Free The Three Crowns epub by Jean Plaidy Page B

Rome. For these concessions he was ready to make Charles his pensioner, and was ready to supply men and arms should the English reject the Catholic faith.
    Minette would soon arrive in England to persuade her brother, for Louis knew that Charles found it difficult to refuse the women he loved what they asked; and without doubt he loved his sister, perhaps more deeply—certainly more permanently—than any other woman.
    So much desperately needed money, mused Charles, and all for a Mass.
    He sent for James, for this was a point wherein they would be in sympathy, and as his brother came into his apartment Charles was struck by his pallor.
    “You are not looking well, brother,” he said. “I trust naught ails you?”
    “I was never the same since I threw off the pox, and since the boy went …”
    Charles nodded. “And I hear sad news of my good sister Anne.”
    “She spends most of her time at Richmond with the children now.”
    “And on her knees, I hear.”
    James looked at his brother sharply.
    “Ah,” went on Charles, “it is unlikely that I should not be informed on such a matter. So the Duchess has now completely gone over to Rome?”
    “She has not openly confessed to doing so.”
    “Our lives are an open secret, brother. And you? You are still toying with the faith, I hear. Nay, do not look startled. I myself am in like case.”
    James’s eyes shone with hope. “Then I am right pleased,” he said.
    “You should more reasonably be disturbed. What think you the people of this realm will say to Catholic monarchs?”
    “This is the true faith. We must stand by what is right.”
    Charles raised his black eyebrows and smiled sardonically at his brother. “Nay, James,” he said. “This is a matter we take with caution. You should tread more warily. I am warning you. The Duchess goes her way; but is it for you, the heir presumptive to the Crown, lightly to follow?”
    “It is not a matter of following,” cried James hotly. “It is a matter of seeing the truth.”
    “The truth, brother, could be that, when your turn came, the people would have none of you.”
    “Then … for the sake of what I believe to be the truth …”
    “You would cast aside the Crown? It is not always so easy, brother. Men and women do not take this matter of worship lightly. They do not say I will do it this way and you that. No, they say my way must be your way.”
    “The Catholic faith I am convinced is the true way.”
    “Others have been convinced before you, James. And where has it led? Look back over the past. Weigh the blood which has been shed in the name of religion. You could not. It is too vast, brother, and there are no measures great enough. I should not care to see bloodshed in this country, and two brothers sent on their travels again.”
    “What then, Charles?”
    “I am warning you. Do what you must do in secret, ’tis better so … as yet. And warn the Duchess.”
    “She is ill, Charles; to her the most important thing in this life is her leaving of it.”
    “Brother, it may well be that before long I shall confess myself to be of our mother’s faith. It may be that under my rule England will return to Rome.”
    James’s eyes were shining. “A glorious day for England!”
    “So say you? And who else James, who else? How many of my now loyal subjects would, on that day, rise up against me. The English are a lazy people, James. They shrug aside what would make a civil war elsewhere; but when their rights are touched on, when they make up their minds to take a stand, they stand firmly … more firmly than any other people in the world. That is what we have to remember—unless we are prepared to gamble.”
    “You were always a gambler.”
    “But like all good gamblers I don’t take a risk until I see the chances of a win to be in my favor.”
    “And so …”
    “This is a secret, James. Our sister will shortly be coming to England. My sweet Minette, how I long to see her! It is so long