In the Shadow of the Crown - By Jean Plaidy Page 0,170

my prisoner.

MY CAPITAL WAS WAITING to receive me. I would never have believed that victory could come so easily, and I chided myself for my lack of faith. This was what I had been born and preserved for, and the will of God was worked through the will of the people.

My first duty was to have the crucifix set up in Framlingham Church. It would show the people I would lead them back to God through the true religion.

We must make our way to London.

I set out with a mighty company. How different from when I had left Hunsdon such a short time ago in such stealth.

I rested at Wanstead, and while I was there I was visited by a distraught Duchess of Suffolk. I was amazed to see this proud and imperious lady so frightened and beside herself with grief. I thought it must be on account of her daughter, Jane, that poor innocent child who had been used by her ambitious family.

She prostrated herself at my feet, which in itself was amusing, for she had been one of those who had proclaimed my birth not to be legitimate, King's daughter though she had had to accept me to be.

But I was sorry for her. She was a mother and she must be suffering deep remorse now that her daughter was in the Tower.

I said, “Rise, Lady Suffolk. I know what you must be suffering. Your daughter is so young, and I know that she was forced to do this wicked thing by others.”

“Oh, my daughter,” she cried. “She has sinned beyond redemption. I could not ask Your Majesty to forgive her. Her sin is too great. I plead for the Duke, my husband. He is ill, Your Majesty. I fear for his life if he remains in that cold cell. They have kept him there for three days… and I fear that he can endure little more.”

I felt anger rising within me. I could understand a mother's love for her child, but I remembered what Jane had said about the harsh treatment of her parents, and Mrs. Penn's indignation at the violent marks on her body.

I said, “Your husband is a traitor. He was partly responsible for setting your daughter on the throne. It is not Lady Jane who is to blame. She merely did what she was forced to. And you complain because your husband has spent three days in the Tower!”

“He has acted wrongly, Your Majesty, but he was led into doing evil acts. Your Majesty, I beg of you…he will die. Let him be sent to me. Let him remain your prisoner but let me nurse him. I beg of you. It is a matter of life or death.”

Life or death! That was how it was for most of us. She was weeping bitterly, this proud woman, and there was no doubt that her grief was genuine.

How could I refuse her? I did not admire her as a mother, but there was no doubt that the woman loved her husband.

I thought: What harm can it do? She is crying for mercy, and I must be merciful. He will die in the Tower. He will die in any case. He is a traitor, but I do not want his death on my hands.

I said, “He shall be taken from the Tower to be nursed by you.”

She fell on her knees once more; she kissed my hand and blessed me.

WHEN IT WAS KNOWN what I had done, there was consternation.

Sir Henry Jerningham pointed out to me that the man I had freed was the father of Jane, and he had helped to set her up in my place. He had worked close to Northumberland, and they had planned to rule the country together through those two young people. Had I forgotten that?

“I have sent him out of the Tower to be nursed by his wife,” I said. “He is a very sick man.”

“Sick with fear, Your Majesty, to see his wicked plans frustrated.”

“I wish to be a merciful Queen,” I told him. “Grey shall not escape. Justice will be done.”

They shook their heads, and they trembled for me.

It was the same with Simon Renard. I heard later that he had reported to the Emperor that I should never be able to hold the crown for I was too governed by feminine sentiments.

I did not care. I knew Suffolk was ill, and I had been moved by his wife's pleading.

I prayed to God that night. “You taught me