‘They say!’ he cried. ‘None would dare! In any case I’d soon have it back.’
‘You are losing much.’
‘I’ll get it back.’
‘When?’
‘In my own good time.’
‘When will that be?’
‘When you don’t distract me from all else.’
‘Do you think that will ever come about?’
‘It could,’ he admitted. ‘But not yet.’
‘You are unsure of me,’ she said.
‘I deny that. You want me as much as I want you. I am as important to you as you are to me.’
‘Yes, ’tis true, but you show you don’t feel that.’
‘How so?’
‘Well, your attitude towards Hugh the Brown, for one thing.’
‘I do not understand.’
‘He is in chains, is he not?’
‘Yes, where he deserves to be.’
‘You keep him prisoner as you keep Arthur prisoner. You have reason to fear Arthur. What reason have you to fear Hugh?’
‘Fear Hugh!’
‘Well, you keep him in chains. Do you do it because once he dared to love me?’
‘I do it because he is an enemy.’
‘People say that you are afraid of him – that he might try to take me from you.’
‘Who says this? I’ll cut out their tongues.’
‘’Tis whispered here and there. There could be too many tongues involved. Would you want a tongueless household? You could stop this foolish talk by freeing him.’
‘Free Hugh de Lusignan?’
‘Why not? It would show your contempt for him.’
He was thoughtful. ‘Petty lord,’ he said. ‘He wouldn’t dare stand against me. He did not like riding in that cart, Isabella. That wounded him more than a hundred lashes would have done.’
‘I doubt that not for a moment. If you released him he would see the humiliation at once. He would say, “John despises me. If he did not he would never let me go.”’
John laughed. ‘That’s a woman’s reasoning.’
‘’Tis a true one.’
‘Why do you care what becomes of him?’ he asked suspiciously.
‘I don’t. I care only that people should not say you fear him.’
She yawned.
‘I am weary of that man,’ she said, and kissed him.
He responded as ever but he was still thinking of Hugh.
What if he released him? People would say ‘he bears no rancour’. But why should he bear rancour? It was Hugh’s place to bear that. What if he sent Hugh back to Lusignan? It would be tantamount to saying that what such a petty baron did was of little concern to him.
William Marshal asked for an audience. John received him with warmth. He must always remember that it was the Marshal who had made the way to the throne of England easy for him.
William said: ‘Is it indeed true, my lord, that you have made certain propositions to the Lusignans?’
‘Aye,’ said John, ‘’tis true.’
He was put out by the incredulous wonder in the Marshal’s eyes and quickly made excuses for his act.
‘There is trouble in the South,’ he said. ‘I have too many enemies there. I need friends. If the Lusignans would work for me, the entire aspect would be changed.’
‘They are your worst enemies, my lord.’
‘Enemies can be turned into friends, Marshal. You know that well.’
‘Then they are scarcely worth the effort.’
‘The Lusignans were once the friends of my House. My brother and they had a great deal in common.’
‘My lord, your marriage makes it impossible for the Lusignans ever to be true friends of your House.’
‘I think not. That is why I am freeing Hugh the Brown and the others who are my prisoners. I am demanding certain privileges in exchange for my clemency. With them holding the South for me they will stop enemy penetration. I shall demand pledges from them – a castle or two … some lands. They can hold La Marche for me and my position will be much happier.’
‘My lord, I beg of you, consider what you are doing.’
‘I have considered.’
‘These men will be in one of the most important strategic positions in your dominions.’
‘Exactly so.’
‘And you believe that they will work for you?’
‘I shall extract pledges from them. It will show everyone that I fear them not. In a way it is an act of contempt towards Hugh the Brown.’
‘I fear he will not consider it so.’
‘You are too set in your ways, Marshal.’
‘I fear you will regret this, my lord.’
‘I’ll warrant I’ll make you eat those words.’
‘I hope to God you do. Nothing would make me happier.’
‘You shall, Marshal. You shall.’
‘You are firmly fixed in this decision, my lord?’
‘I am.’
William the Marshal turned sorrowfully away. Was it true that John’s mind was weakening? And were those voluptuous nights sapping his strength – mental as well as physical? Many were saying they did and it would seem they might be right.
The Marshal was of course proved right. No sooner was Hugh de Lusignan free and returned to his estates than he began to break his pledges and store up trouble for John.
‘Pledges given to such a man mean nothing,’ he declared. ‘He is evil and if it is necessary to dissemble to outwit him then so must it be. I shall not rest until John of England goes back to the title he was born with – John Lackland. For only when we have rid ourselves of him will this land be a happy one.’
John fell into a rage. He could see he had been a fool. He began to shout of what he would do to Hugh de Lusignan if he ever fell into his hands again. Obscenities poured from his lips and his eyes seemed as if they would bolt out of his head.
He had been a fool, he knew. He had listened to Isabella’s soft words. Why had she been so interested in Hugh? But it might have worked. If Hugh had been a man whom he could have trusted he could have held the South for him.
As it was he was a traitor and with his stirring up trouble in the South and Philip beginning to emerge with a big army behind him John was getting worried.
He thought of Arthur in the castle of Falaise. What if they rescued him and put him in John’s place? That was what they were after.
He ought to have thought more about Arthur. Now William des Roches was working against him and the Lusignans were on the warpath, the situation was growing more and more uneasy.
But Arthur was the great menace.
Something would have to be done about Arthur. To think that that silly young boy could cause him so much concern! At least there was something in John’s favour; Arthur was his prisoner. If he were of less importance how easy it would be to get him out of the way, but if he were to disappear there would be such an outcry that the whole of Europe would rise up in its indignation. The fact that Arthur was little more than a child would be played on; one could imagine wily Philip making the most of that factor. All the same he must take some action.
Preoccupation with the subject of Arthur got between him and his pleasures; he would think of the boy during the night even, imagining someone rescuing him from Falaise and spiriting him away, getting him to Brittany or the Court of France, and with so many enemies ready to go into action all about him, this made uneasy pondering.
He sought about in his mind for someone whom he could trust and his thoughts alighted on Hubert de Burgh. Hubert was a nephew of the Lord of Connaught who had been a steward to Henry II and found favour with him for good service. Thus Hubert had been noticed by Richard I and when John came to the throne and was pretending to think of marriage with the daughter of the King of Portugal, Hubert was a member of the embassy which was sent to that country.
John’s behaviour with regard to that embassy had been to say the least cynical, for while his envoys were actually in Portugal he had married Isabella, which could have meant that the outraged King was so angry that he could have vented his wrath on John’s servants. Such behaviour was not unknown and the members of the embassy were well aware of it. The King of Portugal, however, incensed as he naturally was by such an insult, was too civilised to lay the blame just out of spite where it did not belong and the embassy was allowed to return to England in safety.