effete King and his minion.
She was happy. Soon she would be with Mortimer.
It was sooner than she had dared hope, for he had heard of her arrival and came in haste to greet her.
He bowed low. He must not show undue familiarity before the company, but
in his eyes she saw all she wished to know.
‘My love,’ he whispered as he bowed before her. ‘So long it has seemed.’
‘At last I am here.’
Then he was saying that he had heard of her arrival and had come to escort her to her brother’s court in Paris.
Mortimer had arranged for them to stay the night at a château put at her
disposal by her cousin Robert d’Artois who had heard a great deal of her
humiliation at the hands of her husband and had been incensed that a daughter of the royal house of France should be so treated.
As they rode along Mortimer talked to her of his adventures since he had left England. He had found favour with her brother the King, which was perhaps not surprising for French Kings were always ready to favour the enemies of the Kings of England. He had told Charles a great deal about the influence Hugh le Despenser wielded over the King and naturally Charles, seeing clearly Edward’s folly, was not displeased about that.
‘I am happy to say,’ said Mortimer, ‘that the King your brother has shown
nothing but friendship towards me.’ He bent his head and whispered.
‘Tonight― It must be tonight.’
And she answered, ‘Tonight.’
When they arrived at the château her cousin was eager to give her a royal
welcome. He made it clear that he was very impressed by her beauty. She felt that she had come to life, recognized for what she had always known she was, a charming and desirable woman.
Lord John Cromwell was a little uneasy about what he called Mortimer’s
undue familiarity. ‘He was, my lady, the King’s prisoner,’ he explained to Isabella. ‘Now he is an exile. If he were to return to England he would lose his head.’
‘True enough, my lord,’ answered Isabella and appeared to reflect. ‘But it seems to me that I am on a difficult mission. I have to get good terms for my husband from my brother and if Mortimer speaks truth he is on friendly terms with Charles. I shall need all the friends I can get. It would not be wise to alienate Mortimer.’
Lord John agreed with this. ‘But I would not trust him too far if I were you, my lady, if you will forgive my mentioning the matter.’
‘You are forgiven, Lord John. I know that you are faithful to me and to the King.’
‘The Mortimers were always a wild family, my lady. They ruled the
Marcher land and it is in them to rule.’
‘I agree with you. Trust me, I shall be careful.’
How she laughed when that night she lay in Mortimer’s arms.
The reunion had been one of complete satisfaction. The fact that it had been planned with care gave it an added delight. They talked in whispers through the night for before dawn he must be gone. It would never do for any to guess at this point that she had come to France to join her lover.
‘I shall never go back without you,’ she told him.
‘When we go back it will be with an army. We shall succeed.’
‘Of course we shall succeed.’
‘Gentle Mortimer, it must be so. You and I together and Edward with us―
my young Edward. We must find a way of getting him here.’
‘How does he feel about his father?’
‘Bewildered. He is but a boy. But a clever one― one who knows his
destiny. He hears gossip of Hugh le Despenser. It disturbs him.’
‘Oh, my love― my love,’ cried Mortimer. ‘What a happy day when I was
sent to the Tower!’
‘In the gardens that day I knew I had been waiting for you all my life.’
‘None ever loved as we do.’
‘And none ever planned such a great project as they lay in their bed of love.’
‘How long till dawn? I would I could hold back time.’
‘The future is for us, my love.’
‘Ah,’ he answered, ‘for us.’
‘The day will come,’ she said, ‘when you will not have to creep away before the first streaks of light appear in the sky.’
He wondered then if she meant she would marry him. Could the Queen of
England marry a Mortimer? He had a wife. She had a husband. But such
obstacles could be removed.
Ambition. Love. How glorious when these two walked together. To make
love! To make plans! Life was good. Never had either of them dreamed of such bliss as life now offered them.
‘Would we could stay like this for ever,’ said Mortimer.
‘Nay, my dear love,’ answered the Queen. ‘This is but the springtime of our union. Glorious summer lies before us.’
‘And autumn and winter?’ he said.
‘Autumn will come with the fruits of our endeavours,’ she said. ‘And if
there is winter we shall know how to keep each other warm. What talk for
lovers; let us make talk when we cannot make love. Do you agree, dear
Mortimer?’
Mortimer agreed.
―――――――
ISABELLA
―――――――
LETTERS FROM ENGLAND
THERE was a royal welcome for Isabella at her brother’s court.
Charles did not look in good health and as soon as she saw him she thought of the curse of the Templars. He possessed those outstanding good looks which came here and there in the family. Isabella herself had them, so had her father, and they had appeared again in Charles. Now there was an air of fragility about him.
He immediately gave her a private audience for he was very eager to hear
whether rumours he had heard concerning the King of England were true.
Isabella began by telling him how delighted she was to be in her native land.
She had had a most unhappy life in England and it was all due to the warped nature of the King.
‘He is abnormal, brother,’ she said. ‘You will know that his great favourite was Piers Gaveston. He has been followed by Hugh le Despenser. They were
always together. I scarcely saw him.’
‘You have four children,’ said Charles.
‘I insisted that we try to get children and we succeeded.’
‘So he was not with his favourite then.’
‘Can you imagine my humiliation? Daughter and sister to Kings of France to be so treated.’
‘It was well that you had your children― and two sons among them.’
Charles spoke bitterly. The curse of the Templars implied that the line of Capet would end with them. It was all very well to snap one’s fingers at the curse but it was working out. Louis and Philip had gone and left no heirs. If they had children they were sickly. They desperately needed a male heir for the Salic law reigned in France and this decreed that the crown of France was of such noble estate that it could not come to a woman.
Charles could not help being envious of his sister’s two sons. There had
been great rejoicing when his wife the Queen had become pregnant. But what bitter disappointment when she had given birth to a girl. People talked of the curse again, and it did seem that the kings were doomed. What would happen when he died without heirs he did not know. He supposed his father’s younger brother Charles of Valois or his cousin Philip would take the throne. It would then be the end of the direct line of the Capets when the House of Valois took over.
But he was not dead yet. There was still hope. But for the miserable curse―
Isabella guessed what her brother was thinking but she was little concerned with the affairs of France. Those of England absorbed her.
‘I seized this opportunity to get away,’ she said, ‘so great was my longing to see France and to leave the husband I have learned to despise.’