Chapter 41
Kate was still at court for the New Year celebrations.
Elizabeth showed her appreciation by giving her a tablet of gold set with diamonds and rubies, and a pearl pendant.
The other ladies got gilt pots. There was no doubting whom the Queen loved the best. Five days later, Beth was promoted to the post of Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber, which meant that Kate would see her more often.
Beth was sixteen now, a pretty girl with red curls framing her face and a winning manner.
Soon, Francis said, they would have to find her a husband.
In March, there came the most shocking news from Scotland.
There had been a lot of gossip about Queen Mary’s marriage to Darnley, which had all but broken down.
It was no secret that Darnley was jealous of Mary and that he wanted to seize power for himself, despite being hated in Scotland.
Nevertheless, she was pregnant with his child.
Talk had filtered through to England of her increasing reliance on her Italian secretary, David Rizzio.
Some said that he was her lover and had even fathered her baby.
Kate was alone with Elizabeth in her bedchamber when a letter bearing Mary’s seal was brought to her. She watched the Queen’s frown deepen as she read it, heard her draw in her breath.
Elizabeth turned to her. “Rizzio has been murdered,” she said.
“By whom?” Kate was aghast.
“There was a conspiracy,” the Queen said.
“Some armed lords burst in on Mary as she was dining in private with Rizzio and one of her ladies. Darnley was sitting with them, and he jumped up and joined in with the lords when they jostled the Queen aside and attacked Rizzio, who clung to her skirts, screaming for justice. But he was dragged away and savagely murdered. His body was found pierced with fifty-six dagger wounds. They kept the Queen at bay by pointing a pistol at her belly.”
Kate’s hand had flown to her mouth. “The poor lady. She must have been terrified.”
“Laying violent hands on an anointed sovereign is a shocking thing,” observed Elizabeth, shuddering.
“And they shut her up in her rooms with Darnley. It took her two days to convince him of the likelihood that they would murder him next. He was frightened witless and blurted out the names of all who had taken part in the killing of Rizzio. Mary is certain that the plot was aimed at her, that the lords had hoped to bring on a miscarriage, that she might die in childbirth, and that Darnley had plotted with them to make him king in her place. As if they would have let him rule, the fool!”
“Is she still a captive?”
“No. She writes that, with the help of the loyal Earl of Bothwell, she and Darnley managed to escape from Holyrood Palace and rode through the night for Bothwell’s castle at Dunbar.
Her letter is dated there. She is doing her best to raise an army.
Kate, I must leave you, for I must see my councillors. ”
Bit by bit, news filtered south. Queen Mary had raised an army and marched back to Edinburgh, only to find that the conspirators had fled the city.
She was now estranged from Darnley and excluding him from all state affairs.
“He remains at court; though, heavily watched, I imagine,” Elizabeth said, tart.
Kate could not forget that Elizabeth had sent Darnley north.
Was this what she had intended? But how could she have predicted that it would happen?
She seemed genuinely horrified at how Mary had been treated.
She had taken to wearing a miniature of the Scottish Queen suspended from her waist chain.
Impassioned, she turned to Kate. “Had I been in Queen Mary’s place, I would have taken my husband’s dagger and used it to stab him.
” Kate had no doubt that she would have done it.
She sighed inwardly. Cecil was still hopeful of negotiating a foreign marriage for the Queen, but Mary’s experiences would be further proof to Elizabeth of the dangers of wedlock. She would be even more averse to taking a husband after this.
—
In April, Kate was unhappy to learn that Francis was being sent to Ireland to control the expenditure of Sir Henry Sidney, the Queen’s Lord Deputy, who was trying to repress an Irish rebellion and was much hampered by the interference of influential courtiers at home.
Elizabeth had charged Francis to report back on the situation and order Sidney, in her name, to deal promptly with the rebels, to avoid further outlay.
Kate hated it when Francis had to entrust himself to the perils of the sea.
She could not sleep for wondering where he was and if he was safe, or imagining storms or the monsters of the deep, in which she did not normally believe.
He had told her that he would soon be home, but the days stretched endlessly.
When he did come back, to her massive relief, they enjoyed a loving reunion, yet he was clearly troubled.
“Sidney is doing all he can to resolve the situation. He cannot do more, contrary to what the Queen thinks. And tomorrow, I have to tell her that I have commended him for his efforts and told him that no one, least of all her Majesty, would expect him to conduct the campaign on strictly economical lines.”
They were lying in each other’s arms in their lodging, savoring being close again. It was past midnight, but their peace was suddenly interrupted by some ladies and maids-of-honor, who started shrieking with laughter in the adjoining lodging.
Francis raised himself on one elbow, fuming. “Have they no consideration? They make this racket every night, to my extreme disquiet, though I have often warned them that I will complain to the Queen.”
Kate was seized with a sense of mischief. “I have a better idea! Take off your nightshirt, but put your hose back on.” She watched as, looking at her quizzically, he stripped, then pulled up his hose and tied his points.
“Now,” she continued, “put on your spectacles and take this.” She reached for the copy of Aretino’s racy Dialogues that they had been reading together earlier.
It was a debate between two experienced women about the comparative merits of being a wife, a whore, or a nun; it was explicit, earthy, and not for the fainthearted.
“Go out, knock on their door, and when they answer, pretend you are reading it and enjoying the naughty passages. Let them draw their own conclusions as to your intentions!”
Francis was blushing. “But the world knows I am a faithful husband, and I do not want it bruited that I read Aretino for stimulation.”
“They will just think you eccentric, or not quite awake at this late hour,” Kate giggled. “I’ll wager it will stop them from waking you again. Try it and see!”
He did as she bade him, and she had to admit that he gave a very good impression of a man out on the prowl for sex, like so many of the young court gallants. But then she heard the laughter change to shrieks of dismay, and saw Francis run back into their bedchamber, slamming the door behind him.
“Well, I dare say I posed a sad spectacle and gave them a pitiful fright!” He grinned. “Although I pray that word of this never gets back to the Queen.”
“If it does, I’ll set her right,” Kate said, laughing. “Now take off those hose, dear husband, and come back to bed!”
—
That June, Elizabeth received word that the Queen of Scots had borne a healthy son and heir, who had been christened James, a name borne by many Scottish kings.
She was pensive that afternoon. Kate and Blanche tried to distract her with cards and music, but her heart was in neither.
“I wonder what gift I should send for the Prince of Scots,” she said suddenly.
“Some costly plate?” Blanche suggested.
“A covered cup?” Kate chimed in.
“I will think on it, and on whom I should send to represent me at the baptism. You do both realize that the birth of this child immeasurably strengthens Queen Mary’s claim to be my successor.
Up until now, her ambitions have been only for herself, but from now on, they will be for her son.
I told Melville I was glad to hear the news, but in fact it troubles and saddens me. ”
“I can understand why it troubles you, Bess, but why feel sad?” Blanche asked.
“Because I am barren.”
“But you don’t know that,” Kate challenged her. She had heard this before.
“I know that I will never have children.”
Kate gave up and bent her head to the bonnet she was sewing for her grandson. She knew that nothing she could say would alleviate Elizabeth’s fears of marriage and childbirth.
She was glad when August came and the Queen set out from Greenwich for her annual progress.
They traveled through Northamptonshire to Stamford, then moved to Oxfordshire and the old palace of Woodstock.
Kate was painfully aware that Greys Court lay within a day’s ride.
When she had suggested that Elizabeth pay her and Francis a visit, the Queen had merely smiled and said there wouldn’t be time.
Kate was disappointed, for she believed that her mistress would enjoy the peace of Greys Court, and she wanted Elizabeth to see the home she loved, but Francis, who was also accompanying the progress, was relieved that her Majesty had declined.
“It would have ruined us,” he said. “When I think of the expense we would have incurred, I shudder.”
From Woodstock, the court accompanied the Queen when she rode out in her litter to meet the dons who were waiting to escort her into the City of Oxford, where she received a warm welcome from Leicester, the Chancellor of the University, and from the mayor and aldermen, while the scholars shouted, “Vivat Regina!”