The Forgotten Sister

by Nicola Cornick

  William had looked properly appalled but I was insistent and he seemed so stunned at the change in me that he agreed.

  ‘Sir Robert stays at Melford Hall,’ he informed me sullenly, and now, as he raised his hand to knock at the door of this fine manor, I thought what a very beautiful place Robert had chosen for his tryst with the Queen. No back stairs tumble for her.

  The appalled expression on the face of the steward when William Hyde introduced me was a mirror for Hyde’s own a few days past. I walked straight inside.

  ‘Pray do not trouble to announce me to my lord,’ I said airily. ‘I will announce myself.’

  ‘Madam—’ The steward was ashen. ‘I do not believe Sir Robert is expecting you…’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘That is rather the point.’

  Though the steward was struck dumb and Hyde was watching, grim-faced and silent, it was not difficult to work out where Robert was housed. I simply followed a servant carrying wine. He knocked at a chamber door and having been given the word to enter, I followed him in.

  Robert was sprawled in a chair before the fire. He was alone. I had guessed he would be as had the Queen been present Hyde and the steward between them would have made more effort to detain me. As it was, perhaps they wanted to witness what would happen when Robert’s docile wife turned.

  ‘I thought I would find you here, Robert,’ I said. I stripped off my gloves and threw them down on the chest. I realised that I was enjoying this. I felt a rush of power and excitement. ‘I see you were expecting company,’ I added, glancing at the table set for two, the silver plate and the fine crystal, the flagon of wine. ‘I am sure she would not begrudge me refreshment. I have travelled a long way to see you.’

  Robert leaped to his feet. It was the first time in all our acquaintance that I had been able to surprise him. It was most gratifying. He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it like a nervous schoolboy. ‘How did you know where I was?’

  ‘Oh…’ I glanced over my shoulder towards the passage. ‘William told me. He escorted me here.’ I raised a brow. ‘Surely you did not think I came alone?’

  ‘William Hyde?’ He looked confused. ‘But—’

  ‘I know,’ I said. ‘He is supposed to be your loyal man but I found a way to persuade him.’

  I saw Robert absorb the news of William’s betrayal. His mouth set grimly. He did not care for disloyalty.

  ‘How?’ he said.

  ‘That need not concern you,’ I said. ‘You cannot dismiss him,’ I added gently. ‘We need him.’

  His dark gaze snapped up to mine. ‘What do you mean?’

  I poured for myself, since surprise seemed to have robbed him of his manners. I noted that my hand was quite steady. Robert was not so in command of himself. His gaze darted repeatedly to the open door so I walked over and closed it.

  ‘Pray, sit down,’ I said. ‘Do not agitate yourself. If the Queen comes…’ I smiled. ‘Well, for once she will have to concede her place to your wife.’

  He shot me a look of pure hatred. ‘Her Majesty does not care to be kept waiting.’

  I shrugged. ‘I can only imagine how difficult your life must be in that case.’ I raised my glass in a mocking toast. ‘To your future happiness.’

  Robert poured a glass too, slopping the red wine onto the cloth where it spread like a bloodstain. He drank it down in one gulp.

  ‘Why are you here?’ he asked.

  ‘To negotiate a truce,’ I said, ‘to suggest a solution.’ I sat, arranging my skirts carefully. ‘You want to marry the Queen,’ I said. ‘I want to be free. There is a way for us both to get what we want.’

  He stared at me. I waited to see if he would insult me with some sort of conventional denial, an expression of shock or a false vow of affection. To his credit he did none of those. That time was past and we both knew it.

  ‘The Queen would never marry me,’ he said, ‘even if I were free.’

  I thought this was probably true. From the moment I had seen Elizabeth at Hatfield I had doubted that she would marry anyone, no matter how her advisors urged her to make a foreign alliance. Danger and experience had taught her to be wary. She would never risk compromising her power as her sister had done, never risk putting herself and her country in any man’s hands. She loved Robert. She had said so. I thought she loved him a great deal, but not quite enough to put him above all else. And being Elizabeth, she probably thought she could demand his love, his adoration, his attention, his devotion and everything else she wanted without giving him the ultimate prize.

  My aim, however, was to convince Robert of the opposite because only if he believed he had a chance to wed her would he agree to my plan. I did not think this would be too difficult. Robert’s weakness had always been his arrogance and ambition. He would want to believe he could change Elizabeth’s mind and persuade her to marry him. If the path were clear…

  ‘She would change her mind,’ I said, ‘if you were free. She loves you. She told me so herself.’

  I saw a spark leap in his eyes, then it dulled almost immediately. His mouth turned down at the corners. ‘Do you think I have not considered all possible ways to achieve it?’ he said. He looked at me, his gaze shadowed now. The subject wearied him. I could see it was a familiar trap, an unbearable frustration. ‘There can be neither annulment nor divorce for us. This leaves only…’

  ‘Death,’ I said.

  The word dropped into the silence of the room like a stone in a deep pool.

  ‘Do not tell me,’ I said, ‘that you have not considered it.’

  ‘Amy.’ He looked uncomfortable, sheepish, too committed to lie yet too much of a coward to admit it.

  ‘Of course you have,’ I said. ‘How could you not wish it? I die and the path is clear.’

  He frowned fiercely. ‘I would never hasten your end, if that is what you fear.’

  I was not sure whether I believed him or not. In the whispering hall of mirrors I was imprisoned in it was all too easy to believe rumour and gossip. I did not know whether they were true or falsehood. Reason was slippery but I grasped after it.

  ‘I do believe you,’ I said, ‘because to kill me would be a foolish thing to do and though you may be a desperate man, I do not think you are a stupid one.’

  I had his full attention now. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘If there was even the slightest suspicion that you had sought my death,’ I said carefully, ‘your enemies would seize upon it. They would never let it be forgotten. The Queen cannot allow any rumour of foul play to besmirch her reputation. She would send you away and your chance of marrying her would be gone for ever.’

  I saw the expression in his eyes and knew in that moment that he had considered it. Perhaps he had even started to plan my murder. Desperate times bred desperate remedies and if Robert had thought for even one second that he might get away with it, he would act.

  I should have felt afraid then, when I saw the depths to which he would go, but I did not. I sat back in my chair, stretching my aching limbs towards the fire, seeking the warmth and relaxation. It was pleasant in that little chamber, oddly comfortable and comforting as though we were a long-married couple supping together.

  ‘Think about it,’ I said. ‘Don’t be a fool, Robert.’

  He had turned away from me so that I could not read his expression. Not that I needed to see it to know. I had guessed and guessed aright but he did not want me to think he would have had me killed. He wanted me to believe that even with the stakes so high he would have remained loyal to me.

  I knew better.

  ‘It does not matter anyway,’ I said, as though he had spoken to deny his guilt, ‘for there is another way.’

  He looked at me as though he were seeing me for the first time, as though the assumptions he had made about me for all of our married life were dropping away at last.

  ‘Tell me,’ he said. He refilled my glass. This time his hand was completely steady.

  ‘I can disappear,’ I said. ‘T
o all intents and purposes, I would be dead. Only you and I and whichever is the most trustworthy of your men – Anthony Forster, perhaps – would know the truth.’

  He waited.

  ‘First we must spend some time together in London,’ I said, ‘to allay suspicion. We want people to think that we are reconciled.’

  ‘The Queen,’ he said, at once. ‘She will not like it.’

  I felt a pang of irritation that when I was offering him all he ever wanted, still he was subject to her whims.

  ‘You cannot tell her the truth,’ I said sharply. ‘You will have to manage the situation. I will come to visit you.’ I smiled at his expression. He looked as though he had the toothache. ‘It will not be so bad,’ I said, ‘a few weeks only.’

  He nodded. I could see he was eager to hear the meat of my suggestion to work out whether it was worth the pain of Elizabeth making his life a misery for a while. ‘When I leave,’ I said, ‘I will go somewhere remote, somewhere even more isolated than Throcking.’ I waited for the barb to bite. ‘It was unkind of you to send me there, Robert, and simply forget about me.’

  ‘I know.’ He looked ashamed. ‘I was so angry with you, so angry with us.’ He made a gesture of resignation. ‘I hated the situation I found myself in. I wanted so much to be free; I thought it would drive me insane with wanting.’

  ‘That is why the knot must be cut,’ I said. ‘I too wish to be free.’

  He nodded again, so eager now, malleable in my hands. ‘How is it to be done?’

  ‘Anthony Forster has a house at Cumnor in Oxfordshire, does he not,’ I said. ‘I will go to stay there for a few months. He is the most well-respected of your men. People believe him honest.’ I smiled. ‘That will be important.’

  ‘Forster is a sound man,’ Robert agreed.

  ‘He is your paid flunkey like the rest of them,’ I said cuttingly, ‘but he is better at hiding his corruption.’ I had had years and years in which to observe Robert’s retinue and my observation was that men took their lead from their master. Just as Robert could be brutal and none too scrupulous in pursuit of what he wanted, so did they echo him in their different ways.

  ‘Whilst I am at Cumnor,’ I continued, ‘you will send me money and will arrange safe passage for me to Holland. I want false papers and a place to live.’

  I saw Robert’s eyes widen. His Adam’s apple jumped as he swallowed.

  ‘I know it can be done,’ I said calmly. ‘Anything is possible if you wish it enough and can afford the price.’

  ‘Yes…’ I could see he was thinking hard, and quickly. ‘It is possible. But…’

  ‘I don’t want to know the difficulties,’ I said. ‘I want you to arrange it. You owe me that.’ I took a breath. ‘And of course, you will need to procure a body.’

  Now he stared at me as though I were indeed insane. ‘Come, Robert,’ I said. ‘Do you think I do not know how your retainers are little better than a band of thugs? How they brawl and maim and even kill, and you spend a fortune to buy them out of gaol and bribe judges and settle their affairs to avoid difficult questions asked? It would not be hard for Richard Varney or John Butler or any number of them to provide you with the body of a woman of the right age, height and colouring to match mine.’

  Robert was looking a little sick. I was not sure whether he was repulsed at the thought that I knew all about his sins or that I had the indelicacy to mention them.

  ‘I do not scruple to talk of it,’ I said cheerfully, ‘since both you and I know they are varlets and murderers.’

  He ran an agitated hand through his hair. ‘Even if they were,’ he said, ‘we cannot pass off some pox-ridden trull from the back streets of London as Lady Dudley. You think that if we dress her in your clothes and claim she died of a fever, people will be taken in?’ He shook his head. ‘You are dreaming.’

  ‘Not so.’ I sat forward, eager to make him see how it could be achieved. ‘I have it all planned,’ I said. ‘Of course, we will need some help, but not much. The fewer people who know the better it will be. We can choose a day when the whole household is away – at a market or a fair, perhaps. I could feign illness but insist they go without me.’ I dismissed the detail with a wave of my hand. ‘Your man brings the body in secret. That is why I think Cumnor Place serves us best. It is remote and lonely. Even better, I have learned that there is an outer stair to the tower there that is perfect for our purpose. A man could enter and leave the building unseen.’

  ‘It is utter madness,’ Robert spoke violently. ‘I should not encourage you in such intemperate ideas!’

  ‘If you do not have the stomach for it,’ I said, ‘I will achieve it alone. This is my future we speak of, as well as yours. How do you think it feels to be locked away in idleness day after day whilst my husband dances attendance on the Queen? When men speak of him as her favourite?’ I said the word as though it were poisoned. ‘I have pride, Robert, and I have a desire to live the life I want as much as you do. I wish to be rid of you as much as you wish to be rid of me!’

  He stood up. I could see that my words had stung him and wondered if he had really thought that being Lady Dudley should have been enough for me regardless of the price I paid.

  ‘How?’ he demanded. ‘How will you achieve it? Will you persuade Forster as you persuaded Hyde? How did you do that? With your body?’

  ‘That is none of your affair,’ I said coldly, ‘when the entire world gossips of your exploits with Her Majesty.’

  Robert made a sound remarkably like a growl but he subsided into his chair and glared at me from beneath lowered brows. ‘Go on,’ he said curtly. ‘Finish your fairy tale. Tell me what happens next.’

  ‘We place the body at the base of the stair,’ I said, ‘face down, so it looks like a fall. I am spirited away to my new life. Anthony calls a couple of servants who recognise my clothing and will testify that I have had an accident. He then carries the woman to my chamber and locks the door. He formally identifies the body as mine and sends to tell you I have met with an untimely, tragic, but entirely innocent end.’

  ‘And what will happen when the household returns and sees the corpse?’ Robert spoke with heavy sarcasm. ‘Do I have to pay them all off or are you expecting they will suffer from a collective blindness that will prevent them from noticing this woman is not you?’

  ‘Neither,’ I said. I tried not to sound too pleased with myself. ‘They will not see the body,’ I said simply. ‘It will already have been identified by someone who knew me. Why distress them with the sight of their dead mistress?’

  Robert rolled his eyes. ‘There would have to be an inquest.’

  ‘Of course,’ I said. ‘But the jurors need not be known to me.’ I paused a moment to allow him to digest that. ‘Why should they recognise my likeness?’ I pressed the point. ‘A woman is dead. Anthony Forster tells them it is Lady Dudley. Why would they question?’

  Robert was very still.

  ‘To make all safe,’ I finished, softly, ‘you could choose a man to be foreman of the jury. A stranger to me,’ I added, ‘but one who is beholden to you – or to the Queen. There must be many such men anxious to oblige her…’

  ‘A queen’s man…’ Robert whispered the words. I thought he looked a little dazed.

  ‘He would know nothing,’ I said, ‘other than that it was in his interests to make sure all went smoothly with the inquest.’

  He nodded. I could see that the flame of the idea had caught hold. All I had to do now was fan it into belief but I needed to tread carefully. Too much fire and I might scare him away from the idea. In my favour was the fact that he wanted to believe the plan would work because it could grant him his heart’s desire.

  ‘It has the merit of being quite simple,’ I said, ‘when you consider it. A woman is dead, identified as Lady Dudley. I will be gone to a new life, and will never trouble you again.’

  He stared at me for what seemed like the longest time and then he raised his goblet to touch mine. Gold met gold wit
h the softest kiss. Looking into his eyes I saw how it might have been for us in a different place, a different time; an ambitious man with a clever, beautiful and ambitious wife at his side. We might have risen high together, instead of which for him to rise, I had to fall.

  ‘This way we can both gain all we desire,’ I said, and after a moment he smiled at me and I almost fell in love with him all over again until I remembered that she was coming, the Queen of England, and that if anyone was the Queen’s true man then it was he.

  ‘So be it,’ he said, and our pact was made.

  Chapter 21

  Lizzie: Present Day

  Lizzie had arranged to meet Arthur in one of the tea-shops in Burford high street. It was busy, full of shoppers and tourists, and it felt impersonal enough to give her confidence. Even so, she was edgy as she waited for him, checking the door every few seconds, aware that she didn’t really know how to feel or how it would be to see him again, let alone how to broach the subject of Johnny. Another night of broken sleep had done nothing other than give her a headache and convince her that her thoughts about Johnny’s paranormal powers were the result of stress and tiredness, but even so, at the back of her mind, a stubborn instinct lingered that she was right.

  ‘Is this neutral territory?’ Arthur enquired as he slid into the seat opposite her. She had been distracted by the appearance of tea in a big pot shaped like a thatched cottage and had missed his arrival after all. He bent to brush her cheek with a light kiss and the touch ran through her and made her disturbingly aware of him even though it was all over in a second.

  ‘I thought it would be easier to meet here,’ Lizzie admitted. ‘I feel kind of nervous. I’m not sure why.’ She fidgeted with the teaspoon, looking up to see Arthur watching her with a smile in his eyes. Her stomach swooped.

  ‘Me too,’ he said.

  ‘You?’ Lizzie stared at him. ‘Nervous of me?’

  ‘Not exactly of you,’ Arthur said, ‘more of us.’ He shrugged slightly uncomfortably. ‘Nothing about our relationship seems normal, you know?’