The Dragon and the Rose Page 27

  "What?"

  "That you must first let her cool well, and then eat humble pie."

  "But I cannot go back and not go to her at once. I am sure that would make matters worse. And—" Henry laughed "—I would be glad to eat any sort of pie. I am most damnably hungry, having come away without my breakfast. I have not a groat upon me, Ned. Do you think anyone would believe I was the king in this draggled condition and give me a bite to eat?"

  Poynings jingled the purse, blessing his foresight in having brought it. "You will not have to test your people's charity, sire."

  They rode slowly together until they found an inn where, covering their too-elegant clothing with the cloaks, they ordered and ate the ordinary dinner with great pleasure in happy anonymity. Their horses were tired from the wild ride of the morning so that it took a good deal longer to return to Winchester than it had taken to come away from it. Nonetheless there had not been enough time to permit Elizabeth to cool.

  When Henry presented himself, all dripping with rain, he was turned away. He did not press the point; but when he returned at night, he was again denied admittance. He hesitated. No one would dare keep him out if he insisted on entering, of course, but he decided it was too soon to force himself upon Elizabeth. He went to bed, feeling rather at a loss. This was the first time in their marriage, when they were in the same house, that he had not had some conversation and a parting kiss from his wife. It was an odd sensation and a very disagreeable one, Henry decided, as he stared at the pattern of the bedcurtains. He did, however, fall asleep eventually, only to be shaken awake some time after midnight.

  "Sire."

  "John, if the palace is not on fire or under attack, I will have your head for waking me."

  Cheney did not blanch. Necessity was necessity. "Sire, Her Grace's woman begs you to come to her."

  "Oh, Lord!" Henry said irritably.

  The bedrobe was slipped around him skillfully, slippers slid onto his feet. Henry moved quickly, but he really did not expect anything more than a fretful Elizabeth who could not sleep. Still, he had made the quarrel and it was only right to mend it when Elizabeth desired. The impression was reinforced when he found her, alone, except for her regular attendant, although when he came to the bed and took her hands they were cold as ice and trembling.

  "I am so very sorry, Elizabeth," Henry said contritely. "Indeed, I do not know how to explain nor excuse myself. I—"

  "Never mind that now, Henry," she replied in an odd, gasping voice. "I have teased you enough in these past months for you to strike back once." Her grip on his hands tightened. "It is started. I am sure it is started."

  Henry glanced wildly around the room, wondering where all the people were whose work this was. He did not realize that his constant kindness had made him Elizabeth's symbol of security and comfort, and that, for all her piety, he was a greater source of consolation to her than God.

  As princess royal, her will and whims had been pandered to, but she was clever enough to realize that, after her father died and her family was deserted, those people were all self-seeking, interested in the advancement, wealth, or favor she could bestow. To her it seemed as if Henry alone, for he had her absolutely in his power, was good to her because he loved her. He never said he did, not even in their most passionate moments, but he had proved it in these last five months, thousands of times in thousands of ways. She knew she was Edward's daughter and of value to him, but that alone could only have ensured her of courtesy and not of the unfailing tenderness he displayed.

  "Let me call the physicians and your mother, Bess."

  "No," she cried, clutching his hands more desperately, "I want you!"

  The king of England, who had fought for his life and his crown at Bosworth field against superior odds and faced rebellion with relative calm, broke into a cold sweat of terror. "I will not leave you," he said, trying to speak steadily, "but I do not know what is best to be done. Let me send for someone."

  "There is no need." The marchioness of Dorset, who was in attendance and had been sleeping in an adjoining room, came forward. "Her Grace was uneasy and asked for you, sire, so we thought it best that you give her your company. It will be some hours yet before aught need be done." Elizabeth closed her eyes and tightened her lips. "Lead her to talk," Dorset's wife whispered in Henry's ear, "of the child or of anything that will hold her mind. She is frightened."

  So am I, Henry thought. Holy Mary have mercy on me, so am I. "Bess," he said seating himself on the bed, "if it is a man-child, what do you wish to name him?"

  "Henry."

  "Thank you, but I think there are Henrys enough, do you not? I am the seventh already. Let us give England a rest from Henrys. Do you wish," he said reluctantly—but at this moment he was ready to give her anything—"to name him Edward?"

  Kind, kind, he was so kind. Elizabeth heard the reluctance, thought of her mother's triumph, and shook her head. She was glad when she saw her husband's relief that she had denied herself the small victory. Then her hands tightened spasmodically on his again.

  "A new name, Bess? A British name?" Henry said hastily. "Arthur? He was a great hero and a great king."

  "Yes, Arthur. That should please everyone."

  That ended that subject. Henry cast wildly about for another, but his mind was utterly blank. Elizabeth herself saved him.

  "Will you be very angry if it is a girl, Henry?"

  "Of course I would not be angry. A pretty girl like her mother would be a great joy to me."

  She found a small smile. "Oh, that is not true, but it is good of you to say it."

  "It is true, Elizabeth. We are both young. There will be many other children. What matter whether there be a girl or a boy at first?"

  It did matter to him, of course; it mattered desperately, but Elizabeth could do nothing now to change the sex of the child. Her eyes sought his, and he saw the fear in them.

  Not fear that he would care, but the fear that she would die and, for her, there would be no more children nor even the joy of this one. His hands grew wet in her grasp, and he knew sweat was standing on his forehead again.

  "I think," the marchioness of Dorset said smoothly, "that Her Grace should walk about for a little. If she sits too long in bed her legs will cramp."

  They slipped on her bedrobe and Henry put his arm about her, and they walked together. When Elizabeth grew weary, he placed her in a chair by the fire and knelt at her feet, talking, talking. Twice the marchioness suggested that Elizabeth's mother be called, but Elizabeth wept each time and clung to Henry, and he had not the strength to deny her. Dawn lightened the sky, and Elizabeth's gasps grew more frequent, louder, and more regular. Now her nails bit into Henry's hands when she clutched him. The women came and went quietly about the room and Henry vaguely heard sounds of great activity in Elizabeth's sitting parlor, but still sometimes they walked and sometimes they sat and Henry talked until he thought the sound of his own voice would craze him. He knew not what he said and he did not think it mattered for he was sure that Elizabeth did not understand a word. She wanted to hear him, however, for if he fell silent for a moment she would gasp, "Yes, Henry?" and he would have to begin to speak again.

  When it was full daylight Elizabeth's mother sailed into the room. "You are not needed here," she said coldly to the king. "We will call you at the proper time."

  "No!" Elizabeth screamed, clinging fiercely to her husband. "You promised you would not leave me. You promised."

  Henry leaned his head against the arm of the chair, grateful that they were not walking because his legs were shaking so, he thought they could not hold him. "I will stay as long as I do you no harm, Bess."

  "You do me good, only good."

  About ten minutes later, although it seemed eons to Henry, Margaret approached them. She said nothing at first, merely kissed Elizabeth and began to comb and braid her hair, which was tangled and damp with sweat. After that she insinuated one of her hands between Henry's and Elizabeth's.

&nb
sp; "Elizabeth dear," Margaret said, "look at me. Yes, love, look here. You must let Henry go and put on some clothes." She paused while a pain came and went. "Come love, look at him. He is soaked with sweat. You would not wish him to take cold. See how he shivers." Some awareness came into Elizabeth's dilated eyes and Margaret reached for her other hand.

  Elizabeth thrust her away. "No," she cried hysterically, "I will die. I want him."

  Exhausted and overwrought, Henry began to sob. Margaret did not even spare him a glance, but she kicked him good and hard.

  "Nonsense, love. Why I bore Henry when I was only thirteen years old. It was hard, but I did not die. And you are like unto your mother. Think how many children she had, and here she is, hale and hearty."

  The dowager queen bent over Elizabeth on the other side of the chair. "Of course you will not die, Lizzy my love. If every woman died in childbearing, there would soon be no more women and no more children."

  "Henry is afraid," Elizabeth wept. "I have never seen or heard that he was afraid before. I know. Even at Bosworth he was not afraid."

  Margaret aimed a look at her son which should have struck him dead, only he was too terrified to notice. "That is only because he is a man and knows nothing. In truth, Elizabeth, you will not die. Soon you will have a fine child to hold in your arms. Send Henry away. You are frightening him because he does not understand what is happening, and he is frightening you because," Margaret looked daggers at her trembling son, "he is a fool."

  Between them, Margaret and the dowager queen broke the grasp Elizabeth had upon her husband. They hated each other, but they worked together now as if love had bound them from birth. They crooned and cuddled and comforted until Elizabeth ceased to cry for Henry with each pain. He had not moved, but little by little the women pushed in front of him until at last Margaret whispered, "Go."

  "I cannot," Henry gasped.

  Margaret cradled Elizabeth's head against her bosom and turned to hiss over her shoulder at Dorset's wife. "Fetch Bedford to the king."

  She did not so far forget herself as to call him the sniveling idiot she thought him, for Margaret was really enraged at Henry. He commanded a whole country, but he had not sense enough to be firm with his wife or, if he could not summon so much resolution, at least insist that someone who could handle Elizabeth be called. In Margaret's opinion Henry had allowed Elizabeth to work herself into a state of hysteria that might endanger her delivery for no good reason at all.

  She was also annoyed with Dorset's wife, who should have known better than to leave them together for so long before she summoned the elder ladies even without permission. But the marchioness was excusable, being much in awe of the king and not overly clever.

  Jasper arrived in the marchioness's wake. He kept his head averted from Elizabeth, but at Margaret's whispered command helped Henry to his feet and started to lead him from the room. "Wait," Henry said faintly, his head on Jasper's shoulder, "that chamber must be full. I cannot face those people. I cannot."

  "Here, then." Jasper spied the door to Elizabeth's dressing room. There was a chair, and Henry sank into it gratefully. "Child, do not worry so. It is the way with women. God, you are wringing wet. You must change. Will you be all right if I leave you alone, Harry?"

  "Yes."

  To be left alone was exactly what Henry wanted. He sat with closed eyes, fighting to bring his breathing to normal and his body under control. The door opened and closed, but he did not turn, only cursed his uncle's tender vigilance under his breath. After a time, when no one spoke and Henry realized that no attentive eyes were boring into him, he looked cautiously about. Ned Poynings was standing at the narrow window looking out. Henry sighed with relief, then stiffened as a long, low, animal-like moaning came through the closed door. He was a little comforted to see Ned's shoulders jerk. It was good to know he was not the only one distressed by so natural a thing as childbirth.

  Muted sounds of increased activity made Henry tense, but no one troubled his retreat. Eventually Jasper returned with his clothing. As he opened the door, Henry heard his mother say, "Do not cry out now, Elizabeth, you will only waste your strength. Take a deep breath and try to push it out downward." Jasper closed the door hurriedly and began to be very busy making Henry change into his clothing. There was no clock in the room, the day was overcast so that one could not see the position of the sun, and Henry became desperate for a measure of time.

  "Does it always take so long?" he asked at last.

  "Yes," Jasper replied briefly.

  Truthfully he had no idea, the only other childbirth he had attended having been Henry's twenty-nine years earlier. There was another long silence, broken twice by the animal-like moaning from the other side of the door. Henry picked at his clothing and bit his fingers; Poynings stared out the window; Jasper looked into space with blind eyes, clenching and unclenching his fists rhythmically. Suddenly a shriek rent the air and then another. Henry leapt to his feet, overturning the chair. He put his hands to his ears, but neither that nor the door could block the moans and screams which alternated with agonizing regularity.

  "I cannot bear it," he sobbed. "If she must die, let her die. Let her suffer no more. Cannot something be done for her? I cannot bear it!"

  Jasper put his arms around Henry. "Poynings, tell the countess of Richmond to come at once to the king."

  Ned had no desire whatsoever to enter that room, but a command was a command. He made his way through the scurrying women and, inadvertently catching a sight of Elizabeth, he stopped, shocked. The queen was unrecognizable, her face swollen and distorted, her eyes bulging, her mouth open. Poynings choked, recovered, and tried to speak, but his voice was drowned in a heartrending wail and Elizabeth's hand, clawing for support, caught in Margaret's dress and ripped the sleeve away, leaving a long red weal on the countess's skin.

  "Madam," he said desperately, as Elizabeth gasped for breath and clawed at Margaret's hand, "the duke of Bedford begs you to come to the king."

  Elizabeth's next shriek drowned the first part of Margaret's angry reply, and Ned caught only, "old ass Jasper," and then, "rarely lose fathers in childbirth, Henry must do as he can."

  Even with that unsatisfactory reply Poynings was glad to retreat, but the situation in the dressing room was little better from his point of view than the one outside it. Henry was white and shaking, retching without result because he had eaten nothing. With no remedies at hand, Jasper and Poynings administered as best as they could to him. The door sprang open.

  "Your Grace, come at once!" a woman cried.

  Henry staggered to his feet, shook free of Jasper and Ned. A path opened before him in Elizabeth's bedchamber, which now seemed incredibly full of magnificently dressed people. Henry, however, saw nothing. He was blinded by the peal upon peal of Elizabeth's screams. Suddenly, as if the sound had been cut with a knife, there was silence, then a series of long-drawn whimpers, and then, after a breathless thirty seconds, a thin squalling.

  Margaret appeared before her son. Blood was dripping from her hands where Elizabeth had clawed her skin away, her hair hung loose in disorder, her dress was in tatters, and her arms and shoulders were lacerated with scratches, but her eyes shone with triumph and her voice was like a paean of victory.

  "A man-child, a princeling, a fine, lusty boy!"

  "Elizabeth?" Henry croaked.

  "Magnificent," Margaret replied proudly. She had said Elizabeth would make a fine wife—and she had been right. Then she looked at her son with a faint return of her original disapproval. "No thanks to you for frightening her into such weakness. But when we had undone your work and she understood what was needed, she was wonderful. You can go to her in a little while and thank her for your son."

  "Thank God," Henry whispered, but in the next moment he was laughing half-hysterically, going down on his knees to assist Poynings. Poynings the stolid, Poynings the imperturbable—who had fainted.

  CHAPTER 17

  Richard Foxe paused with his hand on
the door he had just opened. A sweet tenor voice was singing a lilting French air, and he knew the king was supposed to be alone in the chamber. Foxe stepped forward quietly and his shrewd eyes softened. The Tudor was singing. He was dressed with the magnificence customary even in his least formal clothing, but he was not—as Foxe usually saw him—bent over his table working. He was standing with one foot on the window seat, looking out into the garden at the blaze of autumn flowers, singing.

  Why he should have been surprised, Foxe did not know.

  Henry loved music, sang well, and had good cause to be happy. His heir was strong, and his wife was recovering well during her lying-in. Moreover, the woman would cause him no more trouble. The entire court knew, and soon the entire country would know, how she clung to him. It was a shame to break his peace with problems. Foxe was tempted to leave Henry with his joy, but the king expected him and, in truth, the problems would grow no lighter for being put aside.

  "Sire."

  Henry turned, smiling. "Come in, my little Foxe, come in."

  "I have come to trouble you, Your Grace."

  "You are mistaken. Nothing can trouble me. You may be able to make me work, but trouble me, you cannot."

  "So I hope. First, sire, you must return to London. The enmity between Brittany and France grows worse. Both demand that you support them, and Morton's fencing can hold them no longer."

  "God curse the French and all their greed. They swallow one duchy after another until all Europe will be one large France. They grasp at a helpless old man and two girl children—no mercy, no justice, only greed."

  "We cannot afford to make an enemy of France, Your Grace. And the Regent Anne has some cause for dissatisfaction. Duke Francis has given refuge to the duke of Orleans whom Anne has finally driven out."

  Henry sighed. "Oh, I know. I cannot wish that Francis was less kind because, perhaps, I would not be alive and certainly I would not be king if that were so. Still, for him to give France any excuse for war is so foolish. Nay, do not begin to tell me what he hopes to gain from Orleans. He should be able to see …" Henry sighed and after a pause, added, "Very well. I will come. Perhaps there is some way to save Brittany, but I fear there is not. I can do no more than I can. It is, as you say, impossible for me to challenge France—as yet."