“He was but doing the King’s bidding.”

“Oh, a little more than that. He was the enemy of the monks. But for that man perhaps now Bruno would be living at the Abbey and you and I would be stealing through the secret door to have word with him. But that is all gone. It is as though it never was. And now it is Cromwell’s turn to face the wrath of his sovereign.”

“I pity any who must face that.”

“Have you forgotten? Do you remember the monk who hung on the gibbet…how limp was his body! It made me shudder to look at him. And Brother Ambrose….”

“Please don’t talk of it, Kate. I’d rather forget.”

“There’s the difference in us. I’d rather remember now and say “There, Cromwell, it is your turn now.’ ”

“But has it come to that? He has a great title bestowed on him, has he not?”

“Oh, yes, my Lord of Essex and Lord Chamberlain of England. Remus tells me that the King has bestowed thirty manors on him. Well, I suppose he deserved some to fall to him when one considered how many he has diverted to the King. But that was in April. It is now June. The summer skies are darkening for Master Cromwell and it is all due to this marriage.”

“How knowledgeable you are.”

“These are matters which are discussed at Court and sometimes here when people come from Court.”

“And you find it dull?”

“Not such talk. Not such people. It is the country squires who bore me. Moreover I would wish to be at Court and not merely to listen to what goes on there when good fortune sends us a visitor.”

“And what of Cromwell, Kate? What do they tell you of this man?”

“That the Cleves marriage has been a mistake from beginning to end. The King loves only attractive women and they procured for him a Flanders mare. The marriage was necessary, said Master Cromwell, because the King must placate the Duke of Cleves since the Emperor Charles of Austria and King François of France have put their heads together and have made an alliance which is surely to attack England. The German States could be brought to England’s side because of the union with one of them and the unhappy King could see that he must do as his statesmen bid; and so against his inclination he married Anne of Cleves but declared that he could not bring himself to consummate the marriage.” Kate began to laugh. “Imagine it! He went into the nuptial chamber but he had no inclination to go farther.”

“I am sorry for her,” I said.

“They say she was terrified. She feared that wishing to be rid of her he would trump up some charge against her. And now the Emperor Charles and King François have fallen out, and while this should be a matter for rejoicing, when the King knew what had happened he was furious, for it seemed he had married for no reason at all. He did not care now whether he had the support of the German States or not, for his two great enemies were even greater enemies of each other and while this state of affairs persisted he had nothing to fear. He demanded that Cromwell should extricate him. Cromwell does not know which way to turn. The clever man is caught in his own net.”

“I wonder any man desires to go to Court. Look at the peace of this garden! How much more pleasant it is to watch the lilies on the pond and the bees in the lavender than to be concerned in the King’s business.”

“The rewards are great,” said Kate.

“And to gain them one must risk one’s head?”

“Damask, you are without ambition. You do not know how to live.”

“But it is precisely what I would wish to do. It is you who think that there is some virtue in gambling with death.”

“I would rather live boldly for a week than dully for twenty years. I am sure my way of life is more to be desired than yours.”

“When we are old, we will remember this day and perhaps then we shall understand who is right.”

We were silent for a while. Then she said that she thought her time would be sooner than she had believed possible.

“We must send for your husband,” I said.

But she shook her head. “We shall do no such thing. I do not want him here, intruding on us.”

She was adamant. I was a little alarmed. There was a feverishness about her. I kept thinking of Keziah lying in Mother Salter’s cottage with the sprig of rosemary on the sheet.

Lord Remus came to the Castle. Kate was disappointed that he had returned so soon, but he told me that he must certainly be present when his child was born. There was no doubt that he adored Kate. I was surprised because she was not always gracious to him; but he reacted to her tantrums as though she were a favored child, as though everything she did must be accepted because she did it so charmingly.

But at least what he had to tell was of interest to Kate.

Kate had insisted that she was in no mood to entertain and we took our meals as before in her room. The difference was that Lord Remus was often with us. Kate would have preferred him to be absent but when he talked of the Court affairs she became animated and interested.

Because of his post in the King’s household Lord Remus could talk knowledgeably of affairs and although I imagined that ordinarily he was a man of discretion Kate could worm anything out of him. She wanted to know the truth about Cromwell and therefore she had it.

“The man is in a frenzy of anxiety,” Lord Remus told her. “He has been arrested at Westminster. I heard from my Lord Southampton, who was present, that he was taken completely off his guard. He came to the Council and as he entered the room the Captain of the Guard stepped forward with the words, ‘Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, I arrest you in the name of the King on a charge of High Treason.’ Southampton says he never saw a man so astonished and then afraid.”

“How many times,” cried Kate, “had Master Cromwell called for the arrest of men who were more innocent than he!”

“Be careful, Kate.”

“What nonsense!” she retorted. “Do you think Damask will inform against me? And of what should she inform?”

“It is necessary to guard the tongue, my dear. We do not know who may be listening or how words may be distorted. We cannot trust our own servants these days.”

“Tell us more,” commanded Kate.

“The fellow was near hysteria. He threw his bonnet to the ground. He called on the members of the Council to support him. They knew he was no traitor, he said. But all were against him to a man. They have always hated the fellow. He went straight to the Tower and before the day was out the King’s men were ransacking his houses. I have heard he had accumulated much treasure during his days of power and that the King’s coffers will be much enriched by it.”

“Master Cromwell will have a taste of what he was delighted to do to others. I can see them now at the Abbey. Those laden packhorses! All the riches and treasures of St. Bruno’s.”

Lord Remus again begged his wife to have a care and this time she was silent. I knew she was thinking of Bruno and the anguish he had suffered.

I said to Lord Remus: “How could this man who has worked for the King so suddenly become a traitor? Are not his fortunes linked with those of the King? Is he a traitor then because two Princes of Europe have become enemies when they were friends?”

Lord Remus looked at me gently. There was something very kind about him and he and I had become good friends. I think he liked the deference I always showed him, which I felt was due to his age and position, and in any case I was sorry for the manner in which Kate behaved toward him.

“Why, Damask,” he answered, “the way to the King’s favor is through good fortune and can any man expect good fortune to attend him all the days of his life? There are those who would say that Thomas Cromwell has led a charmed life…until now. They will tell you that Cromwell rose from humble stock to greatness. There again he resembled his master Wolsey. His father, they say, was a blacksmith and a fuller and shearer of cloth, but I have heard that he was a man of some small means having in his possession a hostelry and brewhouse. Cromwell is a man of great ability. Shrewd, cunning, but with little of those graces which would have helped his progress at Court. He was well fitted though to do the work the King gave him to do. But he was never liked. The King was never affectionate toward him as he was toward the Cardinal. While he used Cromwell he despised him. It seems there is little chance for the man now.”

“I wonder any man wishes to serve the King.”

Lord Remus’s eyes opened wide with fear. “It is the duty and pleasure of us all to serve His Majesty,” he said loudly. “And it is wrong to show pity for those who…are traitors toward him.”

I asked of what Cromwell had been accused. Was it bringing a wife whom the King found repulsive? If he had brought a beauty would he have been now living in peace in one of his many mansions?

“He is accused of secret dealing with the Germans. He has failed in his foreign policy, for the alliance he made with the Duke of Cleves is proved a nuisance to the King who wishes now to conclude a treaty with Emperor Charles. Cromwell’s policy has brought no good to the country and in addition it has brought a wife to the King of whom he wishes to be rid.”

“It might so easily have gone the other way.”

Lord Remus bent toward me and said: “There is little sympathy for this man. His actions have not won the love of many. There will be plenty who will not shed a tear when his head rolls—as it surely must.”

Then I thought of my father’s saying that the tragedy of one was the tragedy of us all; and I was very uneasy.

We were all very relieved when Kate’s pains started and her labor was not long. Trust Kate to be lucky.

Remus and I sat in the anteroom of her bedroom in deep sympathy with each other. He was very anxious and I tried to comfort him. He told me all that Kate had meant to him, how life had changed for him since his marriage, how wonderful she was and how terrified he had been when she was at Court lest the King’s eyes stray too often toward her. How grateful he was to Norfolk’s niece, Katharine Howard, who was not nearly so beautiful as Kate (who was?) but had a straying wanton glance which had greatly beguiled the King so that he scarcely saw anyone else. He was sure that as soon as the King was free of his distasteful marriage, he would wish to make Katharine Howard his fifth Queen.

I shuddered and he said quietly, “You may well feel sorry for the poor child. She is so young, so unaware. I trust if it should ever come to a crown for her, fate will not be as unkind as it has been to her predecessors.”

And by fate of course he meant the King.

I tried to make him talk about the affair to keep his mind off Kate, but even at such a time he was too much aware of the dangers to say overmuch.

Then before we dared hope to we heard the cry of a child and we rushed into the room—and there he was, a healthy boy.

Kate lay back in her bed—exhausted and pale, beautiful in a new way, ethereal and triumphant.

The midwife was chuckling.

“A fine boy, my lord. And what a pair of lungs!”

I saw the color flood Remus’s face. I doubt whether he had ever known such a proud moment.

“And her ladyship?” he said.

“It’s rarely been my luck to have such an easy birth, my lord.”

He went to the bed and stood there looking down at her, his expression one of adoration.

Kate was too tired to talk; but she caught my eye and said my name.

“Congratulations, Kate,” I said. “You have a fine boy.”

I saw the smile curve her lips. It was one of triumph.

The child was named Carey which was a family name of the Remuses. Kate affected an indifference to him which I did not believe she really felt. She refused to feed him herself and a wet nurse came in—a plump rosy-cheeked girl who had enough milk and to spare for her own child when Carey had had his fill. Her name was Betsy and I said to Kate that it was a shameful thing that a country girl who had come as the child’s wet nurse should show more affection for him than his own mother.

“He is too young for me yet,” Kate excused herself. “When he grows older I shall be interested in him.”

“Such maternal instincts!” I mocked.

“Maternal instincts are for such as you,” retorted Kate, “who doubtless has not a soul above feeding and cleaning infants.”

I loved the baby. I would nurse him whenever possible and young as he was I was sure he knew me. When he was crying I would rock him in his cradle and never fail to quieten him. Lord Remus used to smile at me.