The King's Secret Matter by Jean Plaidy Read Free Book Online

to us, so we would test it.’
    â€˜Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to entertain you. Come into the palace. The banquet is about to be served, and there are many guests at my table who will delight you as you will delight them.’
    â€˜Are there fair ladies?’ asked one.
    â€˜In plenty,’ answered the Cardinal.
    One tall man with a black beard came to the Cardinal’s side. ‘Fair ladies at the table of a Cardinal?’ he murmured.
    Wolsey spread his hands, believing he heard mockery in the voice. This disturbed him faintly for he fancied it might well be the King who walked beside him.
    â€˜My lord,’ he answered, ‘I give all I have to my guests. If I believe the company of fair ladies will enliven the occasion for them, then I invite fair ladies to my table.’
    â€˜ ’Tis true you are a perfect host.’
    They had come to the gates of the palace beside which stood two tall yeomen and two grooms, so still that they looked like statues, so gorgeously apparelled that they looked like members of the nobility.
    â€˜Methinks,’ said the black-bearded man in an aside to one of his companions, ‘that we come not to the Cardinal’s court but to the King’s Court.’
    â€˜It pleases me that you should think so, my lord,’ said Wolsey, ‘for you come from a strange land and now that you are in the King’s realm you will know that a Chancellor could possess such a manor only if his master were as far above him as you, my lord, are above my grooms whom you so recently have passed.’
    â€˜Then is the King’s Court of even greater brilliance?’
    â€˜If it were but a hut by the river it would be of greater brilliance because our lord the King was therein. When you have seen him you will understand.’
    He was feeling a little uneasy. It was disconcerting to be unsure of the King’s identity. The game was indeed changing when that golden figure could not be immediately discovered.
    â€˜It would seem that you are not only a great Cardinal but a loyal subject.’
    â€˜There is none more loyal in the kingdom,’ replied Wolsey vehemently; ‘and none with more reason to be. All that I am, I am because of the King’s grace; all that I possess comes from his mercy.’
    â€˜Well spoken,’ said the black-bearded man. ‘Let us to your banquet table; for the news of its excellence has travelled far.’
    In the banqueting hall the guests were already assembled, and the sight was magnificent, for the great hall was hung with finest tapestry, and many tables were set side by side. In theplace of honour was a canopy under which it was the Cardinal’s custom to sit, and here he would be served separately by two of his chief servants. The brilliance of the gathering was dazzling, and the members of the Cardinal’s retinue in their colourful livery contributed in no small way to the opulence of the occasion.
    Wolsey’s eyes were on the black-bearded man. ‘You shall be seated in the place of honour,’ he said.
    â€˜Nay, my lord Cardinal, it pleases us that you should take your place under the cloth of state and behave as though we were the humblest of your guests.’
    But as he took his place under the canopy the Cardinal’s apprehension increased. Previously during such masquerades he had discovered the King immediately and acted accordingly. Irritated as he was, he forced himself to appear gracious and to behave as though this really was a party of foreign travellers who had come unexpectedly to his table.
    But it was difficult. Who were behind those masks? Buckingham doubtless. Boleyn? Compton? Suffolk? All Henry’s cronies and therefore casting wary eyes at a man of the people who had risen so far above them.
    He signed to his servants to serve the banquet but his eyes ranged about the table. The napery was exquisite; the food as plentiful as that supplied at the King’s table.