‘Why not, better still, the Duke himself?’ said Anne.
‘Humph!’ growled the lame boy. ‘And best of all, the King.’
‘The King?’ gasped Giles in a hushed voice. ‘How could I dare—how could anyone like me reach the King?’
‘It would not be much harder than reaching the Duke, maybe,’ Luke went on. ‘From what I hear, the King is by far the pleasanter gentleman of the two. He’s well liked, this young King. Not much more than a boy himself. Nineteen years old. Set around by a lot of scheming relations and nobles, he should be glad of your shell—if it will work the way you say it will. It might help him in his business. The Lord knows, he has a big work cut out for him in governing this great land. Who in all the world has more folks talking of him, night and day? And for whom in all the world is it more important to know what’s being said about him—and his affairs—than it is for a king?’
Giles was staring at the floor as Luke ended.
‘The King!’ he kept muttering, as though to himself. ‘The King!—Well, he should be rich enough.’
‘Rich enough!’ laughed Luke. ‘Why, he could set your whole family up in comfort for life and pay your father’s debts ten times over and never know that he had opened his purse.’
They spent at least another hour with Luke—talking and working out plans. Giles feared that he would never be able to reach the King. While Luke stuck to it that it was the only thing to be done.
‘But it’s going to be no easy matter,’ said the lame boy. ‘And certain it is that you cannot trust the shell in other hands to be taken to the palace for you. For one thing it is too precious. It is the only one of its kind; and if it be lost or stolen your great chance to help your father’s fortunes will be gone. And for another, should news of such an unusual thing as a Whispering Shell get about the Court you would be questioned—made to tell where you got it. And then poor Agnes would get into more trouble about witchcraft—most likely she’d be charged by the Mayor or the Duke with trying to cast spells over His Majesty himself. No. You, and you alone, have got to put that shell into the King’s own hands.’
‘But why shouldn’t they arrest me for witchcraft?’ asked Giles.
‘Oh, pooh, pooh!’ said Anne. ‘Who ever heard of arresting a boy like you for witchcraft—with your freckles and snub nose? A fine witch!’
‘My nose doesn’t turn up nearly as much as yours does,’ said Giles. ‘Keep your remarks to yourself.’
‘She’s right, Giles,’ said the lame boy. ‘You’re safe on that score, I think. Your being so young is the best protection you could have. You stand a better chance of getting near the King than a grown person would. Your biggest danger lies in having your plans found out by others before you speak to His Majesty yourself. If you fail once you will not likely get a chance a second time.’
‘But what if His Majesty himself accuses me of sorcery? What if he refuses to listen to me, to have anything to do with me?’
‘You will have to take your chance of that,’ said Luke. ‘I don’t believe he will, though. He has a name already for being just and fair-minded, and his reign only began a little while ago.’
‘It is a good thing the King is here now,’ Anne put in. ‘For there’s surely no time to lose, with Father so hard-pressed that he’s about to sell the house over our heads.’
‘That’s very true,’ said Luke. ‘All right, then, if you’re willing, Giles, let us lay our plans.’
‘Couldn’t he just go to the palace and say that he has a message for the King?’ asked Anne. ‘After all, it is a kind of message, isn’t it?’
‘No,’ said Luke. ‘The King will be much too closely guarded for that. Your brother would be questioned by a dozen people and any message would have to be carried in by someone else. You see the King has enemies, people who want to take his crown away from him and what not. So there will be the greatest care taken over who is allowed to come near him.’
Then the lame boy told them just how he thought the business should be done. And in the end they both agreed with him and went home.
14 His Majesty comes
It was a great day when the King entered the town. All the streets were gay with bunting and coloured poles. Great arches had been set up, with pictures painted on them. From almost every window hung garlands of flowers and silken scarves. And all the people were dressed in their best clothes.
The royal party, greeted in the market-place by the Mayor and all the notables of the city, was made up of many persons, many horses and many coaches. It was a big, long procession—so long that when the head of it had reached the market-place the tail of it was still stretching away off into the country outside the town.
Anne, watching it come in, wondered how all those people and horses and baggage were going to find room within the Duke’s castle; while Giles fell to dreaming over what it must be like to be a king. For he could not take his eyes off that young man on the beautiful white horse, who kept rising in his stirrups and, with smiling face and waving hand, answered the roar of welcome that came from the people. Giles had never known the town held so many men, women and children. There seemed to be seas of faces wherever you looked. The streets were full of faces—the windows and the doors were crowded with faces—even the roofs of many houses were covered with people who had risked their necks to get places to see the King.
Giles, when he had heard the roar in the distance as the King’s party had first come in sight, had felt a sudden sinking of the heart. What a mad plan it seemed, for a mere townsboy to hope to reach the ruler of the land, one so great and so important! But now, when he could see the King’s face, his courage came back to him. He joined in the waving and the shouting of welcome. For the young King’s face was not only very handsome, but it was a very honest face and kind—the sort of face you trusted from the first glimpse. Very different it was from the face of the Duke, his cousin, who rode beside him. That, too, was handsome but harder and prouder—and many, many years older.
For those on the crowded pavements, especially for shorter folk like Giles and Anne, it was almost impossible to tell what was going on. The noise and crush were most confusing. But presently they saw that the King and all the mounted gentlemen of his party had come to a standstill and that the Mayor was making a speech. It was all about how glad everybody was to see His Majesty the King and how proud the town felt on this great day when he had come to pay it his first visit.
Presently, after the Mayor had ended and some more speeches had been made, the royal procession moved out of the market-place and disappeared slowly through the gates of the castle. But it was not till quite a little later that the crowd began to break up. And even then Giles and Anne had hard work to make their way homewards through the press of slowly moving, tight-packed people.
The merry-making and celebrations in the streets went on late into the night. But even without that noise Giles, for one, would have found it hard to sleep. For it had been agreed between him and Luke that tomorrow should be the day for him to try to see the King. He had not forgotten the lame boy’s warning that if he failed in his first try he would most likely never get another chance—and, quite possibly, find himself in prison instead. And nearly the whole night through Giles was going over in his mind just how he ought to do it, and thinking of the many slips he might make and the accidents that could happen.