The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy Read Free Book Online Page A

Henry, Prince of Wales…and now he is the King instead of going into the Church as they intended him to. Every time I think of Henry as a Cardinal, I want to laugh. Well, it was the crown for him, and much more suitable, too. And Katharine did not lose by it. She was Arthur's widow but now she is Henry's wife. So you see, Charles was in the right place after all.”
    She was silent for a while, musing.
    “They are alike. So tall… both of them … my brother and the man I love. I love them both, of course. Henry is very dear to me but there is no one like Charles. Charles is six years older than my brother…so my love is not a silly, beardless boy.”
    “He is indeed a man,” I said, feeling the need to say something.
    “Such a man! There was never one like him. At Court he learned to joust and ride and fence… and being Charles he could do it all better than anyone else. He and my brother became the closest friends. They are so like each other. They might be brothers…so tall, so fair… both of them, and excelling in all sport. You cannot be surprised that I love him.”
    “No, Madame,” I said.
    “Go on with the brushing. It soothes me. You are thinking if he is six years older than the King why is he not married?”
    I was afraid to say yes, though it was what I was thinking.
    “Well…he has been married. Twice. But that is of no consequence to me. I would not want a foolish, inexperienced boy.”
    “Of course not, Madame.”
    “And what do you know of such things?”
    “Only what Your Highness tells me.”
    “I believe there is more going on in your head than you would let us know.”
    “Oh no, Madame,” I said in some alarm.
    “Well, there should be,” she said. “I do not want stupid little girls about me.”
    I did not know what to reply to that. But she was smiling at me.
    “He has told me all about his marriages,” she said. “There are no secrets between us. Did you know that Margaret of Savoy wanted to marry him?”
    “I did not,” I said.
    “Well, she did. When he was on an embassy there, she fell in love with him. We can understand that, can we not? She might have married him. What a catastrophe! But fate was kind. Though perhaps it was the Emperor. He would never have allowed it to happen…however much she wanted him. And you may depend upon it, she did want him. Any woman would be mad not to want Charles.”
    I waited because I was afraid to speak, lest what I said did not please her. I found these sessions with her fraught with apprehension and delight. Her conversation was so racy, so indiscreet. I was sure a great deal of what she told me was exaggerated, but that made it all the more exciting.
    She went on: “When he was very young, he fell in love…or thought he did… with the daughter of the Lieutenant of Calais. Of course he was not really in love. He has never loved anyone but me, but when people are young they hear the minstrels singing of love and they become enamored of love… for love's sake. So it was with Charles. This girl, Anne Browne, was, of course, madly in love with him; but she was very young and the marriage was delayed; and after a while Charles realized that it had been a temporary infatuation and that he would be a fool to marry someone in such a humble position, for by that time my brother had become King and Charles was his constant companion. It is a very different matter to be King of England from Prince of Wales with a stern father to keep one in check. You understand me?”
    “Oh yes, I understand.”
    “Charles is human and all young men have desires. They must satisfy them for it may be that they do not meet the only one in the world for them until they are passing out of their first youth. So it was with Charles…”
    She was silent for a while. Then suddenly she dismissed me—and that was the end of her confidences for that time.
    But later she took up the story where she had left off.
    “He was visiting his grandfather when he met