The Wisest Fool mog-4

by Nigel Tranter

  Heriot duly sympathised with the Queen and the parliamentarians, but permitted himself a small smile, nevertheless.

  The next day, then, he rode in the Queen's train the thirteen miles to Theobalds-to discover on arrival in the early afternoon that James had been away at the hunt for some hours; moreover had left orders that both the Queen and the Swedish embassage should join him in the chase, on arrival. The surprised Swedes had already put in an appearance and had been duly despatched onwards into the wild-wood. In high dudgeon, Anne had to follow -since she was not going to allow any hole-and-corner agreement on her daughter's future to be patched up, as it were between bucks, lacking her own presence. Heriot perforce accompanied her.

  It took them two full hours to locate the monarch-although they came across sundry parties of huntsmen, disconsolate or otherwise, who had lost touch with their tireless sovereign, either by accident or design, but dared not return to base minus the King. There was an unending supply of deer, they complained, Salisbury having imported them from far and near-easy enough for him, who was excused hunting on account of his humpback. The hunt might well go on for hours yet

  They caught up with the Swedish party, presently, still searching for the elusive monarch-to Anne's relief. Soon afterwards they heard the baying of hounds, and apparently coming approximately their way. Infected a little by the exciting sound-for the Queen was a fair huntswoman herself, when the spirit moved a rather indolent nature-she led the way at a canter to intercept

  At the edge of a grassy clearing amidst the scrub they paused, with the hounds obviously not far off and giving tongue loudly.

  They were barely halted when three fallow deer, a buck and two does, leapt out from the thickets and raced across the far side of the glade. The Queen, who rather prided herself on her marksmanship, cried aloud demanding a bow. One of the laggard huntsmen gladly spurred forward to hand her his. But it was too late. By the time that Anne had fitted a quarrel and taken aim, the deer had gone from sight

  Then, with the baying and yelping very close, four more deer, all bucks, burst into view, bounding hugely. And behind them came the first of the grey, leaping, slender deer-hounds, only a yard or two at heel.

  Quick as thought Anne raised her bow again. A crossing shot is difficult, with a swift and bounding target, aim-off of the essence. The last buck was the largest of the four with the best head. Automatically she chose it Twisting in her saddle, she loosed off. The twang of her bow coincided with two unforseen developments. The foremost of the pursuing hounds suddenly leapt high and forward, teeth snapping, for the haunch of the last buck, and the beast, sensing the attack, leapt and twisted away sideways-all in the twinkling of an eye. The arrow transfixed, not the buck but the bounding deer-hound full in the throat, and it fell, writhing while its fellows streamed over it and on after the disappearing deer.

  There were exclamations, even a little laughter, from the Queen's party, Anne tutting her annoyance, the Swedes sympathising. Then one of the courtiers behind emitted a cry. "Christ's Wounds-it’s Jewel! Look at the white hind toes!"

  Appalled, everyone stared. All at Court knew Jewel as the King's favourite hound, companion of chases innumerable, brought from Scotland. The Queen clapped a gauntleted hand to mouth.

  Then the hunt came crashing from the scrub, in full cry, men shouting, horns blowing, horses snorting and steaming, James half-a-head in front, with Montgomery at one flank, Lennox at another, Southampton, Doncaster and Dand Kerr jostling close and young Carr a little way behind. Past the fallen hound they all pounded, without a glance-past the Queen's party likewise- and on after the dogs and the deer. Stragglers followed in ragged order and passed from sight The glade was empty again.

  Almost reluctantly, and frowning, Anne moved her horse nearer to the twitching animal. One of her attendants jumped down, look at the hound closely, then shook his head. At a nod from the Queen he drew his knife and finished off the poor creature.

  "Carry it," Anne jerked, briefly. Picking up the limp body, the man with difficulty slung it over his horse's withers, to mount behind it In silence they rode on after the others.

  They did not have very far to go. In another marshy clearing beside a mere, they found the entire hunt, the hounds milling around, the horses steaming and all the men dismounted-this because the King himself was dismounted and none must remain higher than he. James was more than dismounted. He was busy, bent down, knife in hand, ripping up the belly of a fallen buck and hauling out the entrails with bloodstained hands. For a man who could abide the sight of neither naked steel nor blood, he was extraordinary in his habit of nearly always doing his own gralloching.

  The steaming viscera out, heaving and wriggling on the grass seemingly with its own obscene life, the King straightened up, saw his wife and her company, nodded genially, and signed to Robert Carr to come pull off his riding-boots while he leaned on Montgomery's shoulder. Lennox, bowing to the Queen, strolled across to Heriot's side as all save Anne dismounted.

  James, boots off, supported now by Montgomery and Carr, stepped gingerly forward and into the heap of entrails and guts and there paddled and dabbled his bare feet and legs in the bloody, slithering mass. He was a great believer in this as a remedy for gout, declaring that it had to be done at once, and in the place where the brute was slain, an excellent remede and recure for strengthening and restoring the sinews.

  In the midst of this gory business, James perceived the hound lying across the horse's back. Brows raised, he demanded what this might be?

  Amidst a sudden hush, the Queen spoke. "It is the beast Jewel, Sire. Your hound. By an ill mischance it was shot…"

  "Jewell My Jewel? Waesucks-shot, you say, woman! My Jewel deid!"

  "It was a mischance. The hound leapt forward. The quarrel, aimed at the buck, struck the dog…"

  "Whae shot it? Whae killed my Jewel? What ill limmer did this to me? I'll teach him to mend his shooting! By God, I will!" Bare and bloody feet notwithstanding, James tottered over unaided to the horse which bore the hound's body. "Och, Jewel- Jewel!" he wailed. "My ain bit tike! Jewel, auld friend!" Tears streaming, the King stroked the rough grey coat

  Anne drew a long breath. "I shot it, James," she said. Her voice shook shghtly, but she held her head high. "I drew on the buck But Jewel leapt, and the quarrel…"

  "You did? You shot my Jewel, woman! Precious soul o' God! I might hae kent it! Nane other would hae been sic a fool! Whae said you could shoot at my buck, anyway? God save us frae fool women! How dared you to shoot when my hounds were close?" "How dare you, James, bespeak me so!" Anne cried back. "Me, the Queen! Before all these. And these Swedes! How dare you, sir!" It was the King's turn to draw a long breath. After a distinct pause, he spoke in a different tone. "Ooh, aye-I dare, right enough. I can dare mair than that, Annie, see you! I, James Stewart, will dare plenties, when need be. And let nane forget it! But… maybe now isna the convenient time, I'll grant you. Aye -we'll put it by, the now." He turned. "My boots, Robin-my boots, laddie." He gave a final pat to the dead hound. "Fare-thee-weel, Jewel, auld friend. You were truer friend to me than many I'd name! Aye-and that's twa guid hounds gone in twa days, waesucks. Jowler yesterday-and now Jewel." His boots pulled on for him, he stamped across for his own lathered roan. Mounting, he called, "We'll awa' back, then. Enough for this day-aye, or any day!" Without another glance at wife or Swedish embassage, he reined round to lead the way back to Theobalds House.

  Riding beside Heriot, near but not too near the Queen-who no doubt would prefer her own company just then-Lennox agreed with his friend that this was all very unfortunate. Particularly on top of the Jowler business. Jowler, it seemed, was another of the King's best deer-hounds, and after yesterday's hunt had disappeared. Theobalds had been in a stir over it half the night, with search-parties out and dire threats emanating from the Crown, James asserting that it was no mischance but all some dire malice against himself. Anne had therefore been doubly unfortunate with her arrow. Lord knew what repercussion
s there might be, now!

  However, after a mile or so, a single horseman came trotting back down the long line of tired riders threading the woodlands- James himself. He rode up to the Queen, and tipped a bloodstained finger to his bonnet

  "Och, yon was a pity, Annie," he said. "Aye, a pity. I was maybe a mite hasty. Och, we'll forget it, just Shall we?"

  Anne was stiff. "I cannot forget being miscalled, like some fishwife, in front of all!" she declared. "Especially the new Swedes. If my being a king's wife means so little to you, then recollect, I pray, that I am also a king's daughter and sister!" "Ooh, aye-you're that, a' right. Or I wouldna hae wed you! And a right unwise-like king to be sister to! To be attacking the same Swedes, in war! A fell fool ploy! And you auld farther was no' much better. I never saw him sober!" "Sir…!"

  "Uh-huh. Weel-we'll forget that too, eh? Aye, Geordie-is that yoursel’? Back frae yon troublesome northern realm o' mine! I hear you had your way ower the Hartside nonsense. A deep pouch is fell usefu', eh?" Heriot blinked. "You did, Sire? Hear? So soon!"

  "I hae ears, Geordie! On baith sides o' my heid! And a wheen wits in between! Come and gie me your crack anent Scotland, man. But-nae need to shout it oot for a' this country to hear!"

  So, riding close beside the King, through the winding woodland trails, Heriot told all that he considered relevant and important arising from his trip. As ever, how much of it was news to his monarch he could not gauge. He said nothing about the Casket Letters.

  James seemed little interested in most of what he told him, but definitely so over the suggestion that the Master of Gray was at present, if not actually co-operating, at least not opposing the Earl of Dunbar, Lord Treasurer of Scotland. "We'll hae to see aboot that," he commented. "Would you jalouse that Doddie Home was a match for Patrick Gray, Geordie? I wouldna like the one to swallow up the other, mind"

  "A match in some respects, Sire, I think. Not in others. In unscrupulousness, yes. In wits, no."

  "Ho-so that's the way o' it! You dinna like my guid servant the Earl o' Dunbar, Geordie Heriot?"

  "Say that I would not like him to owe me money, Sire. Or anything else! I'd count my life short"

  "Aye-life's a chancy business, is it no'? Short or lang. As it seems yon George Sprott discovered! Hominis est errare" "That was… judicial murder, was it not, Sire?"

  'You think so? Your worthy cousin, Tam o' the Coogate, my Advocate, didna so advise me! Maybe you ken the law better? We'll see what Jamie Elphinstone says, shall we? When he arrives." "Elphinstone? My Lord Balmerino-he is coming? Here?"

  "I've summoned him, aye. To gie an account o' his stewardship, just. Holy "Writ says 'It is required o' a man that he be found faithfu'', mind. Aye-we maim a' mind it Mysel’-and even you! Maist times I account you faithfu', Geordie-forby the fact that whiles you canna see mah'n an inch beyond your nose I That's the trouble, eh? The honest are gey apt to be dull in the uptak-and the lads wi' the wits I canna trust. Who'd be a king, Geordie? Who'd be a king?"

  "Not me, She-thank God! Nor anything other than a simple tradesman."

  "A simple tradesman, eh? You?" James looked at him cynically. "And who's the honest man, now?"

  They had come to the approaches to Salisbury's huge mansion, and were heading for the stableyards. There was some commotion in front, with shouting for the King. Riding up, James found some of his party in a circle around a forester who held a hound on a lead.

  "Jowler!" the monarch cried. "Guidsakes-it's Jowler. And fit as a flea, after a'! Here's a right blessing. Whaur d'you find him, man?"

  "Your Majesty," the forester faltered, "I didn't rightly find him, as you might say. Three men brought him to the kennels- rough, country fellows. Then ran off. This 'ere paper I found tucked in Jowler's collar." Bobbing a bow he held out a folded paper.

  James took it, peering. "What's this, what’s this?" he demanded. "Ill writing. Uncouth. You read it, Vicky."

  Scanning the paper briefly, Lennox grinned, then schooled his features to a proper solemnity. He read out, "Good Mr. Jowler, We pray you speake to the King (for he hears you every day, and so doth he not us) that it will please his Majestie to go back to London, for els the contry will be undoon; all our provition is spent already, and we are not able to intertayne him longer."

  There was a snigger from sundry of those well to the rear which stopped quickly at James's scowl.

  "What means this?" he asked. "If any ken the meaning o' this screed and perceive wit in it-inform me. Inform me, I say." None was bold enough to elaborate. Young Carr soothingly declared that it was some bumpkin's half-witted haverings, no more.

  "What does it mean?" James said again, ignoring him, eyes narrowed.

  Only the Queen dared raise her voice to answer him. "It means, Sire, that the people of this land tire of your so frequent hunting. As indeed do I. Nor just the country bumpkins-for it is to London this would have you return. Where your parliament and government frequently require your presence. That is what it means."

  The King sat his horse, very still-and Heriot, close to him, saw knuckles gleam whitely in that hand covered in dried blood. He looked, from his wife, slowly round the circle of faces, and back to her-and the silence was a tangible tiring. Then abruptly, his features relaxed, he licked wet lips, and chuckled aloud.

  "A jest I" he exclaimed. "Sakes-a notable guid jest! I like that -aye, like it I There's wit, here-eh, Jowler! I carina seemly reward thae three limmers, for they've bolted, it seems. But Jowler shall hae double meat for his pairt! Aye-see to it- Come, then…"

  As they rode on, Lennox's glance met Heriot’s, and neither smiled.

  When they were dismounted, and the horses being led away to the stables, the King beckoned Heriot over to him, turning his back on Carr, who ever hovered nearby.

  "Geordie," he whispered, "a diamond, for my Annie. Aye, a fair diamond, set in gold. Och, you'll ken what she likes. We maun keep her happy, I'm thinking "

  ***

  In the months that followed, much that was significant for Scotland, the Scots and their monarch, developed, to build up a new pattern in the governance of that ancient kingdom. The Chief Secretary of State, the Lord Balmerino, duly arrived in England, and after being kindly enough received in St. Albans, and privately questioned by the King, found himself in a steadily deteriorating position, practically a prisoner indeed, having to appear before the English Privy Council strangely enough-and, more strangely still, having to put up with being represented and counselled by none other than Home, Earl of Dunbar, now his chief enemy. There were many charges against him and his regime in Scotland-but the principal one was the old story that, back in 1599, he had so manipulated certain papers for the King's signature that a letter to the Pope, requesting a cardinal's hat for his own cousin, Bishop William Chisholm of Vaison, had been signed and sent. Now, Cardinal Bellarmine was gleefully boasting in various Courts of Europe that King James was sufficiently Papist himself to seek preferment from the Vatican to encourage his Scots Catholics, and this was harming his reputation and efforts as the peacemaker of Christendom. It was a tangled ten-year-old story-for James, in fact, was not the man to sign anything unread, but in violently anti-Catholic England it made a fair stick to beat Balmerino with. The hearings went on for weeks, with the King frequently hiding behind the arras, listening in. Finally, Balmerino made a "voluntary" confession of treasonable guilt, was deprived of all offices and sent back to Scotland for trial and sentence-although allegedly with a private assurance from James that the worst would not befall him. No reference was made throughout to Robert Logan's estates, debts or the Casket Letters, to the Master of Gray nor even the Gowrie Conspiracy. Dunbar returned North with the prisoner-and took over for himself the forfeited Restalrig estates.

  In Scotland a parallel, if slightly less concentrated process had been going on. Spottiswoode, the Archbishop of Glasgow, put before the Scottish Privy Council that its chairman, the Chancellor Dunfermline, had been guilty of undermining the authority of the King, C
ouncil and Church by numerous misdemeanours, but markedly by encouraging extreme Presbyterian elements of the Kirk to hold an illegal General Assembly at Aberdeen in 1605-the same affair in which the Reverend James Melville had been accused of taking part-to counter the royal rule in Church and State-this, in order to split the godly forces of Reform. This enquiry was also long-drawn and less decisive than Balmerino's in that no confessions were forthcoming; and indeed it all collapsed for lack of evidence. But it had results nevertheless, for it was now only too clear that the Crown's confidence in the Chancellor was withdrawn. Dunfermline resigned certain offices, though not the Chancellorship, and most clearly was now a marked man.