Reluctant Queen by Jean Plaidy

Author:Jean Plaidy [Plaidy, Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: C429, Extratorrents, Kat
ISBN: 9780745177076
Publisher: Chivers
Published: 1990-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

SANCTUARY

What followed was like a dream and I remember only snatches of it. The ecstasy of riding those night-quiet streets on Richard’s horse; the bliss of being close to him; the horror of realizing what I must look like in my greasy gown, my hair unkempt, my person redolent of the nauseating smells of the cookshop that had sickened me on my arrival and to which I had grown a little accustomed.

I was not the Anne whom he had known all his life; I was an unwashed, ill-smelling, dirty kitchen slut.

Yet he held me close to him. He was very tender but angry. I knew he was seething with rage. We did not speak of that then but we should later.

As we rode through those streets I was thanking God and Gilly. She had done it. I would tell Richard that I had promised to reward her and I must be sure that she received that reward. She had made this possible; she had succeeded in getting through to Richard and it was due to her that he had found me.

He said, “I am taking you to St. Martin’s. There you will be safe…in sanctuary. No one can harm you there. The nuns will look after you. Later in the day I shall come to see you, then we will talk.”

How well he understood! I did not want to talk yet. All I could do was say to myself: I’m free. It is over. I shall never be in that dirty kitchen again, never shiver on my pallet, listening for footsteps on the stairs. I meant to wash the stains from that place off my body and the memory from my mind.

I was taken into St. Martin’s. I bathed and the clothes I was wearing were taken away and burned. My hair was washed. It was wonderful to feel it fresh and sweet-smelling about my shoulders.

I was given a gray habit to wear until I could have some of my own clothes.

I slept in a small cell with a crucifix hanging on the wall. It was luxury to me.

And later Richard came to see me.

“Anne!” he cried. “You look like my Anne again—though very demure. Like a nun. Never mind, you are back with me. I cannot bear to think of it. It fills me with fury.”

“But you came. I knew you would come if only I could get a message to you. Gilly…that woman…I want her to be rewarded.”

“She shall be. She has already been given food, clothing, and money. Have no fear on that score. I am as eager to reward her as you are. Now tell me…if you wish to talk of it. Or would you rather later? There is so much we have to say and we have some time now.”

I told him briefly what had happened: how I had been driven away through the night because one of the maids had told me she had a message from him and that I was being taken to sanctuary on his orders.

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