In the Shadow of the Crown - By Jean Plaidy Page 0,173

pleas for her husband, and I could not bring myself to agree to his execution, so at length it was agreed that he should pay his fine and go free.

Although Northumberland had been the chief conspirator, the Council believed that Lady Jane and her husband should be dispatched without delay. I pointed out to them that she was merely the figurehead. Figureheads had to be eliminated with all speed, they reiterated. Lady Jane should be brought to trial at once.

I could not bear that and I sought refuge in delay.

“Later,” I said. “Later.”

Simon Renard came to me. He was an impressive man. He was no van der Delft or Scheyfve. He was another Chapuys, only, it occurred to me, more wily. I could understand why the Emperor had sent him, for now that I was Queen, I was of greater importance to him.

Renard was very respectful but nevertheless he had come to advise me, and I felt the great Emperor spoke through him.

“It is an odd thing, Your Majesty,” he said, “that the chief conspirator in the plot against you still lives.”

“Northumberland has lost his head,” I replied.

“The impostor Queen still lives.”

“The girl was merely used, Ambassador.”

“She allowed herself to be used.”

“She had no choice.”

He lifted his shoulders. “She has dared proclaim herself Queen.”

“She was acclaimed by others.”

“She wore the crown.”

“My lord Ambassador, I know this girl. She is my kinswoman. She is young and innocent… scarcely out of the schoolroom. I could not have her innocent blood on my hands.”

“Your Majesty prefers to have yours on hers?”

“There is no question…”

“While she lives, you are unsafe.”

“I believe the people have chosen me.”

“The people? The people will go which way they are made to.”

“This is a matter for my conscience.”

He was clearly dismayed. I saw the contempt in his eyes, and I could imagine the letter he would write to the Emperor. I should never make him understand. But I knew Jane, and I understood how she had been forced into this… and as long as I could, I would refuse to have her blood on my hands.

I must not free her, of course. That would be folly. She would be an immediate rallying point. I would have to be careful; and there was my sister; Elizabeth, another who would stand as a symbol for the Reformed Faith. Oh yes, I should be very careful. But as long as Jane was in the Tower, no decisions need be made.

I said, “I intend to keep her prisoner for the time being. Then we shall see.”

Simon Renard left me. He gave me the impression that I was being a soft and sentimental woman and had no idea how to rule a country.

Shortly after that interview with Renard, I received a letter from Jane, and on reading it I felt more sorry for her and in a greater dilemma than ever.

She wanted me to know that the terrible sin she had committed in allowing herself to be forced to pose as Queen was no fault of hers.

“I did not want it,” she wrote, “and when my parents and my parentsin-law, the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, came to me and told me that the King was dead, I was wretchedly unhappy, for you know how I loved him. When they added that I was heiress to the crown, I could not believe them, and when I understood that they were serious, I fainted. It was as though a sense of doom overcame me. I knew it was wrong. I knew it was wicked, even though Edward had named me. They did homage to me, and at the same time they were angry with me because I would not rejoice with them and was filled with this terrible foreboding.

“They took me to the Tower as Queen, and the Marquis of Winchester brought the crown for me to try on. I did not ask him to do this. It was the last thing I wanted. I wanted more than anything to go back to my studies. I knew that I should have resisted, but I dared not.”

No, I thought, she dared not. I remembered how they had beaten her in her childhood. I felt a grim amusement to think of those harsh parents doing homage to their daughter whom they had so ill-treated.

“I did not want to put it on,” she continued. “I was afraid of it. They said they would have another made for my husband, for it was the Duke's wish that he should