“I must help my stepmother. She is overwhelmed by this visit.”
“Nay…no need. I came for you… not a banquet.”
“But my father will be most upset if we do not treat Your Grace with due respect.”
“Treat me as I would be treated, Anne. I ask nothing more.”
“My lord…I am in great distress.”
“I would cause you no distress. I would bring you only joy.”
“Then, my lord …”
“Don't say it again,” he said. “I know your mind. I know you love your honor and I respect that in you. Dost think I am some satyr who would force myself upon a reluctant maiden? That is not so. You have been in my thoughts for a long time. I have tried to put you out of them but when you came back to Court, I knew that was impossible. Now we must act. I have much of importance to say to you.”
“Your Grace, I cannot change my mind.”
“I have thought of that. I will speak long with you and tell you what is in my mind.” His eyes lighted with a touch of mischief. “We will go to that garden. Do you remember, the scene of our first meeting? There I shall tell you what I plan for us. We will go there. Come with me.”
“I must comb my hair… make myself worthy of your presence. I must change my gown.”
“It is not your gown I came to see, sweetheart. To me in any guise you are all that I need. But this is serious talk. It can mean so much to us two. How long shall I wait for you in the garden?”
“Ten minutes.”
“It will seem an eternity, but I can deny you nothing.”
He took my hand and kissed it lingeringly. “Know this,” he said seriously, “I love you well. No one else shall be your rival. Think of that, and it will incline your thoughts toward me.” He smiled and raised a finger. “No. Do not say it again. I know it well. My mistress you will not be. That will be the purpose of our discourse. Ten minutes then. No more, sweet Anne.”
“I will be there, Your Grace.”
He left me. I took a comb and combed my hair back from my hot face.
My stepmother came into the room.
“Anne,” she said in dismay. “I know not what to do. We have no special fare in the kitchens.”
“It is of no importance.”
“The King… visiting us like this…No warning.”
“He has come to talk to me. He is not interested in food.”
“What does it mean?”
“I do not know. Later perhaps I shall.”
I was feeling calmer every second. He wanted to talk. What could he possibly talk about? He was going to try to persuade me by telling me all he could do for me and mine. Some of my fear had left me. Seeing him face to face had given me courage.
The thought came to me: This is no light matter with him. He really does care for me.
And so I went down to the garden.
He was waiting for me and came swiftly toward me, his arms out-stretched. I evaded them by bowing.
“Anne,” he said, “my sweetheart, all will be well ere long and you and I will be together. Come, sit beside me. Sit close to me. Ah, this is what I long for…to be close to you…to hold you against me… like this. Anne, you are a witch.”
“Your Grace, I am just a simple girl.”
“You were never simple. You were born with that witchery. You have put a spell on me.”
I was momentarily alarmed by this talk of witchcraft. I wondered if I were to be accused of that and burned at the stake. But, of course, he meant witchery of another sort.
“You hold yourself aloof,” he said. “Oh, do not think I do not respect your virtue.” His little mouth was prudish suddenly. “It is a virtue I most respect in ladies. But I see a way for us, and that is what I will speak of and you will then see how deep is my love for you and that I will have none other. I will sweep away your scruples. You and I shall love as, from the moment we met, we were meant to.”
“My lord, there is no way in which I will become your mistress.”
“Nor shall you be. But…you could be my Queen.”
“That is not possible.”
“That word does not exist for kings, Anne. There is a way and I believe I have found it. Listen to me. When I first saw you in the garden, I knew that this was no light emotion which you had aroused in me. When I returned to Westminster, I said to Wolsey…yes, these were my very words, I remember them well…I said: ‘Thomas, I have been discoursing with a young lady who has the wit of an angel and is worthy of a crown.’ Now I look back, I see that my words were prophetic. Wolsey said, ‘It is sufficient if Your Grace finds her worthy of your love,’ and I answered that I feared she would never condescend in that way. Wolsey replied that great princes, if they choose to play the lover, had in their power that which would mollify a heart of steel. You will say that your virtue is unassailable, so you must remain virtuous. But I cannot give you up. Now listen. For some time past, my conscience has been troubling me. You know that I married my brother's widow. I was young. I was chivalrous. Katharine was alone in this country. Her father and mine were haggling over her dowry. She was sad and lonely and I have a tender heart … as you will discover. I married her, letting pity get the better of wisdom, and in doing so I have offended against the laws of God.”
I listened in amazement.
“For some time,” he went on, “I have been a most unhappy man. My conscience has never let me rest. Now I feel it cannot be silenced, for when my daughter Mary's union with the son of the King of France was in progress, one of the ambassadors raised the point of Mary's legitimacy.”
“That is… impossible!” I cried.
“Nay, my love, and I fear it may well be true. There is a verse in Leviticus which clearly says that a man may not marry his brother's wife and such a union would be without the blessing of God and fruitless.”
“Does the Queen know of your fears?”
“Not as yet. But she will. She must. I cannot go on living a life of sin in the eyes of God.”
“But what would be the outcome?”
“The marriage will be declared no marriage.”
“And the Emperor Charles?”
“He will have to look the truth in the face.”
“But the Queen's relationship with him …”
“My dearest Anne, you do not understand these matters.”
“But surely he would not care to see his aunt accused of living in a sinful union?”
“If it be proved…as it must be…he will have to accept it.”
“After all these years…”
“That matters not.” He was a little impatient. He had clearly thought I should greet this news with joy. I could not really believe the dazzling proposition he was putting before me. I could not accept for one moment that he would be allowed to discard his wife in spite of the verses in Leviticus. Whatever they were, I did not believe that the great Emperor would allow his aunt to be shipped back to Spain or perhaps put into retirement in England just like a mistress who has ceased to be desirable and is now to be pensioned off. That was not the way of great monarchs. I felt that Henry was being carried away by this idea which had occurred to him, and I suspected that he was using it as a means of dazzling me with the prospect of a crown—a notion which I felt too wild to bear any semblance to reality—so that I should receive him without delay into my bed. And afterward? Well, it would be seen to be just a wild dream, and the ministers of Spain and England would explain to him how impossible it was.
I was skeptical. The conscience, I knew, existed. But it had taken seventeen years to arouse itself, and I felt it could easily be subdued in a few weeks once his goal had been reached.
He went on: “I understand so much now. She could not get a son. Again and again there were disappointments. A king must have sons. It is part of his duty to his people. He has to think not only of his own reign but of the one to come. The dynasty must go on. And what have I? One daughter.”