The Fall of a Sparrow by Dan Scanell

Author:Dan Scanell [Scannell, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Published: 2016-03-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

News From Home and

a Difficult Encounter

Journal Entry

“The next morning, I roused myself at first light, and silently, so as not to awaken Gaudin, pulled on my doublet and hose, stole quietly out into the hallway, and descended to the common room. Hunched over the enormous hearth, Mme Beber was preparing porridge for those who would be the first to greet the new day. Without looking up from the cauldron she was stirring and without so much as acknowledging that she was aware of the my presence, the old lady reached into a fold of her apron and handed me a piece of courier which had arrived from England the previous day.

“It was news, from my mother, already several months old, confirming the rumours that had been circulating in the taverns of Paris for some time now. Our Queen Mary had died and the new Queen Elizabeth, a Protestant, was once again redefining the boundaries of religious conformity as a measure of political loyalty. She had, so it seemed, secular interests as well, for my mother went on to say that my uncle, John de Verre, the Earl of Oxford, to whom I had sent some of my poems for criticism and, I hoped, deserved praise, had shown some of them to the new Queen.

“As learned and well read as any woman or any monarch of her time, the Queen seems to have made a point of encouraging young poets at her court or anywhere that they may have been pointed out to her. It was not clear, from my mother’s letter, whether Oxford initially tried to pass off the poems as his own, but it was clear that the Queen had given them a favourable appraisal and had expressed the desire to see more from this new poet. Oxford it seems, then turned the conversation to his nephew in France, at which point the Queen expressed a desire to make my acquaintance.

“This comforted me, both on account of my pride of authorship and of my practical concern for my safety and fortune. The new regime, evidently, would continue to treat me with kind regard, unless I should give cause to be treated otherwise. It also appeared that my family’s affairs were being well looked after and that there was no urgency to return, since the Queen’s desire to make my acquaintance had stopped short of a summons to her presence.

“I had become so absorbed with the letter that I had forgotten why I had risen so early. I stuffed the letter into my shirt, made my excuses to the matron for passing up her morning gruel and headed out in the direction of Sainte-Geneviève’s Abbey. I hoped to intercept my Italian friend on his way from morning Mass.

“My timing could not have been better, for I quickly spotted Testagrossa, his large mop of dark, curly, unruly hair blowing in the cross breeze as he emerged from the tall abbey gates.

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