Free My Enemy, the Queen by Victoria Holt Page A

even cruel about those slack lips. He played the lute well and danced charmingly, and of course he had a flimsy claim to the succession, for his mother was the daughter of Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII sister.
    To compare him with Robert was to call attention to his weakness. I could see that the Queen reveled in the comparison and was as determined as Melville that secretly nothing should be placed in the way of Darnley going to Scotland while outwardly she would pretend to be against it.
    After the ceremony, when she retired to her private apartments, Robertow Earl of Leicester and on the way to becoming the most powerful man in the kingdomisited her.
    I sat in the women chambers while everyone talked of the ceremony and how fine the Earl of Leicester had looked and how proud the Queen had been of him. Had we noticed how she tickled his neck? She doted on him so much that she could not hide her love for him at a public ceremony before officials and ambassadors. What must she be like in private?
    We giggled together. t won be long now,declared someone. Many of them were ready to wager that this was to prepare the way. It would be easier for a queen to marry the Earl of Leicester than it would to have taken Lord Robert Dudley. When Elizabeth had suggested he was a fit bridegroom for a queen, she had not meant Mary of Scotland but Elizabeth of England.
    I was alone with her later. She asked me what I had thought of the ceremony, and I replied that it had seemed very impressive.
    he Earl of Leicester looked very handsome, did he not?
    xceedingly so, Madam.
    never saw a more handsome man, did you? Nay, do not answer me that. As a virtuous wife you would not think he compared with Walter Devereux.
    She was looking at me sharply and I wondered whether I had betrayed my interest in Robert.
    hey are two very admirable men, Your Majesty.
    She laughed and gave me a playful pinch. o be truthful,she said, here is not a man at Court who can compare with the Earl of Leicester. But you see Walter as his equal and that pleases me. I like not unfaithful wives.
    I felt a twinge of uneasiness. But how could she know the effect Robert had on me? I had never betrayed it surely, and he had never glanced my way. Perhaps she thought that all women must desire him.
    She went on: offered him to the Queen of Scotland. She did not think him worthy of her. She had never seen him or she would have changed her mind. I paid her the greatest compliment I could pay anyone. I offered her the Earl of Leicester, and I will tell you something: If I had not decided to die unmarried and in the virgin state the only man I would have married would have been Robert Dudley.
    know of Your Majesty affection for him and his for Your Majesty.
    have told this to the Scottish Ambassador, and do you know what he replied, Lettice?
    I waited respectfully to hear and she went on: e said, adam, you need not tell me. I know your stately stomach. You think that if you married you would be but Queen of England and now you are both King and Queen. You will not suffer a commander.
    nd did Your Majesty agree with him?
    She gave me a little push. think you know full well.
    know,I said, hat I count myself fortunate to be connected by blood with your royalty and to serve such a noble lady.
    She nodded. here are burdens I must accept,she said. hen I saw him standing there before me today, I could have found it in my heart to throw aside my resolutions.
    Our eyes met. Those large pupils were searching lamps which looked into my mind. They made me apprehensive then as they were to so often in the future.
    should always be guided by my destiny,she said. e must needs accept itRobert and I.
    I felt that she was warning me in a way and I wondered what had been said of me. My attractions had not been impaired by childbearing; in fact I believe they had been enhanced. I had been aware of men eyes following me, and I had heard it said that I was a very desirable woman.
    will show you something,she