A Column of Fire

  He had the code in his head, and he was able to decipher the opening sentence rapidly: News from Paris.

  His pulse quickened. He and Walsingham were eager to find out what the French would do next. All through the sixties and seventies, Queen Elizabeth had held her enemies at bay by pretending to consider marriage proposals from Catholic princes. Her latest victim had been Hercule-Francis, the brother of King Henri III of France. Elizabeth would be fifty this year, but she still had the power to fascinate men, and she had enraptured Hercule-Francis even though he was still in his twenties, calling him "my little frog." She had toyed with him for three years, until he came to the conclusion reached eventually by all her suitors, that she had no intention of marrying anyone. But Ned felt she had played the marriage card for the last time, and he feared that her enemies might now do what they had been talking about for so long, and make a serious attempt to get rid of her.

  Ned was beginning on the second sentence when the door was flung open and Margery burst in.

  "How dare you?" she said. "How dare you?"

  Ned was thunderstruck. Margery's sudden rages were much feared by her servants, but he had never been subjected to one. His relationship with her was friendly to the point of affection. "What on earth have I done?" he said.

  "How dare you feed Protestant heresy to my son?"

  Ned frowned. "Roger asked me questions," he said, reining in his indignation. "I tried to answer him honestly."

  "I will bring up my sons in the faith of their forefathers and I won't have them corrupted by you."

  "Fine," said Ned with some exasperation. "But sooner or later someone's going to tell them that there's an alternative point of view. Be grateful it was me and not some bigoted Puritan such as Dan Cobley." Even while he was annoyed with her he could not help noticing how attractive she was, tossing her abundant hair and flashing anger from her eyes. She was more beautiful at forty than she had been at fourteen, when he had kissed her behind the tomb of Prior Philip.

  She said: "They would recognize Cobley for the bullheaded blasphemer that he is. You pose as a reasonable man while you poison their minds."

  "Ah! I understand. It's not my Protestantism you object to, it's my reasonableness. You don't want your sons to know that men can discuss religion quietly, and disagree without trying to murder one another." Even while he argued with her, he realized vaguely that she did not really think he was poisoning Roger's mind. In truth she was raging against the fate that had driven her and Ned apart so that they could not raise their child together.

  But she was like a charging horse, and could not be stopped. "Oh, you're so clever, aren't you?" she raved.

  "No, but I don't pretend to be stupid, which is what you're doing now."

  "I didn't come here to argue. I'm telling you not to speak to my children."

  Ned lowered his voice. "Roger is mine, too."

  "He must not be made to suffer for my sins."

  "Then don't force your religion down his throat. Tell him what you believe, and admit that good men disagree. He will respect you more."

  "Don't you dare tell me how to raise my children."

  "Then don't you tell me what I may and may not say to my son."

  She went to the door. "I'd tell you to go to hell, but you're on your way there already." She left the room, and a moment later the front door slammed.

  Ned looked out of the window, but for once he did not enjoy the beauty of the cathedral. He was sorry to have quarreled with Margery.

  One thing they were agreed upon: they would never tell Roger the truth about his parenthood. They both felt it would be deeply disturbing to the boy--or even to the man, later on--to learn that he had been so deceived all his life. Ned would never have the joy of acknowledging his only son, but he had to make that sacrifice for the boy's own sake. Roger's welfare was more important than Ned's: that was what it meant to be a parent.

  He looked down at his letter and transcribed the second sentence: Cardinal Romero is back and his mistress with him. That was significant. Romero was an informal envoy of the king of Spain. He must be plotting something with the French ultra-Catholics. And his mistress, Jeronima Ruiz, had spied for Ned at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Perhaps she would be willing to reveal what Romero was up to.

  As he was working on the third sentence, Sylvie came into the parlor. Ned handed her the letter that had come with his own. She did not open it immediately. "I heard some of your conversation with Margery," she said. "The louder parts. It sounded unpleasant."

  Ned took her hand, feeling awkward. "I wasn't attempting to convert Roger. I just wanted to answer his questions honestly."

  "I know."

  "I'm sorry if you were embarrassed by my old flame."

  "I'm not embarrassed," Sylvie said. "I realized, a long time ago, that you love us both."

  That startled Ned. It was true, but he had never admitted it.

  Reading his mind, Sylvie said: "You can't hide that kind of thing from a wife." She opened her letter.

  Ned looked again at his own. With half his mind on Sylvie's words, he decoded the last sentence: Jeronima will talk only to you.

  He looked up at Sylvie, and the right words came to him. "As long as you know that I love you."

  "Yes, I do. This is from Nath. She needs more books. I have to go to Paris."

  "So do I," said Ned.

  Sylvie still had not climbed the cathedral tower to look at the view. After the Sunday service, with a spring sun shining through the colored windows, she looked for the staircase up. There was a small door in the wall of the south transept that opened onto a spiral staircase. She was wondering whether she should ask permission, or just slip through the door, when Margery approached her. "I had no right to come storming into your house and make such a scene," Margery said. "I feel ashamed."

  Sylvie closed the little door. This was important and the view from the tower would always be there.

  She felt that she was the lucky one, and therefore she should be magnanimous to Margery. "I understand why you were so upset," she said. "At least, I think I do. And I really don't blame you."

  "What do you mean?"

  "You and Ned should be raising Roger together. But you can't, and it breaks your heart."

  Margery looked shocked. "Ned swore he would never tell anyone."

  "He didn't. I guessed, and he couldn't deny it. But the secret is safe with me."

  "Bart will kill me if he finds out."

  "He won't find out."

  "Thank you." There were tears in Margery's eyes.

  "If Ned had married you, he would have had a house full of children. But it seems I can't conceive. It's not as if we don't try." Sylvie was not sure why she was having such a candid conversation with the woman who loved her husband. It just seemed pointless to pretend.

  "I'm sorry to hear that . . . though I had guessed it."

  "If I die before Ned, and Bart dies before you, then you should marry Ned."

  "How can you say such a thing?"

  "I'll look down from heaven and bless your marriage."

  "It's not going to happen--but thank you for saying it. You're a good woman."

  "You are too." Sylvie smiled. "Isn't he lucky?"

  "Ned?"

  "To have the love of both of us."

  "I don't know," said Margery. "Is he?"

  Rollo was awestruck by the Guise palace. It was bigger than the Louvre. With its courtyards and gardens it covered at least two acres. The place was thronged with servants and men-at-arms and distant relations and hangers-on, all of whom were fed daily and lodged every night. The stable block alone was bigger than the entire house Rollo's father had built in Kingsbridge at the height of his prosperity.

  Rollo was invited there in June of 1583 for a meeting with the duke of Guise.

  Duke "Scarface" Francois was long dead, as was his brother Cardinal Charles. Francois's son Henri, aged thirty-two, was now the duke. Rollo studied him with fascina
tion. By a coincidence that was regarded, by most Frenchmen, as divinely ordained, Henri had been wounded in the face, just like his father. Francois had been disfigured by a spear, whereas Henri had taken a bullet from an arquebus, but both had ended up with conspicuous marks, and now Henri, too, was nicknamed Scarface.

  The famously cunning Cardinal Charles had been replaced, in the councils of the Guise family, by Pierre Aumande de Guise, the lowborn distant relative who had been Charles's protege. Pierre was patron of the English College, and had given Rollo his alias of Jean Langlais, the name by which he was always known when engaged in secret work.

  Rollo met the duke in a small but opulent room that was hung with paintings of biblical scenes in which many of the women and men were naked. There was a distinct air of decadence that made Rollo uncomfortable.

  Rollo was flattered, but somewhat intimidated, by the high status of the other attendees. Cardinal Romero was here to represent the king of Spain, and Giovanni Castelli the Pope. Claude Matthieu was the rector of the Professed Jesuits. These men were the heavy artillery of Christian orthodoxy, and he felt amazed to find himself in their company.

  Pierre sat next to Duke Henri. Pierre's skin condition had worsened over the years, and now there were red flaking patches on his hands and neck as well as at the corners of his eyes and mouth, and he scratched himself continually.

  Three Guise attendants served wine and sweetmeats as the notables took their seats, then stood by the door awaiting further orders. Rollo assumed they were thoroughly trustworthy, but all the same he would have made them wait outside. Secrecy had become an obsession with him. The only person in this room who knew his real name was Pierre. In England it was the opposite: no one knew that Rollo Fitzgerald was Jean Langlais, not even his sister, Margery. Rollo was theoretically employed by the earl of Tyne, who was a timid Catholic, devout but frightened of conspiracy; the earl paid him a salary, gave him indefinite leave of absence, and asked no questions.

  Duke Henri opened the discussion with a statement that thrilled Rollo: "We are here to talk about the invasion of England."

  This was Rollo's dream. The work he had been doing for the last ten years, smuggling priests into England, was important, but palliative: it kept the true faith alive, but did nothing to change the status quo. Its true value was as preparation for this. An invasion led by Duke Henri could return England to the Catholic Church and restore the Fitzgerald family to its rightful position in the ruling elite.

  He saw it in his mind: the invasion fleet with banners flying; the armored men pouring onto the beaches; the triumphal entry into London, cheered by the crowds; the coronation of Mary Stuart; and himself, in bishop's robes, celebrating mass in Kingsbridge Cathedral.

  Rollo understood, from his discussions with Pierre, that Queen Elizabeth was a major nuisance to the Guises. Whenever the ultra-Catholics got the upper hand in France, swarms of Huguenots sought asylum in England, where they were welcomed for their craft skills and enterprise. Prospering there, they sent money home to their coreligionists. Elizabeth also interfered in the Spanish Netherlands, permitting English volunteers to go there and fight on the rebel side.

  But Henri had another motive. "It is insupportable," he said, "that Elizabeth, who has been declared illegitimate by the Pope, should rule England and keep the true queen, Mary Stuart, in prison."

  Mary Stuart, the queen of the Scots, was Duke Henri's cousin. If she became queen of England, the Guises would be the supremely powerful family of Europe. No doubt this was what was driving Henri and Pierre.

  Rollo suffered a moment of doubt about the domination of his country by a foreign family. But that was a small price to pay for a return to the true faith.

  "I see the invasion as a two-pronged fork," Henri said. "A force of twelve thousand men will land at an east coast port, rally the local Catholic noblemen, and take control of the north of the country. Another force, perhaps smaller, will land on the south coast and, again, muster the Catholics to take control. Both groups, supplied and reinforced by English supporters, will march on London."

  The Jesuit leader said: "Very good, but who is going to pay for this?"

  Cardinal Romero answered him. "The king of Spain has promised half the cost. King Felipe is fed up with English pirates attacking his transatlantic galleons and stealing their cargoes of gold and silver from New Spain."

  "And the other half?"

  Castelli said: "I believe the Pope will contribute, especially if shown a credible war plan."

  Rollo knew that kings and popes gave promises more readily than they gave cash. However, right now money did not matter quite as much as usual. Duke Henri had just inherited half a million livres from his grandmother, so he was able to meet some of the expense himself if necessary.

  Henri now said: "The invasion force will need plans of suitable harbors for the landing."

  Rollo realized that Pierre had choreographed this event. He already knew the answer to every question. The point of the meeting was to let each attendee know that all the others were willing to play their parts.

  Now Rollo said: "I will get the maps."

  Henri looked at Rollo. "On your own?"

  "No, duke, not alone. I have a large network of powerful and wealthy Catholics in England." It was Margery's network, not Rollo's, but no one here realized that. And Rollo had always insisted on knowing where his priests were being sent, on the pretext of making sure they would be compatible with their protectors.

  Henri said: "Can you rely on these people?"

  "Your Grace, they are not just Catholics. They are men who are already risking the death penalty for harboring the priests I have been smuggling into England for the last ten years. They are utterly trustworthy."

  The duke looked impressed. "I see."

  "Not only will they supply maps: they will be the core of the uprising that will support the invasion."

  "Very good," said Henri.

  Pierre spoke for the first time. "There remains one essential element: Mary Stuart, the queen of the Scots. We cannot embark on this enterprise unless we have a clear commitment from her that she will support the rebellion, authorize the execution of Elizabeth, and assume the crown herself."

  Rollo took a deep breath. "I will undertake to make sure of her," he said. He silently prayed that he would be able to keep this ambitious promise.

  Henri said: "But she is in prison, and her letters are monitored."

  "That's a problem, but not insuperable."

  The duke seemed satisfied with that. He looked around the room. With the brisk impatience common to powerful men, he said: "I think that's all. Gentlemen, thank you for your attendance."

  Rollo glanced to the door and saw, to his surprise, that the three servants had been joined by a fourth person, a man in his early twenties whose hair was cut in the short style fashionable among students. He looked vaguely familiar. Whoever he was, he had presumably heard Rollo promise to betray his country. Unnerved, Rollo pointed and said loudly: "Who is that man?"

  Pierre answered: "It's my stepson. What the devil are you doing here, Alain?"

  Rollo recognized him now. He had seen the boy several times over the years. He had the blond hair and beard of the Guise family. "My mother is ill," Alain said.

  Rollo watched with interest the procession of emotions over Pierre's face. At first, fleetingly, there was a look of hope, quickly repressed; then a mask of concern that did not quite convince Rollo; and finally an expression of brisk efficiency as he said: "Summon a doctor immediately. Run to the Louvre and fetch Ambroise Pare--I don't care about the cost. My beloved Odette must have the best possible care. Go, boy, hurry!" Pierre turned back to the duke and said: "If you have no further need of me, Your Grace . . ."

  "Go, Pierre," said Henri.

  Pierre left the room, and Rollo thought: Now, what was that pantomime about?

  Ned Willard had come to Paris to meet Jeronima Ruiz, but he had to be very careful. If she were suspected of passing sec
ret information to Ned, she would be executed--and so might he.

  He stood in a bookshop in the shadow of the cathedral of Notre Dame. The shop had once been owned by Sylvie's father. Ned had not known Sylvie at the time, but she had pointed out the place to him in 1572, when they were courting. Now the shop was owned by someone else, and Ned was using it as a convenient place to loiter.

  He studied the titles on the spines of the books and, at the same time, kept an anxious eye on the great west front of the church with its twin towers. As soon as the tall church doors opened he abandoned his pretense of shopping and hurried outside.

  The first person to emerge from the cathedral was Henri III, who had become king of France when his brother, Charles IX, died nine years ago. Ned watched him smile and wave to the crowd of Parisians in the square. The king was thirty-one. He had dark eyes and dark hair already receding at the temples to give him a widow's peak. He was what the English called a "politician"--in French un politique--meaning that he made decisions about religion according to what he thought would be good for his country, rather than the other way around.

  He was closely followed by his mother, Queen Caterina, now a dumpy old lady of sixty-four wearing a widow's cap. The queen mother had borne five sons, but all had suffered poor health, and so far three had died young. Even worse, none of them had ever fathered a son, which was why the brothers had succeeded one another as kings of France. However, this bad luck had made Caterina the most powerful woman in Europe. Like Queen Elizabeth, she had used her power to arbitrate religious conflict by compromise rather than violence; like Elizabeth, she had had limited success.

  As the royal party disappeared across the bridge to the Right Bank, there was a general exodus from the three arched doorways of the cathedral, and Ned joined the crowd, hoping he was inconspicuous among the many people who had come to look at the king.

  He spotted Jeronima Ruiz in seconds. It was not hard to pick her out from the mob. She wore red, as usual. She was now in her early forties: the hourglass figure of her youth had thickened, her hair was not so lush, and her lips were no longer full. However, she walked with a sway and looked out alluringly from under black eyelashes. She still radiated sex more powerfully than any other woman in sight--although Ned sensed that what had once been carelessly natural was now achieved with conscious effort.