In the Shadow of the Crown - By Jean Plaidy Page 0,22

could have been married immediately…”

“I am glad we did not. If he could not be faithful…if he could not keep his promises…it was better as it is.”

She held me against her soothingly. Then she said, “There will be other arrangements.”

“I shall not regard them with any seriousness.”

“Well, you are young and it would be a year or two before any plans came to fruition.”

“Are you trying to tell me something, Countess?” I asked. “Yes. But you must not take it seriously. It would never come to pass. It is just a gesture.”

“Who?” I asked.

“The King of France.”

I stared at her incredulously. The King of France! My father's enemy! The man who had been described to me as the most wicked in Europe. The man who had tried to humiliate my father at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. It was impossible to believe.

“But we were at war with him.”

“That is over. There is now peace, and our two countries are friends again. We are against the Emperor now.”

“Oh no… no!” I cried.

“You must not be upset. It will never come to anything. I did not want it to shock you. That is why I warn you. You should not be unduly alarmed. It will never happen.”

“I thought he was the Emperor's prisoner.”

“There has been a treaty between them … the Treaty of Madrid. François is free, but there are harsh terms. He is having to give up much land to the Emperor…Milan, Naples and Burgundy, I believe, among much else. In the meantime he has been allowed his freedom, but he has sent his two sons to Madrid as hostages.”

“And he has agreed to that?”

“His sons are there now.”

“How could he? They are only little boys.”

“It is necessary that he return to his country. It is all very complicated.”

“And my father would marry me to this man!”

“I doubt there is any serious intention of doing that. It is just a gesture to the Emperor. You see, no ruler likes to see another too powerful, and several states are forming a league against the Emperor now.”

“It's horrible,” I said. “I hate it.”

“It is the way states are governed.”

“I shall never govern that way.”

She smiled at me. “You will be a wise and benign ruler, I know. But, just now you must not be disturbed about this proposed alliance. I will be ready to swear that nothing will come of it. There is another matter. One of the terms of the Treaty of Madrid is that François shall marry Charles' sister, Eleanora. He cannot evade his obligations because he has to think of his two hostage sons.”

“How old is the King of France, Countess?” I asked.

“About thirty-two.”

She did not add that most of those years had been spent in debauchery and that, coupled with the fact that he had been languishing in a Madrid prison where he had come near to death and probably would have died if his sister, Marguerite, had not gone out to nurse him, he would probably seem older than his years warranted.

The King of France! He haunted my dreams. I had never seen him but I had often pictured his dark, satanic face. I had heard it said that no woman was safe once he had cast his lecherous eyes on her. Could it really be that my father would contemplate marrying me to such a man?

Not only had I lost my hero, the Emperor, but there was a possibility that I should be thrown to this monster.

Just as I had thought I was growing up and having power was going to be a wonderful experience, the truth was borne home to me. I was a woman. I could be snatched from my home at any moment. I could be given to any husband who happened to be important in the game of politics. It was the fate of princesses.

I lived in trepidation of the arrival of messengers from Court, demanding my presence that I might be betrothed to the fearsome and terrifying King of France.

THE DAYS BEGAN to pass and no one came to Court. The Countess said that it was such an absurd proposition that no one could take it seriously. I could rest assured that it was just an attempt to show the kindly feelings of England to a recent enemy.

My status at Ludlow had made me more interested in politics. But perhaps that was just because I was growing up. I should have liked to hear more of what was happening among