‘But this is absurd. Even if it were true he has elder brothers who would come before him.’
‘He reckons that if he fights for the crown it will be his. He is preaching that no good can come to a country which is governed by a boy and … your pardon, my lady … but I tell you what he says … a boy and a woman.’
Blanche laughed derisively.
‘When a minor comes to the throne there will always be such nonsense. We could send troops to capture this man. What he talks is treason. He should be in prison.’
‘I am of like mind,’ said Guérin. ‘But he has acted promptly.’
‘In what way?’
‘He has allied himself to powerful men. Thouars, Lusignan, and I hear that Thibaud of Champagne has joined the malcontents.’
Blanche put her hands over her eyes. What a mistake to turn Thibaud from his lodgings! She had expected that he would be faithful to her. What a fool she had been! He was a poet. What he wrote in his verses meant nothing to him. He chose words for their beauty more than their meaning.
She noticed that Brother Guérin was watching closely. O God, she thought, does even he believe these rumours?
‘Hugh de Lusignan is the most to be feared,’ she said.
‘He was once a tolerant man.’
‘Oh, but he married,’ she cried, ‘and since then has no mind of his own. He is one who does what he is told. It is not Hugh whom he must consider but she who guides him in all things. That woman! She will lead him to disaster in time. I know it.’
‘At this time,’ said Guérin gently, ‘they are to be feared. I have not told you all. Mauclerc has betrothed his daughter Yolanda to the King of England.’
‘Brother Guérin,’ she cried, ‘pray tell me all quickly. The situation becomes more and more gloomy as you proceed to give me disaster piecemeal.’
‘That is all I have to tell you, my lady. I think you will agree that it is a situation fraught with foreboding.’
‘I do. Powerful barons rising against the King. And one of them allying himself through marriage with England.’
‘Forget not that Isabella is the mother of the King of England. Her sympathies will be with him.’
‘And where hers are so are her husband’s.’
‘’Tis true. If the English King were to choose this moment to attack us, he would find strong support here.’
‘And these are the traitors we know. How many are there who keep their secrets, Brother?’
‘One day we shall find out unless we can put an end to this.’
The last thing I wish is for my son to be plunged into war so early in his reign.’
‘The position is dangerous, my lady, as it always is when a young king mounts the throne. He has not yet proved himself. He is but a child. Ambitious men are waiting to seize power.’
‘I do not wish to go to war,’ said Blanche.
‘There is only one other alternative.’
She nodded. ‘Negotiations. That is the alternative I intend to use.’
‘Mauclerc’s claim … ?’
Blanche gave an impatient exclamation. That is the least important. Who will take that seriously? It is the Lusignans who are making the trouble. From the day Isabella of Angoulême married Hugh de Lusignan I expected it. She saps his spirit. She makes him go the way she wants him to.’
‘It is perhaps natural that she should support her son.’
‘There is nothing natural about that woman. She is obsessed by herself.’
‘How will you overcome her obsession?’
‘Perhaps by offering her something better than she could get from her son.’
‘You will buy her loyalty?’
‘She has no loyalty to give to any but herself. I can perhaps buy her withdrawal. For if what one must have for the safety of the realm cannot be given there is only one alternative and that is to buy it.’
‘What will you use for currency?’
‘I will consider, Brother, and inform you of my decision. There is one bright hope in this sorry business and that is that those with whom we have to deal will give their allegiance to the highest bidder – for as long as it can do them good, of course.’
She would speak to him again later, she told Brother Guérin. Then she prepared to have done with her convalescence.
There was work to be done.
She must lose no time. The rebels were gathering against Louis. They were asking why France should be governed by a woman – a foreigner at that. Even those who wished to remain loyal to Louis did not want a foreigner ruling them – and a woman.
Forces were gathering at Thouars; they would attack in the spring. But she must stop the fighting. There must not be civil war in France.
‘Have we not enough to do to defend ourselves from the English?’ she asked. ‘How long will it be before they attack us?’
Brother Guérin said that he believed that Hubert de Burgh was urging the King not to think of regaining French possessions just yet. They had not enough men and ammunition to make it a success. It was true that the King’s brother, the Earl of Cornwall, was still in England and they must pray that he would not join up with rebels.
She set out and travelled south towards Thouars and set up her camp between that town and Loudun, She then sent messengers to Thouars and asked that one of their company should meet her that they might discuss their differences.
Then she waited in trepidation. So much depended on this meeting. Would they take her seriously? They must have known that her husband had taken her into his confidence, that she was as much a statesman as he had been, and how often he had benefited from her judgment. They must know that – foreigner though they called her – her one desire was for the welfare of France, that country of which her son was now the King.
Who would come? she wondered. Would it be Hugh de Lusignan? His wife would surely not be with him. How could she be in the camp! But he would know her wishes and be afraid to act against them.
It was not Hugh who came as the enemy’s ambassador.
She felt a flutter of excitement tinged with apprehension and a certain annoyance when he was brought to her, for the man who was bowing before her was Thibaud of Champagne.
So they were face to face – the heroine of his fantasies and the man who had told the world that above all things he longed to be her lover.
He was prepared, for he must have begged to undertake the mission, while she was taken completely by surprise; but it was she who was in complete control.
‘So you come here as my enemy, Count,’ she said briskly.
He lowered his eyes and murmured: ‘My lady, that is something I could never be.’
‘Let us keep to the truth,’ she retorted. ‘It will avail us nothing to reject that. You have joined those who stand against the King and they have sent you here to parley with me.’
‘My lady, I begged for the chance of doing so.’
‘That you might receive my scorn for you all in person.’
‘Nay,’ he said, ‘that I may have the joy of seeing you.’
She shook herself impatiently. ‘My lord, have done. Let us be sensible. You have come here to parley, have you not? To make terms with me that you and your fellow rebels may not harm the King and his lands.’
‘I promise you, my lady, that I will serve you with my life.’
That made her laugh.
‘So it seems, my lord! Pray keep your flowery phrases for your verses.’
‘You have read my verses, my lady?’
‘A few of them. When they have been brought to my notice,’
‘I will tell you the truth,’ said Thibaud, ‘for in your presence I could do nothing else. When I was banished from Rheims I turned to your enemies.’