The Unfaithful Queen: A Novel of Henry VIII's Fifth Wife by Carolly Erickson Read Free Book Online Page B

willingly, even eagerly.
    “You are a comely enough wench,” the duchess said after looking me over. “Though dwarfish. And you have spirit. I should beat it out of you, but at the moment I haven’t the strength.”
    I saw that she looked tired. She was after all very old. No doubt she tired swiftly, as the old do. My fear began to grow less. I was no longer trembling.
    The duchess sighed. “I will send my chamberer to dress you. If you let Manox near you again you will be beaten. Should he threaten you, or your father, come to me at once.”
    She walked to the chapel doorway, then turned back toward me.
    “Manox’s wife will hear of this. She will beat him senseless.”
    “Pray, grandmother, for my sake, do not tell her my name, else she will beat me too.”
    But the duchess only pursed her lips, then turned back toward the door and was gone.
    *   *   *
    “Guess who they made Controller of Calais!” my father said in wry tones. “You cannot imagine.”
    “I cannot.”
    “John Parker! Yeoman of the Wardrobe! A servant! Barely a gentleman’s son!”
    That his own cherished but forfeited position should pass to a servant of much lower birth was irksome in the extreme to my father. He felt he had been unjustly deprived of the post, and dishonored by the loss of the revenues that went with it. But to be replaced by such a man, a Howard replaced by a nobody—ah, that was a cruel humiliation.
    “Was there no compensation for you, father? No other post offered you?”
    “Thomas spoke to Lord Cromwell and arranged a loan,” father mumbled. “And I will be appointed commissioner of the sewers for Surrey.”
    “Well, that is something,” I said as father sat down, slowly and carefully, on a cushioned bench. I sat nearby.
    “Oh, and I am to receive licenses to import Gascon wine and Toulouse wood.”
    “Trade in Gascon wine must be quite profitable.”
    He rolled his eyes.
    “But the wine trade, Catherine, is for men of low birth. Not for a Howard, whose brother Thomas is Duke of Norfolk, the highest nobleman in the realm.”
    He shook his head. “At least they did not send me to Sark, or Orkney, or to live among the wild Irish—”
    “Father, I must speak to you—”
    “But then, the best appointments are sure to be those in the new queen’s household.” He nodded sagely. “If only she would make me her chancellor, or her emissary to foreign courts, or—”
    “Who is to be the new queen, father? I have not heard her name spoken.”
    “And you will not, until the marriage contracts have been drawn up.”
    He made a wry face. I knew at once that he was in pain from the stone.
    “If you please, father, I have need—”
    He raised his hand. “Not now, Catherine. I have too much else on my mind.”
    But whatever was on his mind, did not find its way to his lips. Not for many minutes. He was lost in his musings. Finally he spoke again.
    “Lord Cromwell is dealing with the Clevans, Catherine. Yes. The Clevans. Of all people!”
    He paused again. “There is a Clevan woman, Lady Anna. Lord Cromwell wants her to be our next queen.”
    He looked over at me. “There will be many appointments to her new household. Highborn young women. Good-looking, godfearing, chaste young women. Not young women who disgrace themselves with their music masters—”
    “Father, I—”
    “Oh yes, mother told me. I know all.”
    “She forgave me. She understood.”
    But father merely gave a low chuckle. “You are your mother’s daughter,” he said quietly. “And besides, the man has a poor history. He has been sent away. We will say no more about it.”
    “I need clothing, father,” I burst out. “My gowns are too small for me. They cannot be let out or patched or re-hemmed any more. Please let me share some of your new loan to pay a dressmaker.”
    He slapped his knee. “Ask your uncle William, Catherine. He always has coins in his treasure chests. Don’t come to me. I am left to go a-begging while others