The Lion of Justice - Plaidy Jean. Страница 39

When news of what was happening came to England people began to rejoice in their King. They saw that it was a mistake to have tried to replace him. If he had seized the throne when it should have gone to the eldest son, so much the better. In snatching victory from defeat by his clever treaty, by turning out Robert of Belleme and introducing law and order into the affairs of the kingdom, Henry had proved that he was going to be a good King.

It soon became apparent that rape and robbery were diminishing. Roving barons who had taken the law into their hands, an extreme example being Robert of Belleme, were punished and began to disappear. There was one law which had to be obeyed and that was the King’s law.

There could be no prosperous country without a good government, he insisted; and a good government there must be if all the petty barons who plundered and murdered at will were to be stopped. He was going to bring peace and prosperity to England. He was going to bring back the law and order which his father had instituted but which had been lost during the reign of his brother.

The people began to see what was happening. They were living in a more peaceful state than many of them had ever known.

It was due to the King’s rule. They called him ‘The Lion of Justice.’

Matilda’s Eyes are Opened

The just laws of the King and the piety of the Queen were beginning to have their effect. When they appeared together people would cheer them. It was gratifying to Henry when he remembered how uneasy the first months of his reign had been. As for Matilda she believed that she had achieved absolute perfection.

She had her dear little Matilda and she believed she would soon be pregnant again. Then, she was certain, she would have a son.

She told her attendants, ‘My happiness would be complete if I did.’

The King was affectionate and tender, though she saw less of him than she had at first. State affairs, he told her, were constantly calling him away.

Sometimes when she spoke of the King and his goodness to her and his people and how she considered that she had achieved the perfect union, she could notice that there was often a heavy silence and once or twice she had seen her women turn away as though to control their features.

The poor gave her the title which in the past Saxons had bestowed on those queens who had been assiduous in their care for the needy: Hlaefdige which meant Giver of Bread. She was glad that they had done this. It was an indication that she was carrying out her duties in the same pious manner as her mother had done.

She never failed to do some good deed whenever the opportunity offered itself. Discovering on a journey she made near Stratford that the people would find a bridge very useful at that point, she caused one to be set up. It was the first arched bridge to be built and the spot was called Bow after that. She founded the hospital at St. Giles’s in the Field and another at Duke’s Place.

These good works were noted and the people declared that England would be prosperous now that it had a Norman King —albeit he had been brought up as an Englishman—and a Saxon Queen.

But there were some to carp at them and to jeer at the affection they obviously had for each other. They did not behave as King and Queen, declared some of the courtiers who would have liked to see a return to the profligate court of Rufus. They sneered at them, calling them Gaffer Goodrich and Goody Maude, as though they were a married couple from one of the villages.

Matilda did not care. She was happy. She heard news from sister Mary whose marriage was not quite as idyllic.

Mary intended to visit her sister as soon as the opportunity arose. Eustace was a tolerable husband. He was many years older than Mary and she had discovered that he had a mistress. Mary wrote that she supposed it was to be expected in marriages such as theirs, because they were arranged for them.

Matilda felt indignant and extremely sorry for Mary. She could imagine nothing more sad than an unfaithful husband. She thanked God that He had given her Henry, the perfect one.

Poor Mary! She grieved for her. It seemed unfair that one sister should have had so much and the other have to endure such sorrow.

All those years of wretchedness in the abbeys of Rumsey and Wilton were worthwhile since they led to this.

‘You, of course,’ wrote Mary, ‘will understand too well what I mean.’

Matilda read that through several times without understanding. Then she thought: She means because I am so happy in my marriage.

It was not a very pleasant encounter when William Warren, the Earl of Surrey, came to Court.

She was a little embarrassed because it was necessary for her to meet him. Henry was away on State business which he had told her had taken him as far as the borders of Wales.

When he was away he left her, as he said, in charge. It was a little practice in case one day he should have to go say...to Normandy.

So at Winchester or Westminster she would receive certain nobles and she was able to talk to them of State matters, many of which she promised to lay before the King on his return. It was a habit for any who had a favour to ask to lay it first before Matilda. Often if she thought the cause a worthy one she would plead for it with the King and always secure a favourable hearing and sometimes the petition or whatever it was would be granted.

She was proud of her influence with the King but determined never to abuse it.

She was at Westminster when William Warren came to Court. She did not care for his manner right from the beginning, but she understood. Naturally he had been a little hurt because she had pleaded her interest in the religious life and made that an excuse for not marrying him, and then very soon after that had accepted the King.

As he sat next to her at the table, for his relationship to Henry entitled him to that, he said, ‘So you decided that a crown was more inviting than a veil?’

There was a faint edge of sarcasm in his voice.

‘I chose the man,’ she said a little tersely, ‘not the crown.’

‘So it was only to a lesser man that you preferred the veil?’

‘It would seem so.’

‘And I trust you found the exchange worthwhile?’

‘Completely so.’

‘Well, a crown is a crown. One can close one’s eyes to much for such a glittering thing, I doubt not.’

‘I have no need to close my eyes, my lord Earl. They are perfectly satisfied with everything they see.’

‘Of a certainty. They see the crown and the sceptre.’

‘And the man,’ she answered. There was something in his manner which was quite insolent. He was insinuating something and she was not sure what. She would have asked him to take a place farther down the table but she feared that would attract attention; and he was, she must remember, Henry’s nephew, which no doubt he would consider entitled him to a little licence.

‘So you are ready to shut your eyes to certain frailties?’

‘You are speaking treason.’

‘Not in the family. I would have been a faithful husband.’

‘What are you suggesting?’

He put his hand to his lips in mock alarm. ‘Have I betrayed a royal secret? Why I thought ‘twas common knowledge.’

‘What was common knowledge?’

‘Holy Saints, then you do not know. You have never heard of Nesta de Windsor?’

‘Of whom?’

‘Then you have not! How did he manage to keep it from you?’

‘What should I know?’

‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘But clearly nothing. Forget I mentioned her.’

‘Now that you have I insist that you tell me what you mean.’

‘Clearly if the King had wished you to know he would have told you himself.’

‘I do not understand you.’

‘Then I am glad, for I have committed no indiscretion.’

She wanted to slap his smiling face. He was staring before him delighted by her confusion and misgiving.