The Thistle and the Rose by Jean Plaidy

Author:Jean Plaidy
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780307498281
Publisher: THREE RIVERS PRESS
Published: 1973-01-06T05:00:00+00:00

She was inconsolable. Her women tried to calm her.

“This is so bad for you, Your Grace. Children take these maladies… and often they die.”

“Had I brought him with me he would be alive today,” she asserted. “It is my enemies who have done this. They have murdered him as others murdered my uncles in the Tower. And my little James, what will become of him?”

“Your Grace, you have heard that he continues in fine health.”

“For how long?” she cried bitterly.

There was no consoling her. Her women reminded her of her weakness, but she took no heed of them.

She cried out: “He has done this, that black-hearted murderer. He has killed my little son. My child… dying, and his mother not with him. My little Alexander who was such a bonny child. And what of my James? Oh, this is a bitter day for me. Would I could lay my hands on that murderer. How did he do it? They say my uncles were stifled in their beds. Is that how my little Alex was murdered? You see, do you not, if he murders my little James as he has his brother, then there would be no one to stand between him and the throne.”

They were afraid that in the excess of grief she would do herself some harm, so they sent Angus to comfort her.

He sat by the bed and begged her to stop weeping, for it grieved him to see her thus.

“It is easy for you,” she cried. “He is not your son.”

“It is not easy for me to look on when you are so sad.”

That softened her. “Oh, my dearest,” she cried, “what should I do without you? But if only our plans had succeeded, if only with this dear daughter of ours I had my sons as well, I would ask nothing more. I swear I would ask nothing more.”

Angus knelt by the bed. “Return to Scotland,” he said earnestly. “Make peace with Albany.”

“Make peace with the murderer of my son!”

“You know he is no murderer. What sense does it make… murdering young Alexander while James lives? Had he wished to remove all obstacles to the throne he would have killed them both.”

“How do I know what will befall James now that his brother has been removed?”

“You must be reasonable. You are hysterical. Oh, I understand your grief… and indeed it is mine, but you know Albany has done no murder. He is not the man to commit murder, and it is my belief that he does not greatly desire the crown of Scotland.”

“It is easy for you. It is not your son who has died. Murderer! Usurper! He is another Richard III, I tell you. And my little one is in his hands.”

Angus laid his hand on her brow. He was wondering what she would say if she knew that he had written to Albany asking on what terms he could return, that Albany's reply had been very favorable, and that he had almost made up his mind that he was going to Scotland whether she would come or not.

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