The Star of Lancaster - Plaidy Jean (бесплатные онлайн книги читаем полные TXT) 📗

Henry began to consider that it was time he returned home. After all he had not intended to stay away so long, so he ordered two ships to be made by two Prussian ship-builders, and, as soon as they were ready, to be loaded that he might set out on his journey home. The three bears were caged and brought on board. It was not easy to take them with him but he could not offend the giver by leaving them behind and he smiled to himself wondering what the boys would think of them.

Then they set sail and finally they came into the port of Hull where Henry disembarked though many of the party sailed down to Boston in Lincolnshire with the baggage.

Henry had sent word ahead that he was coming home and he wished the family to be at Bolingbroke where he would come with all speed.

Mary and the children were awaiting his arrival. John could not remember his father. Thomas was not really sure whether he could; but Harry remembered. He remembered his standing before him with a stick in his hand. Strangely enough he did not feel fear at the thought of his father's return, only a kind of stimulation as he would later when he was going into battle.

Mary's feelings, too, were mixed. In one way she longed to see Henry and she was thankful that he was safe; she wanted to hear of his adventures; but at the back of her mind was the fear that the result of his return would be another pregnancy for that seemed inevitable whenever Henry was home.

During Humphrey's birth she had suffered intensely, and Joan Waring had become even more concerned. Her relief when Mary recovered made it obvious that she had feared the consequences might have been disastrous. *Now there shouldn't be any more, my lady,' she said. Tour fine boys! My lord cannot ask for more than that.'

But he did, of course. He wanted to rival his grandfather. Poor Queen Philippa! Mary had never known her and she heard that she had children easily, but she had grown very fat and unable to move at the end. It was no sooner up from childbed with one than she was preparing for another,' one of her women had said. 'Now that's not good. A woman needs a rest... a good long rest between.'

She could agree with that. But when Henry came riding into the courtyard, his eyes shining with joy to see them all

gS The Star of Lancaster

assembled there, when he embraced her and she felt his warm kiss on her mouth, she thought: How could I tell him? She could not. Life must take its course.

It was a joyful reunion. He must admire Baby Humphrey. He must see how John and Thomas had grown. And there was Harry too—^just the same—slender to the point of thinness, with that oval face and sharp eyes that missed nothing— smooth dark hair rare among the fair curly Plantagenets.

He had changed little. He was demanding attention as clearly as though he actually asked for it. He stood there legs apart, fearing nothing but that so much attention might be given to the returning adventurer that people would forget Lord Harry.

There was great excitement when the baggage arrived and Henry unpacked the rich exotic things he had brought for them. The beautiful silks delighted all the women; he had brought a parrot for Mary.

'Something to make that popinjay of yours jealous,' he told her.

There was a brief silence while Harry looked at his mother almost challengingly. He could almost hear the whacks of the stick as it came through the air.

*He escaped from his cage,' said Mary at length.

'Silly creature! * commented Henry. 'What chance would it have outside?'

The thought of the popinjay being set upon by fierce birds ... eagles and hawks ... disturbed Harry even more than the memory of the stick.

He said nothing. He would never let a bird out of a cage again. His mother had explained to him what happened to cherished little birds when they fell among the wild fowl.

It had made a deep impression on him and Mary believed that he had had enough of a lesson. She would not tell Henry of the many scrapes in which their first-born had been involved. She could not bear to think of his being beaten. She believed there were other ways of teaching him.

When Henry told the children about the bears they were overcome with awe and wonder. Harry could not restrain his joy; he talked of nothing else. Their father ordered that a pit should be dug for them and there their antics could amuse

the children, but there must be a keeper for them and the children must remember that they might be dangerous animals.

The thought of danger made Harry's eyes sparkle. He was very anxious for everyone to know that he was not afraid of anything. Thomas might be frightened in the dark; Harry jeered at that. When he heard the servants talking about the hare of Bolingbroke he listened intently; he frightened Thomas with his account of it and Thomas had nightmares and would awake crying out that the hare was in the room so that Joan had to take him into her bed and assure him that there was no such thing.

'There is, there is,' Thomas insisted. 'Harry says so/

'That wicked limb of Satan,* murmured Joan. If the hare came for anybody it would be for him.*

Then she crossed herself for she feared she might have ill wished her precious Harry.

Harry cared nothing. He boasted that he wished the hare would come out and he'd catch it, he would. He'd catch and boil it in a pot for dinner.

'You mustn't say such things,* said Joan. 'If this hare is the shape some poor tormented soul has taken you couldn't boil it in a pot and eat it.*

*I could,' boasted Harry.

'That boy frightens the life out of me,* Joan told Mistress Mary Hervey, a newcomer to the castle whom the Countess had engaged to act as a governess to the children.

Mary Hervey said that Harry was a bold and imaginative boy, by far the most interesting child it had ever been her lot to teach, so it was clear that she too had fallen under his spell.

Mary Hervey taught the two elder boys and when they grew older the others would come under her care. Harry was a bright child, good at his lessons when he was interested in them and she had hopes of making a scholar of him.

In the meantime he was obsessed with the bears and when they arrived, he was almost wild with excitement.

The keeper was going to teach them tricks and Harry and Thomas were allowed to watch. The bears were in a deep pit from which they could not escape. Only the keeper went down to them. Everyone else, decreed Henry, must watch them from above.

Every day for an hour Harry and Thomas were allowed to

watch them. Harry would become so excited; he would shout to them. He loved all three but the smallest of them delighted him most. He longed to go down and tell this bear that one day he would rescue it from its pit and they would go travelling together. They would have the most wonderful adventures. They would go and joust with the French knights; then they would go and fight with the Teutonic knights; and they would always be together. When his enemies were surrounding him the bear would come and drive them all away; and when some wicked men tried to take the bear away and put him into a ring to be baited by wild dogs, Harry would leap into the ring, kill all the dogs and emerge triumphant with his dear dear bear.

It was galling that he was never even allowed to go into the pit.

The bear had become so much a part of his days and he half believed the adventures he had imagined were true. One afternoon when the household was quiet he slipped down to the pit. The bears were sleeping. Around the top of the pit there were iron spikes to prevent the bears getting out. It was not difficult for Harry to slip between these. Now he could scramble down to the bears.

It was not as easy as he had imagined. The slope was steep. He made his way cautiously; he slipped a little, regained his footing and continued to clamber. Now he was right down in the pit. The bears looked very big so close and he could not help feeling very small. They were asleep—all of them, even his own special bear.