Earthly Joys Read online

  When the snowdrops were thick as ice under the trees, snow-white and green, John thought of his lord Buckingham, who had loved to see the first snowdrops at New Hall. But when the daffodils came through he thought of Elizabeth, who had died with their golden colour all around her. There could be no doubt that Elizabeth had gone straight to heaven, he thought. She had lived a life which was as blameless as any woman’s, and she had died surrounded by that golden blaze of glory. At least he had been able to give her that.

  As for the duke, it was impossible that there could be a God who loved beauty who could resist him. The king himself loved him and prayed for his soul every day. John felt that the two people in the world that he had truly loved were at peace, and he found he could bear the short cold days and the long cold nights.

  He was thinking of the two loves of his life – his passion for the duke and his steady reliable affection for Elizabeth – and watching the water in the fountain of the great court when a shadow fell on the basin of the fountain and he looked around. It was the king. John pulled his hat from his head and dropped to his knee on the cold stone.

  ‘How many years is it now, since your master died?’ the king asked abruptly. He did not look at John, but kept his gaze on the cold water in the marble basin.

  ‘Five years and seven months,’ John said instantly. ‘He died towards the end of summer.’

  ‘You can get up,’ the king said. He turned from the fountain and started to walk down the path, a small gesture commanded John to follow him.

  ‘I don’t think a man like that can ever be r … r … replaced,’ the king said, half to himself. ‘Not in a king’s council, not in the heart.’

  John felt the usual dull ache at the thought of Buckingham.

  ‘And a woman’s love is not the same,’ the king remarked. ‘To please a woman you have to try and keep trying, and women are changeable: first one thing pleases them, then another. But a man’s love is easier, s … steadier. When George and I were young men we spent whole days thinking of nothing but hunting and play. The king used to call us his dear l … l … lads.’

  John nodded. The king paused and abruptly turned to him. ‘Did you ever see my brother Henry?’

  ‘Yes,’ John said. ‘I was gardener at Theobalds, and then for my lord Cecil at Hatfield. I saw Prince Henry and King James often; I remember you too, Your Majesty.’

  ‘Do you think he was like the D … Duke of Buckingham? My brother? In his ways?’

  John thought. They had the same arrogance, the same easy smile. They had the same sense that the world was half in love with them and that all they had to do was to accept homage.

  ‘Yes,’ he said slowly. ‘The prince was like the duke in many ways. But the duke had …’ He broke off.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The duke had that shining beauty,’ John said. ‘The prince was a handsome boy, as handsome as any. But the duke was as beautiful as an angel.’

  Charles suddenly smiled, his grave face warming. ‘He was, wasn’t he?’ he said. ‘It’s so easy to f … forget. All the portraits I have of him show his beauty, but all p … portraits are beautiful even when the sitters are plain. It’s good to know that you keep a picture of him in your heart, Tradescant.’

  ‘I do,’ John said simply. ‘I see him night and day. And sometimes I dream of him.’

  ‘As if he w … w … were alive?’

  John nodded. ‘I can never remember in my dreams that he is dead,’ he confessed. ‘And sometimes I wake and think he is calling for me, and I jump from my bed as if I were a young man and in a hurry to go to him.’

  ‘The queen didn’t l … like him,’ the king said thoughtfully.

  Tradescant tactfully said nothing.

  ‘She was jealous.’

  Tradescant gave a little nod. The king glanced at him. ‘Was your wife jealous of your love for your lord?’

  Tradescant thought of Elizabeth and her long enmity for the duke and all he stood for: luxury, Popery, waste, and carnal sin.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ he said with a smile. ‘But women were always besotted with him or his worst enemy, or both.’

  The king laughed shortly. ‘It’s true. He was a l … lamentable man with women.’

  The gardener and the king smiled at one another, the king looking into Tradescant’s face for the first time.

  ‘D’you have any of his things at your Ark?’ the king asked.

  ‘Some plants from the garden at New Hall, and a couple of rarities from the Ile de Rhé,’ Tradescant replied carefully, conscious of the danger of this conversation. ‘He gave me some things from his own collection of rarities. Anything he did not need, anything he already had. I was collecting for him for many years.’

  ‘I’ll come and see it,’ the king said. ‘I’ll bring the queen. I have some things you might l … like, some gloves and things.’

  Tradescant bowed low. ‘I should be honoured.’

  When he rose up the king was looking at him as if they shared a secret. ‘He was a very very great man, wasn’t he?’

  ‘Yes,’ Tradescant agreed, looking at the king’s melancholy face and sparing him the truth, as everyone always did. ‘He was the greatest lord in England and the most fit for his high office.’

  The king nodded and turned away without another word. Tradescant, unseen, knelt again as the king strolled off. When the king had gone he got awkwardly to his feet; his bad knee was painful in the cold weather.

  While John was at Oatlands, J stayed at Lambeth. Jane was now complete mistress of the house and the place was run with godly care. The day started with prayers for the household which J read aloud and then any one of them, from the youngest kitchen maid to the senior gardener, would pray extempore, saying what he or she wished to the congregation and to their own personal God. The household went about their work all day and then came together again in the evening, before bedtime, for another brief session of praying together. Imperceptibly, the dress of the household altered, the servants naturally copying Jane’s modest muted style.

  J rather thought that his father would complain when he finally returned home, but there was no explosion of disapproval.

  ‘You must run the house as you wish,’ he said equably to Jane. ‘You are the mistress here now. You must order what you wish.’

  ‘I think it is what everyone wishes,’ Jane said eagerly.

  John gave her a little knowing smile. ‘But what if it were not?’ he asked. ‘What if the cook and the kitchen maid, Peter, and the two gardeners and their lad all agreed that they would rather have some dancing and some singing and a cup of ale instead? That they wanted to wear green and scarlet and ribbons in their hair? Would you provide it?’

  ‘I would reason with them,’ Jane said stiffly. ‘And wrestle with their souls.’

  ‘So people are free to do as they wish as long as they choose right?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said; and then, ‘No, not exactly.’

  John smiled at her. ‘When you have power over people, it is very easy to forget that they are doing as you order because you order it,’ he said. ‘You can mistake obedience for consent. I say that my household shall be obedient to you. I don’t think that they prefer it that way. But they will be obedient to you because I order it. However, I shall come to prayers only now and then – when I really want to.’

  ‘I am sure you would find it a comfort …’ Jane began.

  John patted her cheek. ‘I think you are wrestling with my soul,’ he said. ‘I want my soul left in peace.’

  Jane smiled at him. ‘All right,’ she conceded. ‘D’you want to see Baby John?’

  ‘Yes,’ John said.

  Frances brought the baby and placed him carefully in his grandfather’s lap. Baby John put his fists against his grandfather’s chest, reared back and inspected his face.

  ‘He still doesn’t eat properly,’ Frances said disapprovingly.

  ‘Why not?’ John asked.

  ‘He still sucks,’ Frances said. ‘H