In the Shadow of the Crown - By Jean Plaidy Page 0,128

are celebrating our marriage…”

“You would be suspect. Plead for one. Plead for Marbeck. He was a favorite of the King. It would seem as though you liked his music.”

“I did. But it is for his views…”

“I have told you. I have been in danger. My views are as strong as yours. But I know how to preserve my life. There may be work for me to do… work for you…Take care. Please listen to me. Plead for Marbeck. Save his life if you can… then perhaps that might help the others.”

She looked at me steadily. “I believe you may be right,” she said.

I left her. I was absolutely astounded by what she had betrayed to me. She leaned toward the Reformed Faith. I could not believe she understood what acute danger she was placing herself in.

CHAPUYS VISITED ME and told me what had happened.

He said, “Marbeck is to go free. It is a special favor to the Queen. She asked for the freedom of all four heretics, and the King has compromised by giving her Marbeck. It is whispered that he intended to pardon him in any case, for he did not want to lose one of his best choristers.”

“But the other three?”

“They got to the stake.”

“If she had asked for one of the others, it might have been better then.”

“Who knows? The King is in an uxorious mood at the moment, having been so shortly married. He must have been rather pleased that she asked for Marbeck because he was able to gratify her wish and please himself at the same time—though I am of the opinion that he would not have freed one of the others. A law has been passed to suppress what they call the New Learning, and it is forbidden to be in possession of translations like Tyndale's. It is against the law, and those men have broken the law. I am inclined to think that this is a beginning, and Gardiner will soon have more in the cells awaiting the fiery death.”

He looked at me steadily for a few moments, pausing before he went on, “The Queen is an erudite woman. Gardiner will have his eyes on her… after her pleas for Marbeck. It may be that he will think that it is not only on account of his singing voice that she wants him free.”

“What other reason could there be?”

He smiled at me and said quietly, “Gardiner will be watchful.”

I thought: I could not bear it if she went the way of the others…not good, kind Katharine who had married the King so reluctantly. It would be too cruel of fate. I could not stop thinking of Anne Boleyn in the Tower awaiting her end…of little Catharine Howard, running screaming along the gallery at Hampton Court. Not this kind stepmother who had never done anyone an injury in the whole of her life.

I must impress on her more strongly the need for caution.

She was delighted, of course, that Marbeck had been spared.

“But the others,” she said. “I dream of them…I can hear the crackle of the flames…I can feel the scorching of their limbs…”

“But your intercession saved Marbeck.”

“I tried for the others. I tried so hard … but he began to get irritable, and I was afraid that I might lose Marbeck if I persisted.”

“You were wise to desist. My lady … Katharine … they must never know. Gardiner must never guess… about your views.”

“I know,” she said. “He would have me at the stake if he did.”

“Please… please take care.”

She said she would, and I believed I had impressed on her the danger she was in.

THE REFORMERS HAD PERISHED at the stake, and we were leaving on a journey through the country to celebrate the King's marriage. We were to go to Woodstock, Grafton and Dunstable—there would be hunting on the way—and we should stay at the grand houses of noblemen who would be expected to put on grand entertainments for us. I know these royal progresses were a source of great anxiety to those who had to entertain us, for they could become bankrupt in the process. But the King would have been put out if an inadequate welcome was given to him; and those who failed to treat him royally would soon find they were out of favor at Court—and it was always feared what that might lead to.

We had not gone far when one of my attacks came on. I tried hard to fight it but it was no