Daughters of Spain by Jean Plaidy, 6.95 Read Free Book Online

they are taken away from their mothers to live in foreign courts ... the courts of their bridegrooms.'
    'You shall not leave me for many years. I promise you.'
    'How many, Mother?'
    'Not until you are grown up and ready for marriage.'
    Catalina snuggled closer to her mother. 'That is a long, long time. That is four years, or five years perhaps.'
    'It is indeed. So you see how foolish it would be to worry now over what may happen in four or five years' time. Why, by then you will be almost a woman, Catalina ... wanting a husband of your own perhaps, not so eager to cling to your mother.'
    'I shall always cling to my mother!' Catalina declared passionately.
    'Ah,' sighed Isabella, 'we shall see.'
    And they lay silently side by side. Catalina was comforted. To her, four or five years seemed an eternity. But to her mother it seemed a very little time.
    But the purpose was achieved, the blow was softened. Isabella would talk to her young daughter about England. She would discover all she could about the Tudor King who, some said, had usurped the throne of England. Though of course it would be well if the child did not hear such gossip as that. She would talk to her about the King's children, the eldest of whom was to be her husband ... a boy a year younger than herself. What was there to fear in that? There was another boy, Henry; and two girls, Margaret and Mary. She would soon learn their ways and in time forget about her Spanish home.
    That was not true, she knew. Catalina would never forget.
    She is closer to me than any of the others, I believe, thought Isabella. How happy I should be if this English marriage came to nothing and I were able to keep my little Catalina at my side until the day I die.
    She did not mention such a thought. It was unworthy of the Queen of Spain and the mother of Catalina. At this time it seemed that Catalina's destiny lay with the English. As a daughter of Spain, Catalina would have to do her duty.

Chapter II

XIMENES AND TORQUEMADA

    T he cavalcade had come to rest at last in the port of Laredo which stood on the eastern borders of the Asturias. During the journey from Madrid to Laredo the Queen's anxieties had kept pace with her daughter's increasing excitement.
    Isabella had determined to remain with Juana until that moment when she left Spanish soil. She would have liked to accompany her all the way to Flanders, for she was very fearful of what would await her wild daughter there.
    Isabella had left her family and her state duties to be with her daughter, and during that long and often tedious journey she had never ceased to pray for Juana's future and to ask herself continually: What will become of her when she reaches Flanders?
    Isabella had spent a night on board that ship in which Juana would sail. She now stood on deck with her daughter, awaiting the moment of departure when she must say farewell to Juana. About them was a fine array of ships, a fleet worthy of the Infanta's rank which would carry her to Flanders and bring back the Archduchess Margaret to be Juan's bride. There werea hundred and twenty ships in this magnificent armada, some large, some small. They carried means of defending themselves, for they had been made ready to fight against the French. Ferdinand, however, had been willing to put them to this use, because in conveying his unstable daughter to Flanders they were prosecuting the war against the French as certainly as if they went into battle.
    Ferdinand himself was not with them on this occasion. He had gone to Catalonia to make ready for an attack on the French. Isabella was rather pleased that she was alone to say goodbye to Juana. So great were her anxieties that she could not have borne to see the pleasure which she knew would shine from her husband's eyes as he watched their daughter's departure.
    Juana turned to her mother, her eyes sparkling, and cried: 'To think that all that is for me!'
    Isabella continued to look at the ships, because she could not bear to