The most difficult thing about staying at Kenilworth for the summer was diverting the boredom of Essex. He started gambling with the other squires, and it was fortunate that they only had pennies and the odd silver sixpence to wager. Essex often won, but when he lost he was resentful and angry. He would want to wager his debt on one more turn of the card or throw of the dice; if he won, the debt was cleared and if he lost, he would double the payment. Except that, if he lost he would ask Lettice to clear his debt for him. Lettice was grateful that it was only small sums, and dreaded the possibility that, when the court arrived, Essex would lose to someone who actually had money to wager.
Robert, always a prolific letter writer, sent a messenger every few days, detailing the happenings of the court so Lettice would be abreast of the gossip when they finally arrived at Kenilworth. She looked forward to his letters, and shared the news with Jane and Ursula. His private words to her she kept in her heart, treasuring each word until they could be together again.
My beautiful Lily
We are here in Gravesend thinking longingly of the lodgings we had at Leeds Castle, although I want the progress to be over quickly so I can be with you in Kenilworth, my love. The burghers I contacted about their ability to accommodate such a large party lied, sweet Lily. God rot them, they lied to me. The Queen is luxuriously housed, as would be expected, and many of her ladies have adequate accommodations. I had to impose my authority and make sure the dowagers were kept comfortable – you would have laughed at the expressions on the younger maids’ faces, when I told them they would have to sleep in the barracks that were used for departing soldiers. The poor soldiers have been turned out and are sleeping in the stables. As it is, we gentlemen are three or four to a room, poor Tom is sleeping on a straw pallet on the floor and the rest of the party are distributed around the town. I swear, Lily, we will not progress to Gravesend again while I have breath, no matter the contribution the burghers make to the Royal coffers.
Your last message to me I received just as we left the Castle, and it cheered me on my way. I am glad my son is growing, and I look forward to seeing him soon. We shall not stay here as long as we planned, and the day after tomorrow we shall depart for Cambridge, where we will be better housed.
I hope you are recovering, my love, and know I kiss you in your dreams as you kiss me in mine. As always, I am yours. R
***
‘I was sorry not to see you at last night’s masque, Cousin.’ Philip Sidney drew his horse level with Nell’s placid mount and slowed to a walk. She smiled brightly across at him and shook her head.
‘I offered to stay with the little girls, so Aunt Kit could go, my Lord. Two of them had pains in their belly and she didn’t want to leave them alone, so Thea and I sat with them and told them stories until they slept. Was it very exciting, the masque?’
‘The food was almost inedible and the musicians couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.’ Philip snorted a laugh and Nell shook with amusement as he continued, ‘Lord Robert was incensed, the Queen dined on fruit and bread and there was no dancing. Fortunately Raleigh entertained the Queen and her ladies with stories about shipboard life, and the natives in the New World, and the possibility of yet more treasure for her from his next voyage.’ Philip sighed longingly and Nell gave him a questioning look.
‘You would like to go, my Lord? Not just invest, but go with him?’ Philip laughed ruefully and shook his head.
‘I would love to go, Cousin, but I cannot. I have accepted a position to go to the Low Countries after the progress arrives back at Westminster. The most I am able to do is invest.’
‘I heard Papa shouting in Aunt Kit’s room this morning when I was helping the little ones dress, but I didn’t realise it was because of the masque. He would have spent so much time planning it, he would be disappointed, I fear.’ Philip nodded.
‘I hope the accommodations are better in Cambridge, little Cousin. Sharing a room with Lord Robert would have been bearable, I think, but we had Lord Burleigh in with us as well, and poor Tom Sadler on the floor. I’m surprised he isn’t too stiff to ride this morning.’ Nell smiled and shook her head.
‘When he was a page in my Grandmother’s time, he tells us he used to sleep on the window sills, just in case Papa needed him in the night. I am sure he has slept in worse places, my Lord.’
‘Well, Cousin, I shall look forward to better accommodation soon, and seeing you attend one of the celebratory balls.’ He bowed in his saddle and swept off his hat. Just before he spurred his horse into a canter to catch up with a knot of gentlemen further up the train, he called to Nell, ‘and I also look forward to claiming a dance or two.’ Nell beamed at him and ducked her head shyly as he rode away.
***
My love
We are all very well here, and I long to see you. I should imagine Kit will be grateful to arrive at Cambridge too, as you won’t take out your ire on her, and Henry will be joining her there, she tells me in her letter.
Baby Robert grows bigger every day. He is a greedy baby and enjoys being fed. We are already making him new clothes as he has grown out of some. He can hold his head up now, and smiles when he hears my voice. He is so like you, my love. I long for you to see him and spend some time with him properly.
Thomas is training the squires so they can put on a display when you arrive here. They have practiced with the sword and the bow, and are now training their horses to the lists. The jousting will of necessity be a gentle affair, as the horses aren’t the destriers you keep in the royal stables, but it will be quite the show.
Essex is continually getting into scrapes, either at the local taverns or with the squires and servants here, gambling debts mainly. Kytt is proving extremely adept at deflecting antagonism towards my son before it gets out of hand. Essex wants to join the court when you leave here at the end of August. I tell you this now so you can think on it, and either find him a suitable place or have a reason prepared why he cannot go. I shall be guided by you in this, my love. If you think he will thrive at court, I am happy for him to go. God knows, he isn’t happy here.
I count the days until I see you again, and the hours until another letter from you arrives, that I can keep in my bodice next to my heart. You are my soul, as I am yours.
Lily
Chapter 15
et it go, Rob. For God’s sake. We are in Cambridge now, and you need never see Gravesend again if you so choose.’
Robert’s sister Kit was growing impatient as her brother continued to complain.
‘It reflects on me, Kit. On the way I do my tasks.’ Robert continued to pace, but his voice was lower. Kit held up a carafe of wine enquiringly, but Robert shook his head. ‘Just ale, if you please, Kit. I find wine disagreeing with me at the moment.’ She raised her brows in surprise, but poured him a cup of ale and brought it to him.
‘You know Elizabeth will forgive you anything, Rob. And you must thank Raleigh for keeping her entertained.’ Robert snorted into his cup and gazed at his sister over the rim. ‘We have the castles at Lincoln and Nottingham and York to stay in, and then we see brother Ambrose at Warwick before we go and stay at Kenilworth.’ Robert grunted as he swallowed the last of the ale.
‘At least we know the houses on that part of the Progress are used to our visits. I know they will be prepared for us.’ His voice began to rise again, ‘If they hadn’t offered us so much money, Kit, we would never have stayed at Gravesend.’
‘Hush, Rob. Forget about it. Look forward and plan the masque for our last night here.’ Kit patted her brother on the shoulder and he sat back in his chair again. ‘Has Lettice written to you about Essex?’ She glanced sideways at her brother, wondering if she should have waited before asking about his stepson. Robert nodded.
�
��She has, Kit. I’m considering bringing him to court. I can find a position as a Groom of the Bedchamber easily enough, a meaningless title as we have no King, but I would still be able to keep an eye on him, as would his grandfather.’ Kit raised her eyebrow.
‘I think Lettice would be grateful, Rob. He is becoming difficult for her to deal with, full of his own self-importance and resentment about his treatment by the rest of the squires.’ Robert gave her an incredulous look.
‘Lily didn’t say anything about that, Kit. Just that he would like to be at court.’ Kit sighed and shook her head at her brother impatiently.
‘She wouldn’t, would she, Rob? Lettice knows you are always busy on a Progress, and he is her son. She wouldn’t want you to think she couldn’t manage her own son. You are so …. so obtuse at times, you know. She has just had a baby, and you make her travel all that way so you can join her at the earliest opportunity, and she has to take her household and her resentful son. Poor Lettice. She must be at the end of her tether, and so exhausted. And all you can do is complain about Gravesend, which doesn’t matter a jot.’
Robert sat in silence for a while, creasing his brow as he looked across at his sister.
‘Oh, Kit,’ Robert shook his head at his own insensitivity, ‘you make me realise what I should find important.’ He rose and kissed Kit on her forehead as she patted his hand to take some of the sting from her words. ‘I must go to the Council meeting, but when it is over, I will send Harry to you. You two have been apart too long.’
Kit smiled. ‘I have missed him, Rob. I am glad Norfolk didn’t put up any resistance.’
Robert strode to the door and opened it, seeing Tom Sadler standing to the right of the entrance. He turned and gazed at his sister, ‘He has all the arrogance of his grandfather, Kit, but none of the cunning.’
***
‘Lord Robert. A word in private if you please.’ Elizabeth’s imperious tone carried over the rustle of paper and the scrape of chairs over the hard floor as the Council rose, dismissed by Burleigh. Robert, who had stood with the rest bowed, and responded as he always did.
‘Majesty. I live to serve.’
Robert waited for all the members of the Council, and all the clerks, to depart before moving across to the wine table, where he poured Elizabeth a cup of sweet wine and himself a small cup of ale. He took the wine across to where Elizabeth sat at the head of the table and lowered himself into the chair recently vacated by Walsingham.
‘I am enjoying the Progress, my Lord.’ Elizabeth sipped her drink and looked across the rim at Robert with a gleam in her eyes. ‘Even Gravesend.’
Robert snorted and shook his head. ‘I can only apologise, Majesty. It was a farce and…’ Elizabeth held up her hand to halt his speech.
‘Never think me unaware of how hard you work, my Lord, to make these events so enjoyable for the court. For me. You endeavour to make everything perfect, faultless, flawless. No-one is more aware than I that life is rarely thus. And every now and again, it is good to be reminded of that fact. It makes things a little more exciting. More real.’ Elizabeth took another sip of her drink. ‘And Walter Raleigh was most entertaining, and took our minds away from the awful food and worse music.’ She began to laugh her throaty chuckle and Robert could do nothing more than smile.
He gazed at Elizabeth as she chuckled into her wine, and saw that the resemblance to his wife was never more apparent than when Elizabeth was genuinely amused. But the beauty in Lettice that was brought about by her natural exuberance and joy in living was absent in the Queen. Elizabeth was being worn down by the weight of being Queen in a country divided not only by religion but by family loyalties, and he could see in her face, try as she might to hide it with makeup, the weariness that being the Lioness of England was causing.
‘Raleigh is an entertaining gentleman, Majesty,’ Robert responded carefully and Elizabeth snorted in derision at the obvious insincerity of his words.
‘Are you jealous, my Lord?’
‘Your Majesty’s whole court is jealous when one of their number finds special favour at your hands, your Grace.’ Elizabeth raised a sardonic eyebrow, shaking her head and narrowing her dark eyes.
‘You think I don’t know they are all flattering me for favour, my Lord? I sit and listen to Raleigh, to Sidney, to de Vere and all the others, and I know they are weighing each word as it is uttered, to see how much gold it might bring.’
‘Majesty, I …..’ Again Elizabeth held up her hand to silence Robert’s words.
‘Only you, my Lord. Only you do I trust to tell me the absolute truth. For who we once were, when I was Bess and you were Robbie and we were the only ones we could depend upon in the world. That is why I have faith in your counsel. So tell me, my Lord, what should I do with my cousin of Norfolk?’
‘Put him in the Tower, your Grace. His oath cannot be relied upon.’
‘But he is a Howard, my Lord. My kinsman. I do not feel disposed to order his execution.’
‘Then imprison him, and surround him with your own loyal servants, so he might not plot any longer against your Majesty’s person. The Scots Queen will have no opportunity to continue the plotting, surrounded as she is at Tutbury with your staff.’
‘I would have been more concerned if he had been like my uncle, my Lord.’ Robert took a mouthful of ale and snorted derisively.
‘He has neither the pragmatism nor the courage, Majesty. The old Duke would have slaughtered Henry Hastings and his guard before he let himself be taken. And he would have been confident in his support. He would never have tried to marry the Scots Queen, to usurp the throne without hundreds of thousands of loyal soldiers.’ Robert swallowed another mouthful, ‘The Duke never went into a battle he knew he couldn’t win.’
Elizabeth nodded and swallowed her own drink, then looked at Robert with a hard look in her eyes. ‘Walsingham has the rest of the plotters in the Tower, my Lord. Below the tower, if I know Walsingham. They shall not plot treason again.’
‘Then let your cousin live, Majesty. Both your cousins. One in the Tower and one in Tutbury. Then your conscience is clear, and you can enjoy the rest of your progress with a light heart.’ He took her hand and kissed the knuckles lightly, ‘And you can trust me with your safety.’
‘Always, my Lord.’
***
Leaning over the gallery rail, Nell felt as excited as the younger girls at being part of the evening’s display of entertainment. She was clothed in the palest ice-blue silk overlaid with silver tissue and glinting with aquamarines on her gown, in her hair and round her throat. All the older girls were clad in the same diaphanous silks, and the younger daughters of the nobility, some as young as six years old, were in purest white satin, with moonstones round their necks.
They looked through the rails at the Queen and her entourage as they finished their banquet with sugared fruits and blackberry syllabub. The performers had eaten their meal in a side room, swathed in linen sheets so they wouldn’t stain their beautiful gowns.
Kit Hastings had prepared a dance called ‘Stars in the Moonlight’, and all the little girls were white Moonbeams who had to dance in and out and round the older ones; the silver Stars. They had practiced for days, and were all giggling with nervous anticipation at performing in front of the Queen and all the lords and ladies of the court.
Nell watched as the tables were moved to the sides of the room and the centre of the floor cleared for the dancing. She heard the musicians begin to play the introduction to their dance, and she helped Thea, young Frances Walsingham and the other girls shepherd the little ones down the stairs and into their starting positions.
The music began and Nell began to turn, lifting her arms elegantly as the little Moonbeams wove their way
through the twinkling Stars, holding hands as they danced in and out, then letting go as they twirled and stepped side to side. Nell, Thea and the others pirouetted on their toes, the silk of their dresses belling outwards as they rotated and the aquamarines sparkling in the light of hundreds of wax candles.
The Moonbeams began to twirl in the opposite direction, pointing their toes gracefully as they again danced round the Stars. The music began to slow, as did the girls and then, at the sound of tinkling bells from the minstrel’s gallery, they all sank into low curtseys, their dresses shimmering and pooling round them as they hid their faces at the last chime of the bell.
Thunderous applause made them look up, as the court clapped and cheered and the little girls grinned at the deafening noise of approval. The Queen rose from her huge chair on the raised dais and stepped forward as all the girls scrambled to their feet to make a proper curtsey. Elizabeth smiled at the girls and held up her hand for quiet as Nell and the others guided the younger ones towards the Queen.
‘Well done, all of you,’ Elizabeth gazed at the upturned faces and then turned slightly, whereupon Lady Howard came forward with a casket and held it towards the monarch.
‘I would like to thank Lady Hastings for all her hard work towards such a beautiful recital,’ Elizabeth’s voice carried to the back of the room, ‘and I would like to present all the dancers with something as a memento of their triumph.’
From the casket the Queen withdrew several strings of pearls, and as Nell watched, she separated them into many pearl bracelets which she handed to each of the eager little Moonbeams. She then dipped into the casket again and brought out some larger threads of pearls, but in the centre, each string held a milky white opal. These she bestowed upon the older girls who excitedly helped each other fasten the clasps and then gasped in amazement as the candlelight revealed the hidden depth of each stone.
On the Altar of England (Tudor Chronicles Book 4) Page 12
