Free Elizabeth by Evelyn Anthony Page B

my Lady was staying in bed; she had fallen in her room and badly bruised herself. Mrs. Owen was with her. Anthony Forster sent his wife up to commiserate, and formed his own conclusions when she told him that Lady Dudley had been crying and trying to cover a black eye and a swollen cheek. He was a foxy man, with sandy hair and beard, and pale green eyes which never softened. When he went to Robert Dudley that morning, he noticed the evident signs of bad temper; Dudley was sallow and heavy-eyed as if he had slept badly. He was dressed in cloak and boots, ready to leave as soon as Forster had made his report. He was able to give a very satisfactory account of Dudley’s finances, but his master was still scowling and walking up and down; Forster was sure that he had not been listening to a word.
    He had only been in his service for two years but he knew Dudley very well. He was not deceived by his genial manners when all was going as it should, or by his generosity or his wit. He had always suspected that Lord Robert would be a savage if he were thwarted, as savage as his father and as unfeeling as his domineering mother. And Lady Dudley had thwarted him, and been given a beating for it. Forster saw no harm in such chastisement; it was not uncommon for the highest born to ill-use their wives if they felt like it, and he had nothing but contempt for Amy Dudley and admiration for Robert.
    â€œDo you know why I told you to report to me?” Dudley turned to him abruptly.
    â€œTo give an account of your affairs, my Lord.”
    â€œTo give an account of them and to draw up a financial settlement for my wife after our divorce!”
    Forster said nothing, but his quick mind came to the truth in a few seconds. He had always believed the rumours of Dudley’s liaison with the new Queen; but this meant that the latest and wildest rumour of their impending marriage was also true. And that was why my Lady Dudley was upstairs nursing a black eye.… She had objected to being put out of the way.
    â€œI am sorry to hear of it, my Lord, for your sake and her Ladyship’s,” he said. “What arrangements shall I make?”
    â€œNone!” Dudley snapped at him. “My wife refuses to free me. You see the unhappiest man in England before you, Forster!”
    He sat down, watching his treasurer. Forster owed him everything. He could throw him out into the gutter if he failed to take the hint which he had decided to drop him, and he knew that Forster knew it.
    â€œI have no love for my wife,” he said slowly. “Nor has she for me. But out of spite she is determined to keep me from someone who is too exalted to name. This great lady has honoured me with her affection, Forster, and if I reject it, I must bring ruin upon myself and those dependent upon me. I shan’t be able to keep you in my service much longer. I shall not have wealth or preference or power to employ you, after I return to Court.”
    â€œOne moment, my Lord.”
    Forster went to the door and opened it quickly. The hall outside was empty. He looked through the window and saw no one in the gardens under them. He came back and his thin mouth curved in a slight smile.
    â€œIn a house full of women, one must make sure of privacy. We are alone and cannot be overheard. What do you want me to do?”

CHAPTER FOUR
    William Cecil was so distracted with worry that he could hardly work. His usually precise, calm disposition was in such a ferment that he twice wrote an error in his instructions to the English ambassador at Brussels and had to destroy the paper and begin again. The hot weather disagreed with him; he slept badly at the best of times during the summer, and the Queen’s conduct had become so impossible that he was ungallantly reminded of the Gadarene Swine and their rush to self-destruction.
    Elizabeth ignored the commonest conventions governing the conduct of a respectable unmarried woman and spent hours shut up