“And the journey, of course, was safely made.”
“Yes. And what joy there was when they joined my mother, who was already in Paris. Minette said she thought the best thing that happened then was getting out of that horrible dress.”
“And then she was brought up in France?”
Charles nodded. “She is more French than English. Louis has been very good to us. So he should be, to his own family! I should have liked to see Minette married to Louis and Queen of France, as she might have been if I had been restored to the throne a little earlier. That would have suited her very well. She and Louis are fond of each other. He talks to her a great deal and she is in his confidence. Well, it was not to be, and she was paired off with Louis’s brother, Philippe…a poor consolation, I fear.”
“How sad for her!”
“Poor Minette. She is clever, though. She can take care of herself, but it would have been very good for us all if she had married Louis instead of Philippe.”
“I can see that you anticipate her visit with the utmost pleasure.”
He agreed that this was so.
Charles and James went to Dover to meet her, where the castle there had been made ready for her, and the court followed.
When I was presented to her, I was immediately charmed by her. She had that indefinable quality which she shared with Charles. She was perhaps not quite as beautiful as I had expected her to be, but there was an inner radiance about her which was fascinating.
She was graceful and she spoke English rather haltingly, with a decided French accent; and it was difficult to remember that she was a member of the English royal family. She seemed to be so entirely French — well, she was the Duchess of Orléans and a leading figure in the court of Louis XIV.
One of her attendants immediately caught the eyes of everyone at court. This was a young and beautiful Breton girl named Louise de Keroualle. I was particularly interested in her because I saw that Charles was watching her closely.
Henriette’s stay in England was brief. Most of the time she was with Charles. I would often see the two of them alone, walking arm in arm, their attendants some little way behind, and I had the impression that there was some important purpose behind Henriette’s visit and that possibly she came as the confidential emissary of the King of France.
There was a good deal of gossip about her and some of it came to my ears.
She was unhappily married to Philippe of Orléans, who was by no means a satisfactory husband. Some said she should have married Louis as there was a very friendly relationship between them; others implied that the King used his friendship with her as a cloak to the visits he made to a certain Louise de la Vallière, who was a maid of honor to Henriette. There must always be rumors — half truths, I supposed — so that one was never quite sure what to believe.
Philippe, they said, was annoyed by the friendship between his brother and his wife.
There was another reason why the marriage was not satisfactory. Philippe had a great friend in the Chevalier de Lorraine, who was constantly trying to make trouble between Henriette and Philippe. I imagined this escape from the intrigues of the court of France must have been very welcome to Henriette — particularly as it gave her an opportunity to be with her beloved brother.
But the trip was not meant to be entirely devoted to pleasure. Henriette had work to do; and I believe that during that short time she spent in England she did it very well.
What she had to say to Charles was for his ears alone; it was for Charles to make a decision, and he would do this without the advice of his ministers.
There was something mysterious about that treaty Charles made with Louis. I think the details were known only to Charles himself. There was, however, a treaty which a few of his ministers signed with him; but there remained this one with which only he was concerned.
Henriette must return to France as soon as the mission was accomplished. She was most eager to please the King of France, and knowing Charles, I guessed that he would do all he could to make his sister happy.
But from what I later heard of that treaty, I believed that Charles had acted in a very shrewd and clever way.
The exchequer was as usual unable to meet the demands made upon it and Louis had offered a great deal of money if England would assist him in the war against Holland. Louis was anxious to quell Dutch ambitions and Holland was, of course, a great rival of England in trade. They were old adversaries and it seemed that if Louis’s rewards were great enough, there would be few who would want to hold out against that clause. Another clause was that England should assist France in placing a Bourbon on the Spanish throne.
All this was in the future, and Charles was to receive a large sum of money in advance. The last and most secret part of the treaty concerned religion.
Charles did talk to me about this, for he knew he could trust me on this point entirely.
He said: “James has already publicly announced his conversion to the Catholic faith, and see what harm he has done.”
“It is brave of him to have made an acknowledgment of his faith,” I insisted.
“It is foolhardy,” muttered Charles. “Depend upon it, I shall not indulge in such folly. If I did, more than likely I should soon be wandering again.”
“Charles,” I said earnestly, “I believe you are a Catholic at heart.”
“At heart,” he mused. “Well, was I not brought up in it…halfway perhaps. My mother was one of the most fervent Catholics I ever knew. And you…my dear, almost equal her.”
“It would give me the greatest pleasure if you…”
He looked at me ruefully. “I fear it would not have the same effect on my subjects. They are set on one thing. If they thought I was even interested in the Catholic faith, they would be planning to send me the way of my father.”
“No!” I said fiercely.
“Fear not. I shall do nothing to offend them in that quarter. Louis has strange ideas of the English. He suggests that I offer concessions to the Puritans. Let them go the way they will…and then…suddenly we turn Catholic. We purge the land of all those who do not believe as we command. Do you think the English would accept that?”
“If it were the law…”
He laughed. “You don’t know the English, Catherine. They are lazy, careless, you think. But when they decide to take a stand, they are the most stubborn people in the world. When Mary died, that was the end of Catholicism for them. Never again, they said. Elizabeth was a wise woman. She would have gone the way they wanted. They would have none but a Protestant to rule them, so Elizabeth was a Protestant. She would have been equally at home in the Catholic faith. She was a shrewd one, Catherine. I intend to be as shrewd.”
“But Louis is paying you…”
“Louis is paying me to take this country into the Catholic faith.”
“And this you have agreed to do!”
“Yes…when the time is ripe. That is the clause. He will give me my pension, because I have given my word on this.”
“Then how…?
“Catherine, I have said ‘when the time is ripe.’ That is the heart of the matter. When the time is ripe I take my country into the Catholic faith.” He was smiling at me in that quizzical way of his. “It may well be that during my lifetime the time will never be ripe.”
Then I understood. Charles would never admit to Catholicism because he knew the English would never accept it.
He had promised to take the country into the Catholic faith when the time was ripe. But he knew that while he was King the time would never be ripe.
CHARLES WAS ANXIOUS for Henriette to prolong her visit. There were reasons for this. One was, of course, his desire to keep his sister with him, and the other was his interest in Louise de Keroualle.