The Prince of Darkness by Jean Plaidy

Author:Jean Plaidy [Plaidy, Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, (Retail)
ISBN: 9780099493297
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 1327501
Publisher: Arrow
Published: 1978-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Hubert de Burgh was riding to Falaise.

What can I do? he asked himself. Five or six weeks. Thank God, not yet! There is time to think, to see for myself what can be done.

The sly look in his eyes when he talked of reward! He meant if you do not work for me you are working against me. What a monster it was they had put on the throne.

It is true that if Arthur were not there the throne would be safer for John. All those who rose against him used Arthur as a pretext. If Arthur did not exist there would be peace. Thousands of lives would be saved all for the cost of one.

But Arthur was to live. Hubert thought of a poor sightless boy groping his way about a cell; and he was the one to give the orders that this should be done.

How can I? he asked himself as he rode along. And then: How can I not?

In due course he reached the castle.

He was greeted by Sir William de Braose and his forthright lady.

‘Why has the King decided to change Arthur’s jailer?’ asked Matilda.

‘I know not,’ replied Hubert, for he was wondering why, if such an order had been given to him, it should not have been to William de Braose. He wondered what Sir William’s reactions would have been but he dared not ask. He dared not mention the matter. Not that he wanted to. It sickened him so much that he wanted to thrust it out of his thoughts.

‘But you are glad to be relieved of the duty?’ asked Hubert.

‘I like not to be jailer to a royal boy,’ said Sir William.

‘He’s a child at heart,’ said Matilda quite fondly. ‘I’m beginning to feel he is like one of my own. He needs affection, that boy. I think he could be happy if no one had ever talked to him about a throne and let him play and learn to be a knight like someone of simpler birth.’

‘I can see you have been kind to him.’

‘Who knows,’ said Sir William, ‘when the tables might be turned.’

But it was not only this thought, Hubert knew, which had made them care for the boy. There was a tenderness in most people for the young.

He was taken to the rooms in which Arthur was confined, and Sir William presented him.

‘This is Hubert de Burgh who is coming to take our place.’

The boy received Hubert with a touch of hauteur. Poor child, thought Hubert, you little know what fate is in store for you. For all his dignity young Arthur was summing up his new jailer and Hubert’s heart smote him, for behind the regal manner cowered a frightened boy. How shall I do it? he kept asking himself. How can I do that to such a child … ? Could I do it to the veriest villain? Perhaps. But to a boy. God help me.

Two days later the Braoses left.

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