him to convene at the priory at Dunstable, because it is, what, ten, twelve miles to Ampthill, where she is lodged – so she can send her lawyers, if she likes. Or come to the court herself. I want you to go to see her, go secretly, just talk to her –’
Make sure she springs no surprises.
‘Leave Rafe with me while you are gone.’ At being so easily understood, the king relaxes into good humour. ‘I can rely on him to say what Cromwell would say. You have a good boy there. And he is better than you are at keeping his face straight. I see you, when we sit in council, with your hand before your mouth. Sometimes, you know, I want to laugh myself.’ He drops into a chair, covers his face as if to shade his eyes. He sees that, once again, the king is about to cry. ‘Brandon says my sister is dying. There is no more the doctors can do for her. You know that fair hair she had once, hair like silver – my daughter had that. When she was seven she was the image of my sister, like a saint painted on a wall. Tell me, what am I to do with my daughter?’
He waits, till he knows it is a real question. ‘Be good to her, sir. Conciliate her. She should not suffer.’
‘But I must make her a bastard. I need to settle England on my lawful children.’
‘Parliament will do it.’
‘Yes.’ He sniffs. Scrubs his tears away. ‘After Anne is crowned. Cromwell, one thing, and then we will have our breakfast, because I am really very hungry. This project of a match for my cousin Richard …’
He thinks his way, rapidly, around the nobility of England. But no, he sees it's his Richard, Richard Cromwell. ‘Lady Carey …’ The king's voice softens. ‘Well, I have thought it over, and I think, no. Or at least, not at this time.’
He nods. He understands his reason. When Anne understands it, she will spit nails.
‘Sometimes it is a solace to me,’ Henry says, ‘not to have to talk and talk. You were born to understand me, perhaps.’
That is one view of their situations. He was six years or so in this world before Henry came into it, years of which he made good use. Henry takes off his embroidered cap, throws it down, runs his hands through his hair. Like Wyatt's golden mane, his hair is thinning, and it exposes the shape of his massive skull. For a moment he seems like a carved statue, like a simpler form of himself, or one of his own ancestors: one of the race of giants that roamed Britain, and left no trace of themselves except in the dreams of their petty descendants.
He goes back to Austin Friars as soon as he can get away. Surely he can have one day off? The crowds outside his gate have dispersed, as Thurston has fed them an Easter dinner. He goes out to the kitchen first, to give his man a slap on the head and a gold piece. ‘A hundred open maws, I swear,’ Thurston says. ‘And by supper time they'll be round again.’
‘It is a shame there should be beggars.’
‘Beggars my arse. What comes out of this kitchen is so good, there are aldermen out there, with their hoods up so we don't know them. And I have a houseful here, whether you are with us or not – I have Frenchmen, Germans, I have Florentiners, they all claim to know you and they all want their dinner to their own liking, I have their servants down here, pinch of that, soupçon of the other. We must feed fewer, or build another kitchen.’
‘I'll get it in hand.’
‘Master Rafe says for the Tower you have bought out the whole of a quarry in Normandy. He says the Frenchmen are all undermined, and dropping into holes in the ground.’
Such beautiful stone. The colour of butter. Four hundred men on the payroll, and anyone standing about instantly redeployed to the building work at Austin Friars. ‘Thurston, don't let anybody put pinches or soupçons in our dinner.’ He thinks, that's how Bishop Fisher nearly died; unless it was an unboiled stockpot after all. You could never fault Thurston's stockpot. He goes and views it, bubbling away. ‘Where is Richard, do you know?’
‘Chopping onions on the back step. Oh, you mean Master Richard? Upstairs. Eating. Where's anybody?’
He goes up. The Easter eggs, he sees, bear his own unmistakable features. Jo has painted his hat and his hair in one, so he seems to be wearing a cap with ear-flaps. She has given him at least two chins. ‘Well, sir,’ Gregory says, ‘it is true you are getting stout. When Stephen Vaughan was here he could not believe you.’
‘My master the cardinal waxed like the moon,’ he says. ‘It is a mystery, because he hardly sat down to dine but he would be leaping up to deal with some exigency, and even when he was at the table he could hardly eat for talking. I feel sorry for myself. I have not broken bread since last night.’ He breaks it, and says, ‘Hans wants to paint me.’
‘I hope he can run fast,’ Richard says.
‘Richard –’
‘Have your dinner.’
‘My breakfast. No, never mind it. Come.’
‘The happy bridegroom,’ Gregory says, taunting.
‘You,’ his father threatens him, ‘are going north with Rowland Lee. If you think I'm a hard man, wait till you meet Rowland.’
In his office, he says, ‘How is your practice in the lists?’
‘Good. Cromwells will knock down all-comers.’
He is afraid for his son; that he will fall, be maimed, be killed. Afraid for Richard too; these boys are the hope of his house. Richard says, ‘So am I? The happy bridegroom?’
‘The king says no. It is not because of my family, or your family – he calls you his cousin. He is, at this moment, his disposition to us, I would say it is excellent. But he needs Mary for himself. The child is due in late summer and he is afraid to touch Anne. And he does not wish to resume his celibate life.’
Richard looks up. ‘He said this?’
‘He left me to understand it. And as I understand it, I convey it to you, and we are both amazed, but we get over it.’
‘I suppose if the sisters were more alike, one could begin to understand it.’
‘I suppose,’ he says, ‘one could.’
‘And he is the head of our church. No wonder foreigners laugh.’
‘If he were a model of conduct in his private life, one would be … surprised … but for me, you see, I can only concern myself with his kingship. If he were oppressive, if he were to override Parliament, if he were to pay no heed to the Commons and govern only for himself … But he does not … so I cannot concern myself with how he behaves to his women.’
‘But if he were not king …’
‘Oh, I agree. You'd have him locked up. But again, Richard, leave aside Mary and he has behaved well enough. He hasn't filled a nursery with his bastards, as the Scottish kings do. There have been women, but who can name them? Only Richmond's mother, and the Boleyns. He has been discreet.’
‘I dare say Katherine knew their names.’
‘Who can say he will be a faithful husband? Will you?’
‘I may not get the
