Philippa Gregory 3-Book Tudor Collection 2 Read online

  ‘Good morning, Blount,’ Robert said quietly.

  ‘Something odd I thought you should know.’

  ‘Yes?’ Robert did not turn his head. No-one looking at the two men would have thought they were concerned with anything but horse care.

  ‘I came across a shipment of gold last night, smuggled in from the Spanish, shipped by Sir Thomas Gresham of Antwerp.’

  ‘Gresham?’ Dudley asked, surprised.

  ‘His servant on board, bristling with knives, sick with worry,’ Blount described.

  ‘Gold for who?’

  ‘For the treasury,’ Blount said. ‘Small coins, bullion, all shapes and sizes. My man, who helped unload, said there was word that it was for minting into new coin, to pay the troops. I thought you might like to know. It was about three thousand pounds’ worth, and there has been more before and will be more next week.’

  ‘I do like to know,’ Robert confirmed. ‘Knowledge is coin.’

  ‘Then I hope the coin is Gresham’s gold,’ Blount quipped. ‘And not the dross I have in my pocket.’

  Half a dozen thoughts snapped into Robert’s head at once. He spoke none of them. ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘And let me know when Cecil starts his journey home.’

  He left the horse with the groom and went to find Elizabeth. She was not yet dressed, she was seated at the window in her privy chamber with a wrap around her shoulders. When Robert came in Blanche Parry looked up at him with relief. ‘Her Grace won’t dress though the Spanish envoy wants to see her,’ she said. ‘Says she is too tired.’

  ‘Leave us,’ Robert said shortly and waited while the women and the maids left the room.

  Elizabeth turned and smiled at him and took his hand and held it to her cheek. ‘My Robert.’

  ‘Tell me, my pretty love,’ Robert said quietly. ‘Why are you bringing in boatloads of Spanish gold from Antwerp, and how are you paying for it all?’

  She gave a little gasp and the colour went from her face, the smile from her eyes. ‘Oh,’ she said. ‘That.’

  ‘Yes,’ he replied evenly. ‘That. Don’t you think you had better tell me what is going on?’

  ‘How did you find out? It is supposed to be a great secret.’

  ‘Never mind,’ he said. ‘But I am sorry to learn that you still keep secrets from me, after your promises, even though we are husband and wife.’

  ‘I was going to tell you,’ she said at once. ‘It is just that Scotland has driven everything from my mind.’

  ‘I am sure,’ he said coldly. ‘For if you had continued with your forgetfulness till the day that you called in the old coin and issued new, I would have been left with a small treasure room filled with dross, would I not? And left at a substantial loss, would I not? Was it your intention that I should suffer?’

  Elizabeth flushed. ‘I didn’t know you were storing small coin.’

  ‘I have lands, my tenants do not pay their rents in bullion, alas. I have trading debts which are paid in small coin. I have chests and chests of pennies and farthings. Do tell me what I may get for them?’

  ‘A little more than their weight,’ she said in a very small voice.

  ‘Not their face value?’

  She shook her head in silence. ‘We are calling in the coins and issuing new,’ she said. ‘It is Gresham’s plan – you know of it yourself. We have to make the coins anew.’

  Robert let go of her hand and walked to the centre of the room while she sat and watched him, wondering what he would do. She realised that the sinking feeling in her belly was apprehension. For the first time in her life she was afraid what a man was thinking of her – not for policy, but for love.

  ‘Robert, don’t be angry with me. I didn’t mean to disadvantage you,’ she said and heard the weakness in her own voice. ‘You must know that I would not put you at a disadvantage, you of all people! I have poured places and positions and lands upon you.’

  ‘I know,’ he said shortly. ‘It is partly that which amazes me. That you should give with one hand and cheat me with the other. A whore’s trick, in fact. Did you not think that this would cost me money?’

  She gasped. ‘I only thought it had to be a secret, a tremendous secret, or everyone will trade among themselves and the coins will be worse and worse regarded,’ she said quickly. ‘It is an awful thing, Robert, to know that people think that your very coins are next to worthless. We have to put it right, and everyone blames me for it being wrong.’

  ‘A secret you kept from me,’ he said. ‘Your husband.’

  ‘We were not betrothed when the plan started,’ she said humbly. ‘I see now that I should have told you. It is just that Scotland drove everything out …’

  ‘Scotland is at peace now,’ he said firmly. ‘And try and keep in your mind that we are married and that you should have no secrets from me. Go and get dressed, Elizabeth, and when you come out you will tell me every single thing that you and Cecil have agreed and planned together. I will not be made a fool of. You will not have secrets with another man behind my back. This is to cuckold me, and I will not wear horns for you.’

  For a moment he thought he had gone too far, but she rose to her feet and went towards her bedchamber. ‘I will send your maids to you,’ he said, taking advantage of her obedience. ‘And then we will have a long talk.’

  She paused in the doorway and looked back towards him. ‘Please don’t be angry with me. I didn’t mean to offend you. I would never offend you on purpose. You know how this summer has been. I will tell you everything.’

  It was the moment to reward her for her apology. He crossed the room and kissed her fingers and then her lips. ‘You are my love,’ he said. ‘You and I are true gold and there will be nothing mixed with that to spoil it. Between us there will always be an absolute honesty and openness. Then I can advise you and help you and you need turn to no other.’

  He felt her mouth turn up under his kiss as she smiled. ‘Oh, Robert, I do,’ she said.

  Cecil allowed himself the indulgence of one night at home with his wife at Burghley before pressing on with his journey to London. Mildred greeted him with her usual calm affection but her grey eyes took in his lined face and the stoop of his shoulders. ‘You look tired,’ was all she remarked.

  ‘It was hot and dusty,’ he said, saying nothing about the several journeys he had been forced to make between Edinburgh and Newcastle to forge the peace and make it stick.

  She nodded and gestured that he should go to his bedchamber where in the palatial room there was hot water and a change of clothes waiting, a jug of cold ale and a warm fresh-baked loaf of bread. She had his favourite dinner ready for him when he came downstairs again, looking refreshed and wearing a clean dark suit.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said warmly, and kissed her on the forehead. ‘Thank you for all this.’

  She smiled and led him to the head of the table where their family and servants waited for the master to say grace. Mildred was a staunch Protestant and her home was run on most godly lines.

  Cecil said a few words of prayer and then sat down and applied himself to his dinner. His four-year-old daughter Anna was brought down from the nursery with her baby brother William, received an absent-minded blessing, and then the covers were cleared and Mildred and Cecil went to their privy chamber where a fire was lit and a jug of ale was waiting.

  ‘So it is peace,’ she confirmed, knowing that he would never have left Scotland with the task unfinished.

  ‘Yes,’ he said shortly.

  ‘You don’t seem very joyous, are you not a blessed peacemaker?’

  The look he shot at her was one she had never seen before. He looked hurt, as if he had taken a blow, not to his pride, nor to his ambition; but as if he had been betrayed by a friend.

  ‘I am not,’ he said. ‘It is the greatest peace that we could have hoped for. The French army is to leave, England’s interest in Scotland is acknowledged, and all barely without a shot being fired. This should be the very greatest event of my life, my tri