The Merry Monarch's Wife by Jean Plaidy Page A

ceremonies generally to be attended.
    It appeared that some dispatches had arrived for Charles and he had to leave at once. He assured me he would not be away for long.
    â€œIt is urgent business,” he said.
    I wanted to share everything and was disappointed that he did not tell me the nature of this urgent business.
    So he went away and I felt very lonely, which was silly of me. He would soon be back, I assured myself. Perhaps that very day.
    He did not return that day.
    I noticed that there was a great deal of whispering and giggling among the ladies. I guessed something amusing, interesting—perhaps scandalous—was taking place at the court, and I felt shut out. How frustrating it was not to be able to interpret the words…to feel excluded.
    I was preparing to retire that night and found myself alone with Lady Suffolk, and in faltering English I asked what had happened to amuse the ladies.
    She hesitated and I thought she was going to say she did not understand, as I fancied she might do if she thought the subject was not for my ears.
    Then suddenly she seemed to make up her mind. She said slowly and clearly, so that I understood most of what she said: “It is something which has happened to one of the ladies.”
    â€œSomething…of scandal…is that the word?”
    â€œIt is the word, Your Majesty…and it fits the case perfectly.”
    â€œTell me…”
    She looked puzzled for a moment and then she said: “Oh, this lady has left her husband.”
    â€œAnd that is this…scandal?”
    â€œIn the circumstances, yes.”
    â€œWhat are this circumstances?”
    â€œShe has just given birth to a baby boy.”
    â€œAnd this?”
    â€œWell…Your Majesty. Her husband is a Catholic, and the child has been baptized in the Catholic faith.”
    â€œAnd…and this is Protestant country.”
    â€œIt is not that so much. The lady says that her husband has no right because the boy is not his. And she is leaving him…her husband, I mean.”
    â€œI do not understand.”
    â€œIt is not easy to explain, Your Majesty.”
    â€œBut she leave because the child is baptized in the Catholic faith?”
    â€œYes, she says he has no right. The child should not be baptized as a Catholic just because he is…”
    I looked at her in puzzlement. “Because…why is because?”
    â€œShe says his father is a very important man and not a Catholic. So she has left her husband, packed up her jewels and possessions of value and taken the child away.”
    â€œAnd this…amuses?”
    â€œWell, the lady does provide amusement.”
    â€œBecause she is a woman who has a child…not her husband’s?”
    â€œThat…and other things.”
    â€œSo what will be now?”
    â€œThat is what everyone waits to see.”
    â€œShe is one of the ladies of the court. Then I will know her?”
    â€œOh, no, Madam. She had been away from the court…having the baby, you see.”
    â€œWho is she? What her name?”
    â€œShe is Lady Castlemaine, Madam.”
    My heart began to beat fast. I heard my mother’s voice. I remembered the grave look in her eyes. “If by chance you meet this woman—which you should not—you must treat her as though she does not exist. You must never allow her to come to court.”
    Lady Suffolk, herself overcome by embarrassment, was not looking at me.
    I heard myself faintly: “I do not think I have met this lady.”
    I was shaken and wanted to be by myself.
    Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 
    THE NEXT MORNING I felt better. I must stop thinking about Lady Castlemaine. Just because she had once been a friend of the King did not mean that she was now. I had to cast off my conventional ideas. My mother had understood. A young man with Charles’s gifts, his high position—even though at that time his rights were not acknowledged—would