Chapter 10 Smithfield, London, May 1362 #4
‘You greet the dogs before you greet your mother, it was ever thus,’ she said, laughing to make sure he took it as a jest.
‘Rather they greeted me,’ he said wryly.
‘Your stepfather says you want to talk to me. If it is about our suggestion regarding Alys FitzAlan, there is plenty of time and it will happen slowly. She is still being educated in her mother’s household and will stay there until you are both older.’
‘So, she will not be coming to Bordeaux with us?’
‘Not immediately, no. As I say, there is plenty of time. I think you like her – or at least have no objection? Speak now if you do and we shall consider a different path.’
He shook his head. ‘It will benefit our family, and I do not mind her.’
She knew he was saying what he thought she wanted to hear, and that he probably viewed Alys as he did any other girl of his acquaintance.
The notion of marriage was a distant landscape.
For Alys too. ‘That is good, but I am concerned, for your stepfather said you seemed troubled. Is there something else weighing on you?’
He looked down at his feet. ‘It isn’t about Alys,’ he said.
‘Then what? You can tell me.’
He drew a deep breath. ‘I saw the King last night. He was with that new lady of the Queen’s, the one with the dark hair. Roger saw it too.’
‘Mistress Perrers, you mean?’ Jeanette suppressed a grimace.
The young woman, although new in her role, was already behaving with hauteur towards some of the other ladies and manipulating those she was able to dominate.
There had been some speculative gossip about her function in the household.
Her husband had been owed considerable sums of money for supplying jewels to the King and Queen and Alice’s new position in widowhood was supposedly payment of that debt.
But there was probably more to it than that.
Tom nodded and chewed his underlip.
‘What did you see?’
‘She was . . . they were . . .’ He looked at his mother, his face suffusing. ‘She had . . . they were . . . I . . . I know what they were doing. It was in a walkway, but there was enough light to show everything . . .’
Jeanette maintained a bland expression. ‘I am glad you have told me.’ She touched his arm.
‘It must have been shocking for you to come upon, but I know you are sensible and steady. Do not let it trouble you further. I shall deal with the matter, as will your stepfather. I understand why you could not speak to him yourself.’
‘She saw me and Roger,’ he said. ‘And she looked at us as though she wanted to kill us.’
‘Mistress Perrers will do you no harm,’ Jeanette replied, her tone steely. ‘She will not dare, even if she does have the King’s favour. Speak of this to no one – more so because it will hurt the Queen rather than how much it will bother Mistress Perrers.’
‘I promise I won’t – and neither will Roger.’
‘I am glad to hear it, and I trust your word. Let this be a lesson for when you are a man. Do nothing to bring your honour or that of another into ill repute.’ She smoothed his hair and offered him a rose-water confection from her comfit box. ‘Take one for Roger too, I know his sweet tooth.’
‘I am not afraid of her,’ he said stoutly.
‘Nor should you be because you have strong protection, but it is wise to be cautious. I am glad you came to me, and I praise you for it.’
When he had gone, Jeanette sat back and pondered.
The King was a fool, but he had always had a weakness for such women, and they exploited their advantage.
The Queen had put paid to them in the past and King Edward did indeed love her dearly, but her health was no longer robust, and they had ceased to share a bed because of her incapacity and pain.
Given the King’s carnal appetite, it left the door wide open for ambitious women such as Mistress Perrers.
That night, in bed with Edward, catching up on the day’s events, she told him what Tom and Roger had seen.
‘That woman,’ she said. ‘I fear she will sink her claws into your father. Surely it is not right that she has a place among your mother’s ladies.
Even if he has a man’s needs, he should not do this. ’
Edward grimaced. ‘I agree, but it will not be an easy subject to broach with him.’
‘I know we have greater concerns in the coming days than Mistress Perrers, but with your mother unwell, who knows where this might lead. If she harms Tom or Roger either by word or deed, I swear I shall take matters into my own hands.’
‘No, I will see to it,’ Edward said hastily, and stroked her arm in a soothing gesture. ‘She is but an outlet for his lust. It is a pity the boys saw what they did but it is the way of the world.’ He pressed a kiss to her temple. ‘It is but a storm in a puddle. She will never replace my mother.’
‘She has already replaced her in your father’s bed,’ Jeanette pointed out sharply. ‘And that is a place from which to grow power and influence.’
Edward sighed. ‘Look, I will speak with my father,’ he said, ‘but do not make more of this than it is.’
Jeanette heard the impatience in his voice and bit her tongue rather than pressure him.
Any threat to Tom was one to herself and she would defend her son to the death.
Edward clearly saw the incident as one of trivial if unsavoury court scandal, and nothing to worry about. But the situation had set her on edge.
She curled into his body, and he pulled her close. ‘I will protect you and the children,’ he said. ‘Do not doubt me.’
‘I don’t,’ she said, and kissed him. But nevertheless decided she would keep a watchful eye herself.
A few days later, Edward, reluctant, a little exasperated, but feeling duty-bound by Jeanette’s anxiety, visited his father before the dinner hour and found him in his inner chamber with a handful of scribes and attendants.
Alice Perrers sat beside him, sufficiently close for their legs to touch.
His father was stroking the nap of her heavy green velvet gown back and forth over her thigh in a frankly sensual gesture.
On seeing Edward, he made no attempt to hide what he was doing but rather continued in defiance.
Edward stopped and thought about leaving, but his father raised his other hand and beckoned. ‘What is it?’ he said. ‘Come, sit and speak with me.’
‘It will wait another time – it is a personal matter.’
‘Well, this is my private chamber,’ his father said affably. ‘I trust everyone here. You may speak as frankly as you wish.’
‘Sire, I promise you this is a matter for your ears alone.’
His father gave him a piercing look and turned to Alice. ‘Would you mind, my dear?’
‘As you wish, sire.’
Alice rose from the bench and smoothed her gown with luxurious slowness, making a performance of the deed to display her body.
She gave Edward a long, feline stare, and curtseyed to him, and then more deeply to his father, before leaving the chamber, her walk projecting a sinuous grace that left Edward nonplussed and suddenly wondering if Jeanette was right to be disturbed.
This was a confident woman, not a casual bed companion to be loved and left.
‘Now’ – his father patted the seat beside him, which Alice had just vacated – ‘what do you want to talk about?’
Edward grimaced at the thought of sitting in Alice’s place, the wood still warm from her buttocks, and instead pulled up a small chair. ‘I have been missing our talks together,’ he said. ‘Soon we shall be parted by distance without opportunity, and I have a fondness for those times.’
His father raised his eyebrows. ‘I am fond of those times too, but they are part of life’s warp and weft and the cloth weaves on. Is something amiss between you and your wife? Have you come to me for advice?’
‘Not exactly. It is not about me or Jeanette.’
His father shook his head. ‘Then what? I do not understand your secrecy. You may approach me any time of the day, as do my other offspring. I am immune to none of you.’
Edward frowned. ‘So you say, but look how I had to insist just now that our words be private.’
His father waved his hand in dismissive irritation. ‘What is this about?’
‘I do not know how to say this with diplomacy, so I shall speak frankly. You were seen with Alice Perrers in a corridor behaving in a manner that would be better concealed behind closed doors for everyone’s sake.’
His father sat up straight and looked affronted. ‘What I do, and with whom, is my own business, and I will not have you or anyone else judging me.’
‘But this is not good for the court and disrespects my mother. One of her own ladies who should be serving her, not servicing you. If by chance she does not know of this arrangement then she soon will when you are so blatant.’
‘And I have told you not to interfere. Your lecture astonishes me – you made a liaison behind my back with Jeanette of Kent and twisted my arm, so I had no choice but to consent to you marrying her. Do not talk to me of improper relations with unsuitable women!’ He wagged a warning forefinger.
‘You have told me in the past that your wife has been the victim of slander and gossip, and the slurs cast upon her are vicious lies. If I give you the benefit of the doubt on that matter, then so shall you give me that benefit with Mistress Perrers. Let the matter drop and I will consider this entire discourse unspoken and not ask you how you came by such information in the first place!’
Edward held his ground. ‘As you say, it is your business, sire, but I would rather that the two young squires who saw the event did not witness their sovereign lord lewdly fornicating in a corridor.’
‘And I would rather that my eldest son leaves me to manage my affairs and addresses his own, because they seem to be in sore need of remedy. Do I interfere in your matters of procreation?’
‘I hear you, but even so I have to speak out for my mother’s sake.’
‘What is between me and Mistress Perrers is not your concern. If you had bothered to look further, you would know that your mother is aware of my arrangement with Mistress Perrers and has accepted her into the household in full knowledge of her function – one she can no longer fulfil herself. I shall hear no more on the matter, from you or any member of your household, and you shall accord Mistress Perrers the same courtesy you would extend to any lady of the court. Is that understood?’
Seeing the blaze in his father’s complexion, Edward realised the matter was beyond a moment’s untangling.
He inclined his head and tightened his lips, angry but controlled.
God willing, the attraction would burn itself out and prove to be a momentary infatuation.
Jeanette would be dissatisfied with the outcome – he was disturbed himself now he had seen the lie of the land – but he had more to occupy his time than bothering with the arrangements his father had made to ease his carnal lusts.
If his mother had accepted Alice Perrers as a necessary expedience, then indeed, it was neither his nor Jeanette’s place to meddle further.