Love, Remember Me (49 page)

"Our sovereign lord will deal gently with you, dear madame. All he would have of you is the truth in this matter," Thomas Cranmer assured the terrified woman. "You may confide in me, Catherine. I will do my best by you, I promise."

Her cerulean-blue eyes were swollen with her weeping, her lashes matted into spiky points. Her auburn hair, usually so neatly coiffed, was unkempt and undone. She wore no jewelry, he noted, but the wedding band upon her finger. It was a departure for a woman who loved all of the royal jewels and was apt to deck herself in as many as possible each day. Catherine Howard was Thomas Cranmer's picture of a fallen woman. She had guilt written all over her. Her very fear betrayed her.

The queen held up her hands. "Thank God for the king's goodness to me, although I am not worthy of it."

"Will you trust me then, Catherine?" the archbishop said.

She nodded, but then fell to weeping again for a long moment. He waited for her sorrow to subside, and then she said to him, "Alas, my lord, that I am alive! The fear of death did not grieve me so much before as doth now the remembrance of the king's goodness, for when I remember how gracious and loving a prince I had, I cannot but sorrow. But this sudden mercy, more than I could have looked for, maketh mine offenses to appear before mine eyes much more heinous than they did before. And the more I consider the greatness of his mercy, the more I do sorrow in my heart that I should so misorder myself against his majesty." She wept again, great gulping sobs of grief.

He could see that she had taken all she could for the moment, and so the archbishop left her, promising to return in the early evening.

When he had gone, Lady Rochford crept from the corner where she had been sitting. "Say naught to him, you little fool," she warned the queen. "He seeks to convict you, and surely you will end on the block like your cousin Anne. Admit nothing! Where is their proof but in the idle tongues of jealous servants?"

"The king will grant me mercy if I will admit my faults," Catherine said softly. "I am afraid, Rochford. I do not want to die. If I admit to my liaisons with Dereham before my marriage, then I will be forgiven. I will not die!"

"Admit to anything, Catherine Howard, and you will no longer be Queen of England. Is it not better to die a queen than to live in ignominity and disgrace? If you admit to Dereham, the king will cast you off. Knowing that old satyr, he is probably already casting about for a new rose without a thorn to warm his bed and to be his queen."

"Henry would not do such a thing!" the queen protested.

Lady Jane Rochford laughed bitterly. "Jane Seymour was primly waiting in the wings as they readied the accusations against your cousin Anne. Did the king not let his eye wander between you and Lady Wyndham even when he was still wed to the Princess of Cleves? Perhaps it is your dear friend Nyssa who will replace you in the king's affections."

Catherine Howard slapped Jane Rochford. "Do not dare to slander my cousin's wife," she said in a hard voice. "Nyssa de Winter is probably the only person in the entire world that I can truly trust. I pray God that my actions have not endangered her, my cousin Varian, or their children. I will do what I must to protect the family. It is all I can do now." She glared at her companion. "You had best pray, Jane, that the king does not discover my relationship with Tom Culpeper, or your part in fostering that relationship. If I go to the block, you will go with me. And if my real crimes escape the king's notice, I will spend the rest of my life being a good wife to him, if they will let me. If they will not, I will accept whatever portion I am allotted, and be grateful to be alive."

"How noble you have suddenly become in the face of danger," Lady Rochford said, rubbing her cheek. "Are you certain that letter came from the king? When has Henry Tudor ever been known to be merciful when betrayed by a woman? Perhaps the archbishop forged the letter, and used the king's seal in an effort to trick you, madame."

Catherine Howard blanched. "Surely the archbishop would not do a thing like that," she said. "He is a man of God!"

"Men of God who are servants of Henry Tudor are more apt to do the king's bidding than follow their conscience. The king is a certainty they must live with every day. God is but a nebulous eventuality."

The queen began to weep again. Was it possible the archbishop was going to betray her? She struggled to maintain her composure while behind her back Jane Rochford smiled to herself.

The many members of the Howard family, always in evidence at court, were suddenly not so evident. No one really knew what was going on, but everyone knew that the queen, adored yesterday, was today suddenly out of favor. How serious was it? There was no one to tell the court. All entertainments had been canceled. The king spent all his time in those first days of November hunting with just a few chosen companions, or closeted with his Privy Council. The queen was allowed no visitors. Those bringing food to her could only say that her grace was pale and not eating.

In the Duke of Norfolk's apartments, Nyssa sat quietly by the fire in the dayroom embroidering her husband's initials upon one of his shirts. She looked serene, but she was not. Thomas Howard, watching her, silently admired his grandson's wife. He had known absolutely nothing about her other than the fact that she was standing in his family's way when they had first met. Now that they were more or less trapped within these close quarters, he was discovering that she was a very intelligent, clever, loyal young woman. He also saw how very much Varian was in love with her. Well, at least something good had come of all his machinations, he considered bitterly.

Suddenly Nyssa looked up and her eyes locked onto his. "What news, my lord?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing yet, madame," he answered her. "The archbishop continues to press Catherine. It is as if he seeks something other than he has. If he does not learn anything more, my niece will retain her pretty, vacuous head. If he does find something, she will die as she deserves to, I fear. There is still hope, I think."

"Poor Cat," Nyssa said. "You should not have stressed all of the delights of being queen, my lord. You should have also told her of the difficulties involved, and the responsibilities, but you did not. She was ill-prepared to be a queen, but then I wonder if any girl is well-prepared."

"She should have been prepared," he told her. "Catherine was born a Howard after all."

Nyssa laughed. "Is there something magical in being born a Howard, my lord? You make it sound as if being born a Howard endows a person with not just beauty and grace, but wisdom and the ability to meet any challenge. Your name is an ancient and honored one, but God did not give the Howards any more ability to struggle through life with than He gave the rest of us. It is past time you realized that."

"Impudent chit!" he growled, and stamped from the chamber.

With a small smile of triumph, Nyssa returned to her embroidery. Besting Duke Thomas was very satisfying.

A servant entered the dayroom to announce that the king's sister, the lady Anne, was here to see her. Anne of Cleves hurried in behind the man. Putting her needlework aside, Nyssa arose to greet her former mistress.

"Welcome, dear madame. Come and sit by the fire with me."

"Ach! Such troubles for poor Hendrick and little Catrine," Anne said. "Vhat a surprise to learn of her life before court! The old Dowager Duchess of Norfolk vas certainly not a goot influence. Imagine allowing men to run about her house at night vith all those little girls in her charge. Is she dotty, then?" Anne settled herself, spreading her fashionable yellow velvet skirts about her. She accepted a silver goblet of wine from the attending servant, who then withdrew from the room.

"We are fortunate to have had good mothers and fathers to watch over us; to guide us; to see we learned morality," Nyssa replied. "Poor Cat was really quite badly brought up, I fear."

"Ya," Anne said sympathetically. "God help her now, for who else vill? It is not a goot thing to be a qveen."

"I have already heard a rumor that the king is considering returning to you, madame, should his marriage to Queen Catherine be over and done with," Nyssa told Anne, who blanched.

"Gott und himmel, nein! I vill never marry vith that rutting old boar again! Once vas more than enough! I vould tink that Hendrick vas through vith marriage now. He does not seem to be able to find a voman who can suit him, and the only one he claimed did, died, Gott assoil her goot soul. He is an old man. Vhy vould he vant another vife?"

"You know he does not see himself as an old man," Nyssa said. "Besides, the council will insist he remarry, and attempt to father other children. Little Prince Edward is his only legitimate male heir. What if something should happen to him?"

"Nyssa, when vill you see that a voman is just as capable of ruling a country as a man? Hendrick has two daughters, and both of them are very bright. Especially my darling little Bess. Bess vould make a vonderful qveen, but it is unlikely she vill ever haf the chance. Poor child. She is very upset about Catrine. They are cousins, you know, through Bess's mutter. Catrine has alvays been kind to her, and Gott knows few others haf. They hold the sins of the mutter against her little daughter. It is not kind.

"That is vhy I come to you today. Vhat is going on, Nyssa? Ve haf all heard the gossip about the qveen's early life, but vhat else is there? Catrine's behavior prior to her marriage to Hendrick cannot, my confessor tells me, be held against her as long as she has been a goot vife to Hendrick. Vhy do they continue to press her? Vhat do they suspect? Or is there some secret the court does not know? You vill know, for you are in this nest of Howards, and their safety depends upon the qveen's fate." She took a great draught of her wine.

"The Howards are just as mystified and frightened as the rest of us. Duke Thomas, to his chagrin, did not know of the queen's early bad behavior. He is frantic the king will hold him responsible for all his unhappiness relating to the queen," Nyssa said.

Anne of Cleves snorted. "Duke Thomas is a vicked old man. He dangled that poor little girl beneath Hendrick's lustful nose, and look vhat he did to you, my sveet Nyssa."

"Ahh, but there, despite Duke Thomas, Varian and I have had a happy ending, madame. He loved me from the beginning, and I have come to love him. We were so happy at Winterhaven with our babies, until the queen demanded our presence on the progress. God, I hate the court!" She looked at Anne. "Why did you not come this summer?"

"I am too vell liked by the people. They still are angry at poor Hendrick for replacing me. I tink that may be the reason for these silly rumors you mention that Hendrick vants me back. The king asked that I stay home this summer so he might present his young vife to his people. I vas happy to comply vith his vishes. I enjoyed being by myself. Bess came to visit vith me, although poor Mary vas forced to go on the progress. Mary does not like Catrine."

"Princess Mary was hardly in evidence at all on the progress. She hunted with her father, but other than that, she only appeared on those special occasions when the king wished to present a united family front," Nyssa said. "She and her women were rarely seen, and kept to themselves."

The two women sat chatting about a variety of things, of the coming holidays and how this distressing matter of Catherine Howard would affect them. Nyssa told Anne how they had wanted to leave the progress at Amphill, but that the king, in an effort to please his frivolous wife, had reneged on his promise to them.

"You know how I love the holidays at
RiversEdge
," Nyssa said. She did not tell Anne of the real reason behind their desire to leave.

Finally the Princess of Cleves departed, and Nyssa returned to her embroidery. It was already dark outside with the coming winter, but with her young eyes she was able to see her work in the firelight. What was going to happen to poor Cat? Would they learn of her adultery, or would she somehow escape the revelation of her treasonous behavior?

The archbishop had gone again to the queen, and cajoled her into making a written declaration of her scandalous premarital adventures. Catherine firmly believed that her liaison with Dereham was no true contract, but the archbishop thought otherwise. He believed that he now had enough evidence to prove a precontract had existed between the former lovers. It was possible under such circumstances to invalidate the marriage. Catherine had not been a virgin when she came to the king. There were no children involved to be harmed. A potentially explosive situation could easily be avoided under these conditions, yet Thomas Cranmer was still not satisfied. He sensed that there was something else.

"
You did what
?" Jane Rochford's narrow face was filled with rage. "You stupid little fool! You have given the archbishop the very weapon he needs to see that your marriage is dissolved!"

"But the archbishop said the king would forgive me if I admitted to my wickedness," the queen said. The fact that her lady-in-waiting had addressed her so disrespectfully went completely over her head.

"Aye, why should he not forgive his
whore
?" Lady Rochford was pleased to see that Catherine grew white with shock. She continued, "For that is all you will be to the king if you admit to this willing liaison with Francis Dereham.
The king's whore
. Not the Queen of England, but a royal mistress. Even your cousin Anne was never considered that, but then Anne Boleyn was an intelligent woman. You, poor child, have not the wit to know what you have done, do you?"

"Ohh, Rochford, what can I do?" Catherine whined. "I do not want to be known as a common whore! Tell me what to do!"

"Call back the archbishop," Lady Rochford said. "Tell him you were so frightened that you did not make clear to him that Dereham came into you with force. Say he raped you, damnit!"

"Will the archbishop believe me?" the queen quavered.

"Why should he disbelieve you?" Lady Rochford said impatiently.

But Thomas Cranmer did not believe the queen when he was recalled and fed this new piece of information. Now he was quite certain that the queen was lying. What else was she lying about?