Safe.
Just like Catherine, who had been right, there would always be hope and mermaids.
Epilogue: 1542
The woman cautiously approached the heavy wooden gate leading to the undercroft of the castle, the baby sleeping silently in her arms. She paused, her eyes adjusting to the intense blackness, then a candle bloomed in the distance and flickered slowly towards her through the velvet night.
“Who’s there?” called a soft, heavily-accented female voice.
“It is I, Lady Margaret Douglas,” the woman replied, throwing back the hood of her cloak to show her striking auburn hair.
“Oh, my dear,” the woman hurried forward and made to embrace her, but Margaret opened her cloak to reveal the baby.
“May I present Princess Elizabeth Howard,” she whispered.
The woman looked at the baby and her eyes filled with tears.
“She’s beautiful, but we cannot call her this. We shall choose another name; more suitable.”
“Whatever you wish,” Lady Douglas murmured. “How fares your daughter?”
“She is weak,” said the woman, tears welling in her eyes. “And her father is dead, yet this child…” her voice tailed off.
“…will solve many of your problems,” said Margaret. She handed the sleeping baby to the woman. For a moment, the woman tensed as the weight of the infant filled her arms, then her face softened and she bent to kiss the child’s soft downy cheek, tears of grief and despair dropping like promises on to the baby’s skin.
“We will keep her safe,” she whispered. “She will be loved.”
“There is this too,” said Lady Margaret Douglas, handing her a small leather pouch. “A gift from her mother, so she will know her later on.”
“What is this?” asked the woman, startled. “You said no one should know. This will identify her.”
“No, it is a ring, that is all. It is unremarkable, apart from the cavity within. Keep it safe and give it to the child if you ever have to tell her the truth.”
With a certain reluctance, the woman weighed the small pouch in her hand, then tucked it into her sleeve, shaking her head worriedly.
Lady Douglas curtseyed, dropping her eyes as the woman and child merged back into the gloom. When their outlines had been swallowed by the shadows, she rose, staring at the point in the blackness where they had vanished, then she turned, hurrying back to where Charles Howard was waiting to escort her safely away. Once saddled, she gave the forbidding stone building one final glance and whispered:
“Good luck, my sweet child, may you always have hope and mermaids.”
Raising her gloved hand to her lips she blew a kiss towards the castle, then gathering her reins, she dug her heels into the side of her glossy chestnut mare and they galloped away, disappearing into the depths of the winter night.
*****
Want to carry on the adventure? Read The Elizabeth Tudor Conspiracy — Book Two in the Marquess House Trilogy.
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A NOTE TO THE READER
Dear Reader,
Thank you for taking the time to read my novel. I hope you enjoyed joining Perdita as she unravelled the historical mysteries buried in Marquess House.
I have always loved history and the idea for this story came to me when I wondered what would happen if new information was found that changed everything we thought we knew about out collective past. How would it affect the wider world? And, would radically different versions of events be ridiculed and repressed, possibly seen as subversive or studied and placed into historical context.
At the time, I was researching my own genealogy and it was as I discovered unexpected secrets in my own family history, I began to think: what if? And, as a writer, once you’ve had that thought, you have no choice but to follow your characters into the adventure.
Perdita and Piper arrived in my mind during my commute into London one morning and it was after this, having abandoned a previous character who had never been quite right, I began writing the story in notebooks on my way to work, typing it up either during my lunch-hour or when I arrived home in the evening. Mary had been with me even longer, as had Alistair and Kit. The rest of the gang arrived as I wandered around Marquess House with Perdita, slowly getting to know who was who and who you could trust or not.
This is a work of fiction. The conspiracy theory I have built around Catherine Howard is entirely my own creation. However, I have researched this period extensively and as far as it has been possible, I have tried to use verifiable historical fact for the rest of the story.
My version of Catherine Howard is quite different to the usual interpretation but I have tried to imagine myself into the Tudor period when women had so little power over their own lives, especially if they came from a wealthy and powerful family. The version of history with which we are most familiar is largely told through the voices of men, yet there were women at the heart of events too, and it is their voices, alongside Catherine’s, that I have tried to use to give a new perspective on events.
All the characters surrounding Catherine are real people, even the servant Cox who receives one brief mention when Catherine arrives at court, is real. Most notable though, are her siblings and half-siblings, who all enjoyed elevated status during her time as queen consort but are strangely missing from many biographies.
Her half-sister, Lady Isabel Baynton, is one particular case. She is named as being in attendance on the disgraced queen at Syon Abbey during Catherine’s incarceration and is also listed as one of her ladies-in-waiting. Isabel’s husband, Sir Edward Baynton, was vice-chamberlain to Catherine. He also held this position for Anne Boleyn and Anne of Cleves. During Jane Seymour’s reign, he was her Master of the Horse and Isabel was one of the women who walked in Jane’s funeral procession. They attended the christening of Edward VI and were briefly guardians to the princesses, Mary and Elizabeth. Yet this Tudor power-couple are difficult to find in any biographies.
Mrs Helen Page is also a real person and Catherine did plead for clemency for her. The story concerning Helen’s daughter, Maud, and the subsequent relocation to Pembrokeshire, are fiction.
Jane Boleyn and Thomas Culpepper have always behaved in a way that historians struggle to explain neatly away. However, their love story is my version of events and there is no historical evidence to verify it.
My representation of Henry VIII is my own interpretation. Although, some of his more unusual responses are true: he did design a scaffold especially for Anne Boleyn and, shortly after Thomas Cromwell’s execution, he did demand to know why his favourite henchman was not at court. He had forgotten he had ordered his former Privy Seal’s death.
And finally, if there are any historical inaccuracies that make you want to scream, then I can only apologise. All mistakes are mine.
If you have enjoyed the novel and would like to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads, I would be so grateful as reviews are very important to authors. I love hearing from readers, so if you would like to contact me, you can through Twitter. You can also follow my blog on my website.
Thanks again for reading The Catherine Howard Conspiracy.
Alexandra Walsh
www.alexandrawalsh.com
Published by Sapere Books.
11 Bank Chambers, Hornsey, London, N8 7NN,
United Kingdom
saperebooks.com
Copyright © Alexandra Walsh, 2018
Alexandra Walsh has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisat
ions, places and events, other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales are purely coincidental.
eBook ISBN: 9781913028244
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