Accusation by Barbara Gaskell Denvil

Author:Barbara Gaskell Denvil [Denvil, Barbara Gaskell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 42960725
Publisher: Gaskell Publishing
Published: 2015-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Charles was stretched out on his bed when the iron lock creaked, and the door opened. He opened his eyes, looking around without apparent interest. But when the Lady Katherine entered, he heaved himself up and wandered out into the main chamber.

Seeing him, Katherine was instantly troubled, and discovered a deep flood of sympathy. The man she remembered as once arrogant now stood a little bent, his elegant clothes creased. In spite of his valet's presence in his quarters, it seemed he had not changed his clothes.

"You look tired, my lord," Katherine said.

"The tedium of repetition can be exhausting," Charles replied, smiling faintly. "Questions are asked. I deny knowledge. The same question is asked. I give the same answer. They glower, and ask yet again."

Katherine whispered, "You haven't been - tortured, sir?"

"I have been threatened with it, but no," Charles told her. "In a matter of heresy, perhaps they would do as they threaten. They call this treason, but it is simple murder at this stage, and torture is kept for those crimes which more personally disturb the queen."

Katherine sat on the small stool indicated, and Charles leaned against the open sill of the tiny window. She asked, "Have you seen her majesty again?"

"No. She is ill," he replied, "and keeps to her bed. I believe she arises only when something agitates her sufficiently, but otherwise she is advised by her doctor to rest. There are those who believe she is dying, and therefore keep their options open, ready for the sudden inheritance of the Princess Elizabeth, who is neither Catholic, nor obsessive."

Katherine looked around, only whispering. "Should you speak such words in here, my lord?"

'Every guard is aware of the same possibility," Charles laughed. "Risk has become fashionable it seems."

"Have you heard," Katherine asked, looking down meekly at her lap, "the latest news? That parts of the man found dead have been fished out of the river. Some clothes. And the - head."

Neither dungeon nor cell, the three small chambers within the Tower were comfortable enough, with a brazier to lessen the chill, but there was thick brown mould growing in a long line down one plastered wall, and both wind and rain gusted through the narrow window slit. Paying for his own food, and retaining the service of his valet, Charles was well fed and called a free man. But he was not free to leave. "I have heard," he told her. "And have argued that this proves the crime was committed a day previously when I was still on the road. It is easily proved that I was at Tower green early on the morning. But it is true, as they assure me, that I could have ordered this murder and had the wretched creature executed elsewhere. Why I should have incriminated myself by ordering the body brought to my stables, I cannot imagine. But it is also true that this James Willis was the one who originally claimed that my mother was involved in the Dudley plot, and myself as well.

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