is rightfully mine.
It’s so frustrating, because the income from her lands would bring me and Will great wealth. ”
“But you have other property from Grandfather?” Kate asked, gazing through the latticed window at the moat.
“Yes. The King has also confirmed to us Southborough, all the lands in Hever except the castle, and Brasted. We shall have a reasonable living from the rents.”