Royal Road to Fotheringhay - Plaidy Jean. Страница 77

“My lord …,” said Mary, stretching out her hand.

He took it hesitantly.

“What is this terrible thing which has come between us?” she asked. “What has made you take the side of my enemies against me?”

“It was David,” he said sullenly. “David came between us. He has been your lover. Was I to endure that?”

“Henry, you have allowed these men to play you false. They have tricked you. You must see this now. How have they treated you since the deed was done? They command you to obey them. This was no murder of jealousy. This was a political murder. They wanted David out of the way because David knew how to make us great… us, you too, Henry… you who would have been my King. This was not done because you or they imagined David to be my lover. That was how they used you and how they will continue to use you if you allow them. They promised to make you King, but they will make you powerless. And when my brother returns, they will find some means of dispatching you … as they have dispatched David.”

Darnley’s teeth began to chatter. He was wavering. When he listened to Morton he believed Morton; but now Mary’s version of the motives of these men seemed plausible. They had ordered him to dismiss Parliament. Last night they had ordered him to speak to the people of Edinburgh. He had had no say in either matter. Already he could see the gleam in Ruthven’s eyes; he could see Morton’s tight, cruel lips sneering at him.

“It is my brother whom they will make their leader,” said Mary.

“He … he … is riding with all speed to Edinburgh,” stammered Darnley. “He will be here at any minute.”

“Then you will see how they will treat you. You will not live long to feel remorse for what you have done to David. My brother always hated you. It was because I wished to marry you that he went into exile. We defeated him then; that was because we stood together. Now you have gone over to our enemies who seek to destroy me, our child and you too, Henry. You will not escape. Indeed you will be the first whom they will dispatch. Who knows, they may let me live on as their prisoner.”

“Do not speak so … do not speak so. Do you realize that they are all about us? There are armed men everywhere.”

“Henry, consider this: Help me, and I will help you. You and I must stand together. We must find some way of getting out of here.”

Lady Huntley had come into the room. She said: “Madam, forgive me for breaking in on you thus, but I thought you would wish to know that your brother, the Earl of Moray, has arrived at the palace.”

DARNLEY AND Lady Huntley had left her, and her brother would be with her at any moment now. Lady Huntley had given her a message brought by one of Bothwell’s men and smuggled in to her. It was the most comforting thing that had happened for many terrible hours.

“Do not despair,” began the message.

Do not think Bothwell and Huntley have deserted Your Majesty. They left Holyrood in order to gather forces to come to your aid. Bothwell will soon have a Lowland force ready to fight for you; Huntley too will be there with his Highlanders.

The message went on to say that it was imperative for her to leave the palace as soon as this could be arranged, and Bothwell was forming a plan whereby she would be lowered over the walls by ropes to where he would be waiting for her with horses.

She laid her hands on her heavy body. Bothwell seemed to think she was a hardy adventurer like himself, instead of a woman, six months pregnant. Lowered over walls in her condition! It was impossible.

Still, it was gratifying to know that outside these walls her friends were making plans for her safety.

Nevertheless she must find some way to escape from the palace. She must do it, not by following Bothwell’s wild suggestion, but in a subtler manner; her plan was already beginning to take shape.

Her brother came into the apartment at that moment. He knelt before her. He lifted his face to hers and there were tears in his eyes when he embraced her.

“Dear Jamie,” she said.

“My dearest sister, I blame myself for this terrible thing. I should never have left you. Brothers and sisters should not quarrel. Had I been at hand I should never have allowed you to suffer so.”

Those tears in his eyes seemed to be of real emotion, but she was not so foolish as she had once been. Did he really believe that she did not know he had been in the plot to kill Rizzio? Did he really believe that she did not understand that he had returned to Scotland to wrest her power from her and take it to himself? It was with pleasure that she would deceive him now as he had so often deceived her.

“Jamie,” she said, “you see me a sick woman. My child was to have been born three months from now.”

“Was to have been born?”

“I am in such pain, Jamie… such terrible pain. I fear a miscarriage.”

“But this is more terrible than anything that has happened.”

“You see, Jamie, they have so far taken only my faithful secretary. Now they will take my child as well.”

“You are sure of this?”

She put her hand to her side and groped her way to the bed. Moray was beside her. He put his arm about her.

“Jamie, you will not let them deny me a midwife?”

“No… no… certainly you must have a midwife.”

“And… Jamie … it distresses me … all these men about me … at such a time. I… in my state … to have soldiers at my door. Jamie, look at me. How could I escape in this condition? How could I?”

“I will have a midwife sent to you.”

“I have already asked my woman to bring one. See that she is not kept back, I beg of you.”

Mary turned her head away and groaned. She was enjoying her triumph; she had successfully deceived her brother.

She gripped his hand. “And… the men-at-arms… they distress me so. I … a queen in my own palace … a poor sick woman … a dying woman … to be so guarded. Jamie, it is mayhap my last request to you.”

“No … no. You will soon be better. Dearest sister, I will do all that you ask. I will have the midwife sent to you as soon as she comes. I will see what may be done about clearing the staircases about your apartments.”

“Thank you, Jamie. This would not have happened, would it, had you been here? Oh, what a sad thing it is when a brother and sister fall out. In future, brother, we must understand each other … if I live through this.”

“You shall live, and in future there shall be understanding between us. You will be guided by me.”

“Yes, Jamie. How glad I am that you are back!”

THE “MIDWIFE” had come. She was a servant of the Huntleys and knew that her task was not to deliver a stillborn child but to take charge of letters the Queen had written and see that they were dispatched with all speed to Lords Huntley and Bothwell.

Moray and Morton had decided that if Darnley would stay in the Queens bedchamber all night, the guards about her apartments could be withdrawn. They trusted Darnley, and in any case the Queen was considered far too sick to leave her bed.

In the evening all the lords retired from the palace to Douglas House, the home of Morton, which was but a short step from the palace. There they could feast and talk of the success of their schemes and make future plans.

As soon as they had gone and the sentries had been withdrawn, Mary rose and dressed hastily. Darnley had changed sides completely now that she had inspired him with fear and had promised him a return to her favor. After the child was born they would live as husband and wife again. He had learned a bitter lesson, Mary said; she hoped that in future they would trust each other.

She had satisfied him that the lords who held them prisoners represented but a small proportion of the population. Had he forgotten what had happened when they had married and Moray had believed he would raise all Scotland against her? Who had mustered the stronger force then? She assured him that all he had to do was escape with her from the palace and join Bothwell and Huntley, who were mustering their forces at this very time. Darnley would be a fool if he did not join her, for her friends would have no mercy on him if he did not. Those with whom he had temporarily cast in his lot would have no further use for him either.