The Captive Queen of Scots Page 8

  “Conditions!” she cried. “You would offer me conditions! Let me tell you this: I would rather remain in this prison for the rest of my life than accept any conditions you might lay before me, for I know full well that those conditions could only be for the good of Bastard James and not for Queen Mary. I know that you have hunted Bothwell from this land because you feared him. I know that all those who are friends of mine are no friends of yours. Do not imagine that, because I am your prisoner, because you hate me and seek my destruction, all are of your mind. I have friends, James Stuart, and one day they will free me from this castle and then . . . there will be no conditions . . . .”

  She walked past them to her own private apartments.

  James Balfour, his color heightened, his lips tight, spoke the thoughts which were in all their minds: “It is clear that she has a friend within the castle . . . someone who is in touch with her friends outside and brings her news.”

  Moray and Morton looked at each other.

  “Have no fear,” said Moray angrily, “we shall soon discover the traitor.”

  MORAY, ALONE WITH Sir William, expressed his displeasure. “Not everyone in this castle is with us,” he snapped. “Someone here brings information to the Queen.” Sir William flinched. “Why brother,” he said, “it is the wish of us all to please you.”

  “Yet the Queen has information which could only have been given to her by traitors in our midst. Someone is talking too freely, and, it would seem, is more eager to serve her than me.”

  “I have noticed that Ruthven is casting languishing glances in her direction,” said Sir William.

  “I too was aware of that. Ruthven is to leave at once for Edinburgh.”

  Sir William did not mention the matter of the boat. He had no wish to incense Moray against George, particularly as he himself was inclined to shrug aside George’s devotion to the Queen. Calf love, he thought. It happens in the very young and George often seems to be young for his years.

  Later when they were at supper—the Queen supped in her own room and refused to join the family and their visitors—Moray was aware of the expression in his young half-brother’s face when Mary was mentioned.

  Lady Douglas, alert where her sons were concerned, realizing that the very manner in which George spoke the Queen’s name betrayed his feelings, was very uneasy. Moray was the son of whom she was most proud of course—son of a King, Regent of Scotland—what more could a mother ask! But she loved wee Geordie too, and fervently hoped the lad was not going to fall into trouble.

  Her hopes were vain. Moray left the supper table quickly and summoned his young brother George, with his mother and Sir William, to a private chamber.

  He came straight to the point and, looking into George’s face, he accused: “I believe you are concocting some foolish plot to rescue the Queen.”

  “There is no such plot,” answered George; which was true, for try as he would he had found nothing satisfactory.

  “But if you saw your opportunity you would be ready to serve the woman?”

  “Do not speak of the Queen so disrespectfully in my hearing,” retorted George.

  An oath escaped Moray, which was rare with him. He was really shaken.

  “You lovesick fool!” he muttered. “So it is you, is it? It is because of you that I find her so changed. You have fed her with news and promises of help. You fool! And you call yourself a half-brother of mine!”

  Lady Douglas, distressed to witness conflict between her loved ones, said: “Geordie meant no harm, Jamie.”

  “No harm!” cried Moray, turning on his mother. “This is not a boy’s game. Remember that. This Geordie of yours could plunge Scotland into civil war.”

  “’Twas nothing but a little flirtation, Jamie. What can you expect of young people?”

  “Young people! That woman is old in sin, Madam.”

  “Geordie would never go against your interest any more than I or William would.”

  Moray was impervious to her distress. He glared at his half-brother through narrowed eyes. “You will get out of Lochleven,” he said. “When next I call here I shall expect to find you gone.”

  “This is my home,” insisted George.

  “It was. It is no longer.”

  “Mother . . . ” said George, turning to Lady Douglas; but what could she do? Moray had spoken.

  George strode out of the room and Moray, who disliked scenes of this sort, signed to his mother and brother that he wished no further reference to the matter.

  That night Moray left the castle.

  * * *

  LADY DOUGLAS watching him go was sad. Where would Geordie go? she was asking herself. It had been a favorite dream of hers that Moray would find some place of honor for George. Families should stand together. And now they had quarreled. Oh, how distressing!

  Sir William understood her feelings: he laid his hand on her arm. “James is right,” he said. “Young George is playing with fire.”

  “He has been so happy since she came. Oh, William, he has become a man through his devotion to her. He is different from the rest of you. He was always so gentle and affectionate. And where will he go? We cannot drive him from his home.”

  “You heard what James said.”

  She sighed. “But James will not be back for some time. Let George stay awhile . . . until he has made plans. I’m sure James did not mean him to go away at once . . . just like that. It is monstrous.”

  Sir William gave her a look of affection. It was so like her to try to please all her sons. How distressing for her when they ranged themselves on opposite sides! As for Sir William himself, he did not see what harm George could do. It was hard on the boy to be banished from his home merely because he had done the most natural thing in the world—fallen in love with a beautiful woman.

  James had gone. So there was no hurry for George to leave.

  GEORGE WENT TO his own chamber and began to pace up and down there. He was angry. How dared James order him from his home! He was shocked to realize how much he hated James. All his life he had been taught to admire his half-brother. James Stuart had been as a god to the Douglases. Lady Douglas had made sure of that; and George had never been envious of his mother’s preference for her bastard son, because it was not in George’s nature to be envious. He had no great opinion of himself, and it was only since he had become obsessed by his love for the Queen that he had rebelled. Now his pride made him long to leave the castle; but any personal feelings would be swamped by his desire to do what was best for the Queen.

  If he could stay in Lochleven for a week . . . two weeks . . . he might be able to perfect some plan of escape. What a pity that the weather was so bad. If he were exiled from the island, how could he keep in touch with the Queen?

  His door opened slowly and a mischievous face appeared to grin at him.

  “Oh, Willie, go away.”

  Willie’s response was to come into the room.

  “I heard you get your marching orders,” he said.

  “You hear too much.”

  “Dinna be a daftie, Geordie. No one can hear too much.”

  “I don’t want to talk to you now, Willie.”

  “Which shows how soft you are, Geordie. For if you’re out there . . . ” he pointed through the window “ . . . and if you mustna’ set foot on the island, how’ll she know when you’re ready for her to leave . . . without Willie Douglas tells her?”

  George stared at Willie who grinned almost bashfully.

  “Ye’ll be over there, Geordie Douglas,” he said, “but Willie’ll be here . . . and he can do all ye did . . . and better.”

  George strode across the room and gripped the boy’s shoulder. “You’d be in this, Willie? You’d help?”

  “Oh ay . . . I’d do it.” He grinned. “She’s a bonnie lassie!”

  George was excited. He made his way to the Queen’s apartments, which was rash, but for all he knew there might be little time to lose.

  Seton was with the Queen
who received him at once and asked Seton to leave.

  George’s heart beat fast when he found himself alone with the Queen. He could scarcely speak, so deep was his emotion. Then the words came tumbling out. Moray had discovered his devotion to her and as a result he was to be exiled from the castle.

  The Queen turned pale and put one of her exquisite hands to her throat. “Oh no . . . George,” she whispered, “that would be more than I could bear.”

  He stared at her as though he could not believe his ears.

  “It’s true,” she went on. “Nothing has given me so much courage to live through these dreary months as your presence.”

  “Your Majesty . . . .”

  “Oh George, how I hate Moray. This is his doing.”

  “It seems, Your Majesty, that he discovered my love for you.”

  “When you are older, George, you will more easily hide your emotions.”

  “I could never hide an emotion so great that it is my whole being.”

  “I have had sonnets written to me, George, but nothing has ever pleased me quite as much as those words of yours. Have you come to say goodbye?”

  “I trust not. Moray has gone and I may have a few days left to me. I would like to see some of your friends on the mainland and tell them what has happened, and myself tell you what they plan to do.”

  “We shall have to wait for the spring for my rescue, George.”

  “It will give us three months in which to perfect our plans, Your Majesty.”

  “And this may mean that any day . . . perhaps tomorrow, I shall look for you in vain and be told that you have gone away.”

  “That could well be.”

  She took a pearl drop earring from her ear.

  “Take this, George,” she said. “You shall have one and I the other. If you send a messenger to me with that earring I shall know that the messenger truly comes from you.”

  He took the earring and held it reverently in the palm of his hand. For some seconds he seemed bemused; then he said: “Your Majesty, I believe that young Willie Douglas yearns to be made use of in your service.”

  “The little freckled-faced boy? I often find him watching me.”

  “He is a strange boy, Your Majesty, but is a friend of mine . . . and of yours.”

  “I need all the friends I can muster . . . and more so when the most trustworthy of them all is taken from me. Then I could send Willie Douglas with a message to you . . . if the need should arise?”

  “I know he would bring it to me, Your Majesty.”

  “Oh, George,” she cried, “I am going to miss you so much.”

  He knelt and kissed her right hand while she laid her left on his head; stooping suddenly, she kissed it, and when he raised his wondering face to hers impulsively she bent and kissed his lips.

  He looked dazed, and then his face was illuminated. “I never thought . . . ” he began. “I never hoped . . . ” And then he went on hurriedly: “Your Majesty, have I your leave to retire?”

  For one moment she thought to detain him, then she nodded and turned her head so that she could not see his perplexed face.

  It was the moment for him to go. If he had stayed she might have been tempted to change the relationship between them. It must not be so. A short while ago she might have kept him with her; but she had changed since Carberry Hill. She was a wiser woman; never again would she allow her emotions to lead her to disaster. At least she would make some attempt to curb her sensual longings that they might never again control her destiny.

  Perhaps, she thought when she was alone, I was never loved before, as George Douglas loves me.

  She would remember that through the dreary months which lay ahead.

  WILLIE DOUGLAS HAD always freely roamed about the castle and its grounds; when the boat went from the castle to the mainland he often went with them. He performed his duties now and then and if he were missing for several hours no one took much notice. Willie had always been in a specially privileged position and, although Sir William appeared not to notice the boy, instinctively the servants knew that he would not welcome complaints against the urchin.

  So Willie went his own way. When the Queen took her walks in the castle grounds he was often seen with her. She seemed to be amused by his mischievous ways. As for Willie he showed no awe of her and behaved as though there was little difference between queens and scullions in his opinion.

  George had left Lochleven, for even Lady Douglas could not arrange that he should stay. Moray might descend upon them any day, and, moreover, there were always tradesmen and such-like coming and going between island and the mainland so that the news would soon have spread that George had remained at Lochleven.

  Both Lady Douglas and Sir William knew that George was not far off; they knew also that somewhere in the Kinross area many of Mary’s supporters were lodging in the house of loyal townfolk, waiting for the day when an attempt would be made to free the Queen from captivity. That must not happen, of course, for Sir William would be blamed if she escaped; he did not believe any attempt would be made until the coming of spring, but then he would have to be more vigilant, if that were possible. He believed—and so did Lady Douglas—that George had joined forces with Lord Seton and his friends, and they were not many miles away.

  Young Willie Douglas’s shrill whistle could be heard through the courtyards; he swaggered a little, which seemed all part of the business of growing up. Now and then he enticed the guards into a gambling game, for Willie had a coin or two to jingle in his pocket. Nobody asked where he procured the money. Willie would have had his answer ready if they had. He had been given it for some service rendered to some merchant on the mainland. Willie was never at a loss.

  While he played with the guards he watched the arrival of the boats and the supplies for the castle being unloaded.

  “Keeping a sharp watch-out, laddie,” said one of the guards. “They might make you do a bit of work for a change and you wouldna like that at all.”

  “Oh ay,” said Willie, absently staring at the laundresses, who were going into the castle to collect the soiled linen which they would take away and bring back clean.

  March had come and the first signs of spring were on the countryside. The winds were still strong, but now and again they would drop, and when the sun shone there was real warmth in the air.

  One day Willie was helping to unload food from a boat which was moored on the shore, and his industry pleased those he was helping. When the unloading was done he leaped into the boat and sat there waiting.

  “Coming back with us, young Willie?” asked one of the boatmen.

  “Oh ay . . . ” answered Willie nonchalantly.

  “Come on then, lads, back to Kinross.”

  Willie whistled as the boat carried him across the water. When it touched ground he jumped out, saluted the boatmen and ran off.

  He skirted the town, now and then breaking into a run, sometimes leaping in a rush of high spirits. When he came to a small hillock he stood for a few moments and looked about him. He could see the roofs of the Kinross houses and a quarter of a mile or so away the woods. Assuring himself that no one was following him he made quickly for these woods and was soon on the narrow path which led through them.

  He began to whistle, and after a few minutes his whistle was answered.

  He stood still waiting, listening. Then he heard the rustle of twigs; George was coming through the trees.

  “I thought you were never coming,” said George.

  “It took so long to unload the boat.”

  “Are you sure no one followed you?”

  Willie looked exasperated. “Who d’ye think I am, Geordie Douglas?”

  George smiled. Willie was a first-class agent, because not only was he alert and nimble but it was scarcely likely that anyone would suspect him.

  “Let’s sit down . . . away from the path . . . here where the trees are thickest. Then we shall hear anyone approaching. And speak low. Voices carry.”

>   “Ye dinna need to tell me that!”

  “No, Willie, but we have to be very careful. If the plan fails how can we say what they might do to her?”

  “Oh ay,” Willie agreed.

  When they were seated George said: “Listen carefully; we are going to send a large box to the Queen, purporting to come from Melville. We will load it with some heavy substances—perhaps stones—and we shall say it contains articles and documents for the Queen. You must tell her that this box is to arrive shortly, and when it comes she is to take out the contents and hide them, and after a few days we must ask for the box to be returned to Melville. When the box is taken out of the castle, she will be in it.”

  Willie stared at George and his light eyes suddenly crinkled with amusement. Willie held his sides and began to shake, giving a display of uncontrollable mirth.

  “What is it?” said George impatiently.

  “It’s just that you make me laugh, Geordie Douglas.”

  “This is no laughing matter.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. It was one laughing matter when you planned escape by boat and then go sniffing around till Drysdale says: ‘Now why would wee Georgie be taking such interest in the boat?’ And this box is another.”

  “It is not for you to laugh at your elders . . . and betters, Willie.”

  “Oh ay,” said Willie mockingly disconsolate.

  “All you have to do is to tell the Queen our intentions. I cannot say when the box will arrive, but you must come and tell me when it is to be sent back. Then I shall be ready for her . . . and I shall not be alone. We shall have horses waiting for her.”

  Willie sat silently nodding. “You understand?” said George impatiently.

  “Oh ay,” repeated Willie. “I understand. The box goes in . . . and Lady Douglas and Sir William watch it unloaded. ‘What lovely stones!’ cries my lady. ‘What is the Queen’s new pastime to be? Throwing stones from the keep windows on the sentinels?’”

  “We have to arrange that the box arrives when Sir William is not there.”

  “If Sir William is not there, someone else will be. Hoch, man, dinna ye know that our Queen is a prisoner and that everything that goes into her apartments is watched and ferreted over. Talk sense, Geordie Douglas. You wouldna get farther than the castle courtyard before they’d see through your game with boxes. Nay, Geordie Douglas, think again.”