by Ann Benson
The Princess Isabella, however, proved to be a great challenge to Alejandro, whose authority and rules she tested continually.
One morning he heard a timid knock on his door, and opened it to find a small maiden, just a child, whom he had once seen in Isabella’s apartment, requesting his immediate attendance upon the princess. She curtsied neatly, her small hands holding the sides of her skirt as she did so. She brushed away an unruly golden ringlet and tried to tuck it under her cap. It disobeyed and fell free again, and she put one hand in front of her mouth and giggled. He could not help but smile in response.
“Yes?” he said.
She waited for a moment, then said, “Sir, will you not return my curtsy with a bow?”
“Ah, yes,” he said, reddening, “forgive me.” He bent deeply at the waist, and then straightened. He saw her look of disapproval and said, “I have not yet mastered this skill of bowing. My apologies to you.”
With a smile she said, “I accept your apology with thanks.” Then she tried to take on the seriousness required for the mission on which she had been sent. She stood taller and said in a firm but tiny voice, “My lady is greatly distressed and in a foul humor because of Nurse’s scolding.” The little girl fidgeted impatiently while waiting for Alejandro’s response.
“And what would the lady have me do to correct this intolerable situation?” he asked.
“She would have you settle certain matters in the presence of Nurse, who has invoked your edicts in order to restrict the princess’ activities.”
He smiled at her, amused by her self-assurance. “And what would be your own opinion in this dispute?”
The child smiled impishly, leading him to believe that she would like to make some naughty revelation disguised as her own opinion. “Sir, my opinion is of no consequence, for I am just a small child, and a female,” she said, “but I will confess my belief that Nurse is continually seeking reasons to keep my sister in her cradle. She means to keep Isabella a child forever.”
Ah, her sister! he thought, intrigued by the child. He pressed her further. “And of what age is your lady, that she has acquired sufficient wisdom to run her own affairs?”
“Sixteen” was her confident reply. “My sister is already twice betrothed, and now keeps her own household.”
“Then I am not surprised by your obvious pride in her independence, for she has accomplished much at her tender age.”
The child, now more at ease with her mission, beamed up at him, pleased with her own success in conveying the message. “Now we must hurry,” she said, extending her hand to him, “or Isabella will be cross with me for delaying your arrival. She is rarely pleasant if she is kept waiting.”
He took her hand briefly, then let it go. “Then let us be off at once, to see to Her Highness’ needs.”
As they neared Isabella’s private apartments, Alejandro could hear the shrill cries of a young woman in the full fury of a tantrum, accompanied by the clatter of items being thrown around the room. The strained replies of an older woman could be intermittently heard above the racket. Outside the door the child motioned for him to stop, then held her finger to her lips to hush him, adding in a low voice, “Please wait here, sir. I shall announce your presence to the princess.”
By the time the child returned, Alejandro had counted every stone in the wall and memorized the pattern of the tiles on the floor. Seated on a rather uncomfortable bench outside the princess’ anteroom, he listened to the scurrying of servants beyond the door, and speculated about the mess that the rebellious Isabella had so audibly made. The child curtsied once again, so Alejandro politely stood up, proffering a slight bow.
“Will you have a seat, Princess?”
“Ah, thank you, sir. I am not inclined to sit just now. My lady awaits us. And please permit me to correct you: I am no princess. My name is Catherine, and I am called Kate by the members of our household.”
“May I then have the honor of addressing you thus?”
The child giggled, relishing her grown-up role as Isabella’s intermediary. “Sir, it is I who would be honored. Now let us enter the princess’ apartment before she grows restless enough to make a shambles of the place again.”
Kate opened the outer door and led Alejandro into the anteroom. It was large, full of light, and quite exquisitely appointed. The colors and patterns used in the rugs and tapestry gave the immediate impression of an extremely feminine occupant. He had passed by before, but he had not entered. He stared like a dumbfounded child.
“Do you admire my taste in furnishings, Dr. Hernandez?”
Alejandro was caught off guard by the princess’ light voice at the other side of the anteroom. He turned to face her, prepared to bow in salutation. Since his first evening at Windsor, after nearly toppling the dinner table, he had practiced bowing over and over again, hoping to perfect the unfamiliar technique and avoid another embarrassment. His bow to Kate had been better, but before Isabella he was no more successful than the first time, for he stopped in midbow to catch his breath and stare in wonder at the young woman standing quietly next to Isabella. She had sat far away from him at his welcoming dinner, and he had not been able to see her features clearly in the evening light. But he remembered her hair.
He had seen hair of that burnished copper color before, but never on a woman whose skin was so nearly transparent. She was standing just slightly behind the tall, willowy princess, a small and delicate-looking lady wearing a rose-colored dress embroidered with white flowers. She appeared to be slightly older than her mistress, and though her carriage was clearly noble, she showed none of the imperious affect of the princess. Around her neck was a single strand of small gold beads from which dangled a gold cross with one gleaming ruby in its center. She kept her distance behind the princess, standing quite still, with her large eyes downcast, as if mesmerized by the intricate and colorful pattern of the woven rug below. Isabella, correctly aloof and waiting patiently for Alejandro to regain command of his senses, made no polite offer of introduction but looked directly at the doctor, who was completely lost in gawking at her companion.
“Dr. Hernandez? Are you feeling ill, sir?” she said, sounding annoyed. “Shall we pretend that you are the princess and I am the doctor?”
He managed to extricate himself from the entrancing spell of the quiet young woman well enough to respond to her mistress. “My apologies, Your Highness. The great beauty in this room simply held me captive for a moment.” The bold but solicitous comment slipped off his tongue like honey, and he was startled by his own audacity.
The copper-haired woman at Isabella’s side caught her breath, and brought her hand to her mouth, hiding what Alejandro thought might be a smile. He reluctantly dragged his eyes away from her enchanting face and looked at Isabella again. “I believe you summoned me. How can I be of service to you?”
“Well, since you have finally inquired, you may serve me best by allowing me to contact my personal clothiers and jewelers. Under your plan of confinement I have had to make do with garments that I would rather discard than wear, and they are degraded from this nonsense of constant washing. I am in desperate need of my tailor for immediate improvements in my wardrobe. Surely his presence here cannot be objectionable to you.”
Her condescending tone of voice and contemptuous manner, her hauteur, were precisely what he’d been told to expect, but although de Chauliac had warned him, Alejandro was still not prepared for her acid tongue. Take care not to offend her, he thought. He wished with all his being that de Chauliac had given him some training in diplomacy as well as medicine. It would have been a great pleasure to say, Take two drops of this vegetal potion in your wine, Your Highness, and your arrogance will be promptly cured, but he suspected that such a prescription would not be well received.
“Is it not possible for the garments to be left outside in the prescribed manner, and then brought in for your inspection? Surely they will not go out of fashion in that short time.”
He instan
tly regretted this barb when all the ladies in the room caught their breath in unison in anticipation of another tantrum. The woman at Isabella’s side turned her head away, her hand still at her mouth. This time Alejandro was sure he saw her stifle a laugh. He looked furtively around the room, desperately seeking an ally in this battle of wits, finding no one willing to stand with him.
Remarkably, the princess did not explode in rage, but made a visible effort to contain herself before all the witnesses. She looked directly at Alejandro, and raising her chin in an affectation of superiority, she calmly delivered what he thought might be a killing blow.
“I shall speak to my father about this incident.”
She turned away and looked at her titian-haired companion. “Come, Adele, we shall retire to the salon,” she ordered, and led the way out of the anteroom. The red-haired lady finally raised her eyes and cast them in Alejandro’s direction, meeting his gaze with one of equal intensity. But instead of the expected trepidation there was a twinkle of gaiety. She quickly followed her mistress, hurrying to catch up as Isabella strode determinedly away from the physician. She looked back once again before disappearing into the privacy of Isabella’s salon.
Her eyes were green. Alejandro was speechless.
Kate escorted him back to his rooms, chatting brightly as they progressed. “My sister enjoys the fussy attention of her tailor nearly as much as she likes to wear the fine garments he makes for her. It will not satisfy her to have new finery simply sent in. Nurse suspects the tailor of bringing only those items that are plain but merit further beautification so that Isabella can spend even more of her income on fancy embroideries and buttons. The tailor himself would choose meaner baubles of bone and baked clay, Nurse says, thereby lessening his cost on the garment. Isabella invariably selects the choicest gold and silver, and the tailor’s profits are increased without any effort on his part. Isabella is so enamored of his efforts that she fails to notice when he overcharges her.” She giggled and snickered at her own scandalous revelation, as if it were a well-kept secret.
“And what says your mother about such extravagance?”
Kate hesitated before responding. At last she said, “My mother is not a member of this household, and her opinions are of even less consequence in matters pertaining to Isabella than are mine. She lives in London, and rarely hears the gossip concerning the royal family. When I visit with her, I always relate the intrigues of the court as best I can, but I don’t always hear the most interesting things. Those things which my father deems inappropriate for a maiden’s ears are kept from me.”
So this child and Isabella share a father, he thought, and it pains her to speak of her mother. He decided to let his inquiry rest for a while.
Unaware of his musings, Kate said, “Do you enjoy chess?”
“I have never played, but I imagine that I would enjoy doing so if I only knew how.”
“Shall I teach you, then?” she asked brightly.
“I would be delighted to learn such a valuable skill from such a charming teacher,” he replied.
“Lovely!” she said. “I shall await you in the ladies’ salon after dinner, then. I shall be glad to have a new partner, for none of my sister’s women can match my skill, and I grow weary of letting them win.”
“Does your sister’s lady Adele play chess with you?” he asked.
“She does, but she cares little for the game, and is only a fair player. I think she prefers to read or embroider, and Isabella frequently monopolizes her time. I expect that your skills will quickly exceed hers, though you are a novice.”
Alejandro laughed. “Do not expect great skill from me, Kate, for I know nothing of the game save what I have observed while here in Windsor. You will be sorely disappointed if you anticipate a good match immediately.”
“Ah, monsieur,” she finished, “I shall confine my expectations to the minimum for the immediate future, but tonight we shall see if you show any promise. My mother says I must always be prepared for the unexpected.”
With the appropriate polite bows and curtsies, they parted.
Sir John Chandos appeared at his door not an hour after Kate left. Alejandro had grown friendly with the affable man, whose outwardly gruff appearance camouflaged a pleasant and cooperative demeanor.
“I do not envy you, monsieur,” Chandos said, “for Isabella has been railing at King Edward for the better part of an hour, trying to convince him that your treatment methods are ill advised and not to be tolerated. She would have you sent back to Avignon immediately.”
To what? he wondered. By now everyone in Avignon could be dead, for all they knew here in England. He regretted that he understood so little of the intrigue between the pope and this willful king, and how it might affect him.
He did know that France’s king, whom Edward claimed was a usurper to his own rightful position on that throne, was far more strongly influenced by Pope Clement than his secular cousin Edward. He had been told this around the campfires on his journey to England. The captain of his escort knew many such wonderful intrigues, and there was little else to do after dark but tell lengthy and descriptive tales, which no doubt grew more illustrious with each new telling.
How Hernandez would have loved these campfires! he thought. But they had verged on treachery for Alejandro. On more than one occasion he had been forced to think quickly to create a personal history that would not betray his true identity, and when it came his turn to speak, he frequently astonished himself with the inventiveness of his fables. The captain had spoken at length about the war of more than a decade’s duration, now in truce because the pest had carried off so many warriors, far more than had the fighting.
Emerging from his brief distraction, Alejandro replied to Sir John, choosing his words carefully, “I have noticed that the princess is a spirited woman. She seems to tolerate her confinement no better than the pope tolerated the one my patron forced upon him.”
Sir John laughed. “I have known her since a tender age. The effects of her father’s overindulgence are plainly evident. He freely admits to spoiling his children, especially Isabella. There is frequent grumbling among the lot of them that Edward favors her far above his other children, even my lord the prince of Wales, who is heir to his father’s throne.”
Emboldened by Sir John’s casual talk of the royal family members, Alejandro decided to inquire about Kate. “I have met a delightful little girl who refers to the princess as her sister, and speaks as if the king is her father. May I inquire as to her position here?”
The older man smiled. “She is a remarkable child, is she not?”
“Yes,” Alejandro replied, “and she possesses a marvelous quick wit.”
“She is the king’s daughter by one of the queen’s former ladies. The lady’s husband once served the king in France, but was killed in battle while Edward himself was here in Windsor tending to other matters. The king developed a rather strong ‘courtly’ admiration for the lady, who at first, it is rumored, resisted his advances. But eventually she submitted before receiving word of her lord’s death. It is said she wanted to protect her husband’s position in the king’s retinue.
“Just less than a year after her husband’s departure for France, she gave birth to Catherine. Her husband never returned. Edward’s fascination for the lady was well known within the household. There was little doubt in anyone’s mind that Kate was his child, and she was born with the unmistakable look of a Plantagenet. Naturally,” he said, “the queen was enraged that her husband would flaunt his infidelity right under her own nose. Her revenge on Edward was to send the lady in question back to her family in London. Her punishment for the lady was to keep the child, placing her with Nurse in Isabella’s apartments, to be raised as a lady-in-waiting to the princess.”
Alejandro was shocked. “Had the queen no pity that the woman had lost her husband as well? The punishment seems unusually cruel.”
Sir John shrugged and sighed. “The queen is powerless in areas th
at are customarily under the king’s control, but it is entirely proper for her to manage her own domestic affairs without his approval. This was not the king’s first indiscretion. Some years before, he became enamored of the wife of one of his most ardent supporters, the duke of Salisbury, while Salisbury, too, was out of his dominion on the king’s business. I do not blame him,” Chandos said. “I remember that lady well. She held her castle against Scottish invaders for more than a month without benefit of her lord’s presence. When the king came to her aid, she greeted him in her finest garments, with the glow of victory on her face. Naturally, His Majesty was smitten. What man would not succumb to such a woman?”
Alejandro wanted to say, What king would take the wife of his supporter, when she had held his border for him? He said instead, “She seems a noble example of womanhood.”
“Indeed,” Sir John said. “A magnificent example. Nevertheless, there was a great scandal, to which it seemed all the world was privy, and ultimately Salisbury was forced to dispose of all his holdings and leave the country. The countess, it is said, has never recovered from the shame, and mourns her former life constantly. Edward was loath to be involved in another such scandal, so he did not interfere when Philippa took care of the business of Kate.”
The physician wondered out loud, “And yet the two seem to be a devoted couple with great admiration for each other.”
Chandos said, “They are greatly devoted. They chose each other. Such a match is rare among royals.”
“But how can such an incident not mar their mutual affection?”
Sir John thought for a moment, then said, “There is much to be lost and little to be gained in concentrating on the distasteful events that have occurred in the past. I suspect each of them has both the will and the means to forgive the other, and does so frequently. But it is a wonder that you paid any attention to Kate. She is notoriously chatty.”
