Epitaph for Three Women (13 page)

‘I will,’ she said.

He bowed as she went out and then made his way to the apartment which they shared together.

A woman was hanging up one of Jacqueline’s cloaks in a cupboard. He had seen her before and noticed her. He had in fact come here in search of her.

‘Why ’tis Lady Eleanor, I do declare,’ he said.

She turned round. She had large dark brown eyes and thick dark hair; her cheeks were highly coloured and Humphrey thought of her as luscious. Her figure was voluptuous in the extreme, small waisted, large bosomed and ample hipped. The belt she wore at her waist accentuated this.

‘Ah,’ she said saucily, ‘I too will make a declaration. It is Duke Humphrey.’

‘And you are pleased to see him, mayhap?’ he murmured.

‘My lord, is there any reason why I should not be pleased?’

‘Indeed no. There is every reason why you should be pleased. I will tell you this. I find you are a very pretty woman.’

‘Ah.’ She put her hands on her hips. ‘Then you have not come to tell me that you are displeased with me and would dismiss me from the Lady Jacqueline’s household.’

‘Nay, nay, I have come to tell you that I would wish to take you into mine.’

‘My lord jests,’ she began but got no further because he had put his arms about her and his mouth was pressing on hers.

She was warm in her response as he had known she would be. He had had his eyes on her for days … and he knew well enough that she had been aware of it and was cordially inviting him to proceed.

‘You’re a witch,’ he said. ‘You’ve bewitched me.’

‘Mayhap. But it is not my occult powers that have done it.’

‘Well, what shall we do about it, eh? What should you say?’

‘I should say that you must remember your good wife, the Lady Jacqueline. But it might be that I will not say what I should.’

‘Then what will you say?’

She drew away from him and put out her tongue provocatively. ‘I shall say this, my lord. You are a man … and men do what they will … when they will, how they will. What does a poor woman do?’

‘You mean …’ he said.

‘I mean nothing, fair sir. Yet I could mean anything.’

He approached her again. He seized her. ‘I want you,’ he said. ‘You know it.’

She opened her wide languorous eyes and said, ‘When? Here?’

‘Why not?’ he said.

‘You are a bold man.’

‘You’ll find me as bold as you wish me to be.’

She pushed him from her. ‘Here? … when my lady might come at any moment?’

‘She is studying the accounts. I sent her to do so.’

‘That you might come and see me?’

‘You know I’ve had my eyes on you for days.’

‘I saw the lust in them.’

‘ ’Tis not the first time you’ve seen such looks I’ll warrant. Nor satisfied them either,’ he added.

‘My lord you are offensive.’

‘You arouse a madness in me.’

‘Never mind. Soon you will be overseas. Just curb yourself till then.’

‘You will come with us. You must.’

An alert look came into her eyes.

‘Shall I be there then?’ She came to him and put her arms about his neck. ‘I should not wish,’ she went on, ‘to find a man to my taste and then to lose him to the Dutch or the Zealanders or the folk of Hainault.’

‘Is that what you want? To come with us?’

She put her head on one side. ‘I’d have to try you first to see if I wanted that.’

She dragged him through a door. They were in a small closet. ‘My sleeping apartment,’ she explained. ‘Small but it will suffice, I think, for at such a moment as this even the mighty Duke of Gloucester has other things to think of than his surroundings.’

‘My God,’ he said. And he laughed in triumph. He was in a fever of excitement such as he had rarely known before. His delight was increased when he realised that his eagerness was matched by hers.

He was convinced he had never before enjoyed such an encounter.

For a woman like this one he could forget not only Jacqueline but Hainault, Holland and Zealand.

Preparations for departure were proceeding rapidly and there were frantic messages arriving from Bedford.

‘For God’s sake,’ wrote Bedford to his brother, ‘do nothing rash. Burgundy is incensed. This could lose us his friendship.’

Humphrey laughed and bombastically declared to Eleanor that it amused him to see old John in such a panic. It might lose him Burgundy’s friendship but it was going to bring vast advantages to Humphrey.

‘Don’t you think I should consider myself, sweetheart?’ Eleanor replied that indeed he should for it was something which he did to perfection being so practised in that art.

He could laugh at her; she amused him; she was ambitious for him too; she wanted him not only supreme in her bed but in the field. It amused her to have a powerful lover. She wanted him to be the most powerful man in England; and he would be when he regained Jacqueline’s lands.

He had rarely been so pleased with himself. He was so proud of being Jacqueline’s husband and Eleanor’s lover.

Eleanor was with them when they left for Calais. He would not have sailed without her, so important had she become to him. She was the most erotically skilled woman he had ever known and he had known a few. The intrigue necessary to keep his liaison secret from Jacqueline excited him. He had rarely been so pleased with himself. He would lie with Eleanor usually in some secret place and when they were satiated with their lovemaking he would talk to her of his plans.

She applauded his schemes. She said when he had secured Jacqueline’s territories he could turn his thoughts to England. It would be years before little Henry could rule and there was only John over in France. He would be likely to remain occupied there for some time.

‘There is that old devil of Winchester,’ Humphrey reminded her. ‘A curse on these Beaufort relations … the lot of them. Bastards all of them.’

She laughed and nibbled his ear.

Wonderful sessions they were. On the boat together arriving at Calais, the excitement of wondering what they would find; having to travel through country where they might meet Burgundy’s forces. But there was no opposition. It was all so easy. Right to the borders of Hainault they came and there was no sign of an enemy. Instead the people came out to welcome Jacqueline. They had no love for the ex-Bishop of Liège.

Glorious days. The conquerors riding through Hainault, stopping at the houses of nobles who had nothing but a hearty welcome for them … or in truth for Jacqueline; receiving the dignitaries with Jacqueline beside him and aware – oh very much aware – of Eleanor, hovering close. And then at odd times seeking a meeting. Anywhere, anyhow! How they laughed at the strange places in which they found themselves !

Two things had become clear to him. Conquest was easy and the more he knew of Eleanor the more he realised that he could not do without her.

Easy conquest, a wife who had achieved her ambition and was happy just then to make it her sole concern, and a mistress who delighted him more every time he saw her.

What more could a man ask?

It was too much to expect that life could go on like that. Rumours came through to the effect that Burgundy was preparing to come against him and that the mighty Duke had joined forces with Brabant.

Gloucester ceased so openly to sneer at Burgundy as the rumours grew more alarming every day.

One day one of Burgundy’s messengers arrived, bringing with him the suggestion that Gloucester return at once to England and that Jacqueline go back to her husband the Duke of Brabant, and they both forgot this farce of a marriage to Gloucester.

There was a letter from Bedford too. He was urging Gloucester to take heed not only for his own sake but that of England, for Burgundy was on the point of concluding a truce with France. ‘You can guess what a blow this is to us,’ wrote Bedford. ‘We are pressed as hard as we can be and if we lose Burgundy’s support, which we shall undoubtedly do if you persist in angering him, we could be in a most unhappy position.’

Humphrey tossed his brother’s letter aside. Did John think he was going to give up all these newly acquired possessions just because he was told to?

A further letter from Burgundy affected him more deeply. Burgundy was challenging Humphrey to a duel – the time-honoured method of settling a difference.

When Jacqueline heard she shrugged her shoulders: ‘You have a fair chance of winning,’ she said.

‘Against Burgundy!’ Humphrey quaked at the thought. Burgundy’s reputation was such as to strike terror into the heart of any man. He sought an early opportunity of telling Eleanor.

‘Duel?’ she said. ‘Nonsense. I don’t want Burgundy to murder you … or to return you to me in such a state that you are of no more use to me.’

They laughed but he was seriously disturbed.

‘I’m tired of Hainault and Holland,’ said Eleanor. ‘I’m homesick. I want to go back to England. What are these places compared with home? I’ve always told you you are chasing the wrong things. Think what you can do at home … a baby on the throne and you his uncle! Brother Thomas is no more. Brother John is engaged in France. That leaves Humphrey free of the field. I’ve always said it but I’ll say it again. Get out … before Burgundy comes in.’

‘Jacqueline would never agree.’

‘Then let her stay.’

‘You mean leave her here?’

‘I’ll swear that is where she wants to be.’

‘It would mean she would have to face Burgundy alone.’

‘She doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to. She could go back to Brabant.’

‘I doubt it will come to that unless Burgundy insists. He seems to be the one everyone is afraid of.’

‘He has great power.’

‘Listen to me, my love. Let us go back to England. Would you agree to come?’

‘You don’t imagine I should let you go without me, do you?’

‘Do you think anyone or anything could make me leave you?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘You’d put up as big a fight for me as you would for Jacqueline’s lands. But you’re not going to put up a fight for either. Let the lands go … Humphrey … and keep close to me.’

‘Let them go!’

‘You are going to have to when Burgundy marches in. He’s only waiting until he has made his peace with the French. You don’t want to be humiliated in defeat do you, Humphrey? Of course you don’t. We’ll go to England before that can happen.’

‘How can we?’

‘It is easy. You will say you are going to raise fresh troops and to prepare yourself for your duel with Burgundy.’

‘You are a clever girl, Eleanor.’

‘I live to serve, my lord,’ she retorted with a touch of irony in her voice.

It was amazing how easy it had been to deceive Jacqueline. She accepted all he said. Yes, they would need more troops. He must make preparations for his duel. He must go. She would hold the land until he returned. He could take only a few of his knights with him. It would be better to leave a large force with her.

To all this he agreed. He took a fond farewell of her and started out on the journey to Calais. He had a few anxious hours because naturally Eleanor could not ride openly with him. And of course it was expected that she would stay in Holland in attendance on Jacqueline.

They came to an inn where they would spend a night and still she had not joined the party.

He was beginning to fear that she had no intention of coming with him. Could it be that she had found a new lover and had worked to get rid of him? No, they had had such amazing times together; there could not be another person in the world who suited her as he did. She had interested herself so ardently in his affairs. She wanted to be beside him when he took power in England. She had been homesick for England from the moment she had set foot on foreign soil.

But there he was and where was Eleanor?

The horses were in the stables and he with his small band of men went into the inn. He was taken to a room. The innkeeper opened a door and he went in.

Eleanor was lying in the bed.

‘How long you have been in coming,’ she reproached him.

Then he fell upon her and his delight was greater than he had ever known.

Chapter VI