Section CXI - October 1522
Eltham, October 1522
“So, Siobhan, how come you wanted to come to Eltham? If you've already lost both parents, didn’t you want to stay with your little sister?”
Princess Mary lay in bed, her companions clustered about her on pallets on the floor as she spoke into the darkness. Siobhan rolled over and rested her head on her clasped hands, staring up above her.
“No, I’m sick of her. She spoils everything.”
“Why?”
“She cries all the time and she always wants her own way. The only way to make her quiet is to give her sweets or say yes to her.”
“Really?”
“Yes, and everyone always does. Only Da could ever say no to her. I’m sick of it. I want to be important too.”
“Well no one here is as silly as your sister sounds, don’t worry. Lady Bury, Lady Bryan and Lady Willoughby wouldn’t let them be like that,” Meg reassured her.
At that moment, Lady Salisbury opened the door.
“Honestly, girls, it’s far past your bedtime. Quieten down and go to sleep now. You can question Lady Siobhan further in the morning.”
“But,” Maria protested.
“No buts, Princess. Quieten down and go to sleep now.”
Maria pouted, but obediently rolled over. Lady Salisbury went over to her and pulled the covers up around her.
“That’s better. Set a good example to your brother, hmm?”
“Is he being naughty, Lady Bury?”
“Yes, he’s only just gone to sleep. But he is now. And so should you be, because you’re a good girl, aren’t you?” Lady Salisbury winked and Maria giggled and nodded.
Lady Salisbury patted her head and meant to leave the room quietly, but all of a sudden, Jester, Kate’s little dog, who had attached himself to the newly-toddling Lionel, and generally slept in his room, started yapping and barking. Lady Salisbury started.
“What’s going on?” Nannie rolled over, murmuring sleepily, “What’s wrong with Jester?”
“I don’t know, Anne. Stay there. I’m going to go and find out.”
Lady Salisbury ran out of the room. Maria waited half a dozen heartbeats and then flung back her blankets.
“I’m going to go and find out what’s going on. Come on!”
With that, her friends had no choice but to follow. After all, they couldn’t exactly leave the Duchess of Orleans unattended.
Next door, in Lionel’s room, all was chaos. Jester was barking, Lionel was crying, and a tall man with a tousled blonde beard and hazel eyes was struggling between two burly guardsmen.
He was babbling, “But it wasn’t my idea! Listen to me! It wasn’t my idea! It was my cousin’s idea. Lady Tailboys! She wanted to kill the boys so her son could be Prince of Wales.”
There was a scream, “Lady Tailboys! But I've just left her with the Duke of York!”
There was a mad scramble for the door and the girls had to flatten themselves against the wall so as to keep out of the way.
“Jester, here!” Kate hissed. The black and white spaniel flew to her heels. Susie bolted in and scooped the crying Lionel on to her hip, hushing him as she and the others fled down the hall after Lady Bury and the other women.
The door to William’s nursery was wide open. Maria peeked around the door-frame. Lady Bury was side by side with Lady Bryan, both of them frantically taking turns at doing something above William’s crib. Lady Tailboys was standing in the corner, held firmly by Maria’s cupbearer, arms pinioned behind her. She was laughing, but not in a friendly way. She was cackling like a witch.
“It’s too late! You’ll not save him now. You’ll not save either of them. My Hal will be King now. He’ll be Bluff King Hal, just like his father.”
“No, he won’t. Lionel is fine. Lionel, the Prince of Wales, escaped your dastardly plots, Lady Tailboys. Unlike you, who will be sent to the Tower so fast, your head will be spinning.”
Lady Salisbury’s voice was harder than Maria had ever heard it. She had never seen her governess so angry. Nor Lady Bryan, who added her two-pennyworth to the conversation.
“You’re a madwoman if you thought your plan would ever work. A madwoman as well as the foulest, blackest-hearted Jezebel I have ever met. How could you murder an innocent, sick, babe in cold blood like that? You’ll rot in Hell for this. At least, I’ll do my best to see that you do, for I, for one, won’t be praying for your soul.”
Maria couldn’t keep quiet any longer.
“Lady Bury? What’s going on?”
Lady Bury started.
“Princess! You’re supposed to be in your room, trying to go to sleep.”
“Yes, well, I’m not,” Maria explained impatiently, “What’s going on?”
Lady Bury sighed, walked over to Maria and knelt down beside her.
“I have some very bad news, Princess. I’m going to have to ask you to be brave.”
“What is it?”
“These people have hurt your brother William very badly.”
Lady Salisbury wasn’t going to explain any more than that; she wasn’t going to explain to Maria that William had died, not there, not then, but Maria’s quick mind drew its own conclusion from her behaviour and tone of voice.
“Is he sleeping God’s sleep? Has he gone to live with Mama and the other angels?”
Faced with such a direct question, Lady Salisbury could only nod. What happened next, no one could have predicted.
Maria flew at Bessie, spitting, kicking and scratching like a wildcat.
“You killed my brother! You killed him! I hate you! I hate you!”
Bessie shrieked; tried to pull the little girl off. To no avail.
In the end, it was another burly guard, who had come running at the sound of the commotion, who prised Maria off Bessie and handed her gently back to Kate. Kate wrapped her arms around the younger girl and gave her Jester to hold as she stood trembling.
For a moment or two, no one said a word. They only eyed each other up, wondering who would make the first move.
At last, Maria spoke, her voice quavering on the edge of tears, but clear and cold enough for all that, “Take them away. They killed my brother. Take them away.”
Mark and Bessie were hustled from the room. Lady Bryan rushed over to Lionel, snatched him out of Susie’s arms and fussed over him even as he wailed in protest.
Despite everything, Meg managed a shaky chuckle. Some things never changed, even when the world did. Lionel, too little to understand what had just happened and how lucky he was to still be alive, was, as ever, trying to assert his independence. He never took kindly to any of Lady Bryan’s ministrations and now was no exception. He was wriggling and squawking for all he was worth.
Maria, on the other hand, could barely form words at all. She handed Jester to Nanette and mutely held out her now empty arms.
“William,” she mouthed, “William.”
Kate understood instantly with all the natural empathy of an older sister.
“She wants William. She wants to hold him.”
“What? Your Highness, I don’t think -,” Lady Salisbury began, but Lady Bryan interrupted her.
“Margaret. Let the child hold him if that’s what she wants. Let her say goodbye.”
Lady Salisbury glanced up at Lady Bryan and the two women shared a long look as an unspoken message passed between them.
At last, Lady Salisbury bent over the cradle and picked up William’s still-warm corpse. Crossing the room, she placed it in Maria’s arms.
Maria cradled her brother’s still form and the tears finally broke, cascading down her cheeks silently.
“He looks like he’s just asleep,” she whispered.
“I know,” was all Lady Salisbury could say. She was powerless to do anything other than watch as Lionel, finally free of Lady Bryan, toddled over and tried to clamber up into Maria's arms, somehow sensing that his older sister needed comforting. She ignored him, staring down at the cooling corpse in her arms.
Eventually, Meg gave in to Lionel’s pestering and pulled him into her arms instead. Lady Salisbury glanced back at the sad tableau they made: Maria, leaning back against Kate with her dead brother in her arms and silent tears coursing down her cheeks, Meg with one arm around Lionel, holding him close to her and the other around her younger cousin.
“Stay with them,” she murmured to Lady Bryan, “I’d better write to Their Majesties and inform them of what’s happened.”
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