Free The Queen of Last Hopes by Susan Higginbotham Page A

to both sets of accusations. First, however, he moved him to the Jewel Tower at Westminster.
    Suffolk was sitting at a small writing desk, quill in hand, the next day when his guards let me, followed by Katherine Peniston and several other ladies, into his chamber. He stood, his face breaking into the first full smile I’d seen from him in months. “Your grace?”
    Katherine Peniston and my other ladies discreetly moved into a corner. “I could not visit you before, my lord, because I feared it would only give rise to more gossip about your loyalty when word got out about it. But when they moved you here so close to my own chambers, I had to come see you; I hated to think of you being lonely here. How are you faring?”
    “Well enough.”
    “I am so glad they moved you from the Tower; it is a gloomy place, I have always thought.”
    “I was kept comfortably there, but I was glad to leave it.” Suffolk smiled sheepishly. “I was once told a prophecy that if I could keep clear of the Tower, I would be safe. Why I chose to listen is beyond me; it was more for my own amusement at the time, but the foolishness has stuck with me.” He touched a book lying on his desk. “But enough of that. It was kind of your grace to send me poems and so many little delicacies. Each day I had something to look forward to, wondering what would come next. It cheered me immensely.”
    I blushed. “Alice came to see you too, did she not?”
    “Yes, she has come several times, but I prefer her to be at Ewelme with our son. He was not told that I am a prisoner, but children sense when something is amiss, and he has been worried. He needs her with him.”
    “Jane?” She had married Thomas Stonor early in the previous year. Around Christmastime she had borne Stonor a healthy boy, named William after her father.
    “She wanted to come, but I advised her not to under the circumstances; it would do her husband and family no good to associate with me now. But she writes to me, and she informs me that my fine new grandson is growing apace. So, your grace, you see I have much here to occupy myself with, and the commons have provided me with an additional occupation.” Suffolk grimaced and pointed toward the sheaf of papers on his desk. “These are the charges against me. I asked for specific charges that I could refute, and God knows, the commons obliged. One thing you can say about the commons, they’re not lacking in imagination. See?” He held up a paper and tapped it. “Here’s one of my favorites: that I’ve invited the French into England so that I can depose King Henry and make my son king through his wife, my little ward Margaret Beaufort. Why the French would be willing to help me do that I’m not sure. Oh, and I’ve delivered Maine to your grace’s uncle, solely on my own initiative. I’ve turned spy for the French, and I’ve represented myself as being so in favor with your uncle Charles that I can remove the members of his council if I’m so minded. Need I go on?” I shook my head, but Suffolk continued flipping through the papers. “There are other treason charges, but the gist of all of them is that I’ve allied myself with the French to work against my own country. Then there are the other charges. Generally, I’ve helped myself to the treasury in all manner of ways. I won’t deny having profited from my offices, God knows, but there’s not a word here about the service I’ve given the crown in return.”
    He threw down the parchment, but not before I had spotted another paper on the desk. I blanched. “My lord. You have made your will?”
    “The commons want my head, your grace. That’s been made quite clear. The only thing that could change their minds now is if we had a victory in France, and I’m not sure even that would do the job. They might not wish to have their fun spoiled. It’s best to have it in readiness if they get their way.”
    He sighed. I touched his arm. “My lord, I don’t understand.