The King's Champion. Catherine March
unwed. He summoned her home at once.
Almost at the same time a messenger arrived from London, with a short and yet commanding missive from the King. It seemed he had the need to take another wife and all unwed, eligible maidens were ordered to pay their respects at Court. Herewith, and forthwith, Lord Henry was ordered to bring his daughter Eleanor.
Eleanor noticed that her father was plagued by the delivery of several more letters, and he seemed most thoughtful, a slight frown between his brows as he gazed in silence upon the letters before him. Something was afoot, she was sure, and her suspicions were only deepened when that afternoon her father rode off to Hepple Hill, clearly to consult with her uncle.
Lord Henry engaged in idle chit-chat with Beatrice, praised her honey cakes and sipped the mulled wine she offered, admired his new nephew, but eventually she sensed her brother’s distraction and withdrew, leaving the two men seated with their wine, in warm and trusting companionship.
Remy leaned one ankle on the other, legs outstretched, and gave Henry a shrewd look. ‘Come now,’ he said with a smile, nodding his head at the four scrolls of parchment that Henry clutched in one hand, ‘what is it that troubles you, my brother?’
Henry sighed, rose from his seat and paced about for several yards, tapping the letters against his thigh before turning and waving them aloft. ‘I have received no less than four marriage offers for Eleanor.’
Remy sat up. ‘Indeed? Well, that is good news for ’tis surely time for Eleanor to wed. And no surprise to me, considering that Eleanor is a pretty and wealthy young woman. Why, then, are you so troubled, friend? Whatever it is that grieves Ellie, surely this nonsense has gone on for long enough?’
‘Aye, I could not agree with you more. I know my duty to Eleanor, and that she needs to make a good marriage, before it is too late and she has past the age when offers will still be made.’ Henry sighed, ‘Today I have no less than four, five if you include the King, yet…I find none of them suitable.’
Eyebrows raised in question, Remy waited patiently for an explanation.
‘The first offer,’ continued Henry, raising the first letter, ‘came from Taddeo Visconti, the Italian count from Florence. A wealthy and titled man, a handsome fellow and neither too young nor too old.’
‘But?’
‘But…but there is something I greatly mislike about him…something brutal. And I would not have my…daughter live so far away from me.’
‘Then we strike him off. He is refused.’
Henry sighed, and then nodded. ‘Aye. He is refused. The second offer came from Austin Stratford, a very likeable and amiable chap, but without a title and no means other than what he earns upon the tournament field and the King’s pay. I fear he is looking for a rich heiress, and though that alone holds no blame, I doubt he would make my Eleanor happy. He has no means with which to protect her and his personality is such that no doubt she would lead him a merry dance.’
‘Then he too is refused. Who’s next?’
‘Casper von Eckhart, the Hun.’
Remy sat up and snorted. ‘The devil take him! He will break her within days and I have no liking for his sort in our family line.’
‘Quite,’ agreed Henry. He sat down then, a pensive frown upon his brow. ‘And then there is Neville Talbot, who to all intents and purposes would make an excellent match. He has a fine estate and his own fortune. He seems of fine character and yet…’
His finely sculptured nostrils flared and Remy murmured, ‘And yet I have heard that his liking is for boys.’
Henry met his brother-in-law’s eyes and looked away. It was a subject difficult to prove and to cast such aspersions upon a knight would be a grave offence if proven false. But still there were rumours, and Henry could not be deaf to them, for Eleanor’s sake.
‘You are between a rock and a hard place.’ Remy leaned forwards earnestly, elbows on his knees, ‘I would be most careful of Casper von Eckhart. He is a dangerous fellow and takes insult far too easily. Your refusal should be made in the sweetest of terms.’
Henry spread his hands in a helpless gesture. ‘I heartily agree with you. Let us not forget the fate of his last bride.’
For long moments they sat in silence, staring at the crackling fire flames, pondering, both of them remembering the tale of a young woman from Kent that von Eckhart had taken a fancy to, yet he had been refused by her wealthy landowner father. Von Eckhart had then kidnapped his intended bride, had used her so badly that the maid had thrown herself from a cliff and into the sea before he could drag her to the altar. The Hun was reputed to have in his pay a formidable force of free lancers, soldiers no longer in the employ of the King and thus free to be engaged as paid soldiers by anyone who had enough gold coin to buy the use of their lances. Henry worried that his own garrison, depleted by recent wars in Wales and Scotland, was not sufficient to withstand an outright attack upon Ashton, or even an ambush. He needed Eleanor to be united in marriage with a knight powerful enough to hold both her and Ashton safely. Rupert would inherit the title and estates, but it would be to their advantage if his sister was married to someone others would brook no argument with, and who would come to Ashton’s aid if ever such a need arose.
Henry frowned over the four letters he held, offering marriage to Eleanor. None of them were what he hoped for, and Remy could offer little advice. All he could say to Henry was, ‘A husband must be found for Eleanor, soon, but be on your guard.’
‘Aye, I agree wholeheartedly with you there. And you are quite right in saying this nonsense has gone on for long enough. I cannot for the life of me fathom what ails the girl, but I will see her wed before the summer is out!’
They were each silent for a few moments, and then Remy stated the obvious, ‘Then it is to Court you go.’
Lord Henry groaned, little eager for the expense and inconvenience of removing his household to London. But Remy was right. Eleanor would attract no suitable offers tucked away in the country. By God, the girl was twenty years of age and still an unwed maiden! He would be failing in his duty of care if he did not with all haste see her settled into a suitable marriage. He rode home to Castle Ashton in deep thought, and on his arrival surprised his wife by announcing that she should prepare and pack the necessaries for a visit to the capital by the end of the week.
There was a great flurry of activity. Lady Joanna was as determined as her husband that this time a match would be found for Eleanor. She set all her seamstresses to work night and day sewing several new and very elegant velvet gowns for her daughter, in beguiling shades of sapphire and emerald that would, surely, attract some notice. From a locked chest under her bed Lady Joanna took out several pieces of jewellery, fine necklaces and delicate bracelets of gold that would proclaim Eleanor’s standing as a young woman of noble and wealthy family, as well as enhancing her natural beauty.
They arrived in London late on a damp, dismal afternoon early in May. As guests of the King they had been allocated a suite of rooms in the Palace of Westminster, and as the parents of one who served in the King’s Own Guard these rooms had been finely furnished and servants allocated to see to their every need. Eleanor’s maid unpacked for her in the bedchamber she would use, while her parents retired to their more sumptuous room on the far side of the antechamber where they would gather during the day, when not in the great hall. She stood by the mullion-paned window of her bedchamber and looked out beyond the sweep of green lawn of the embankment to the grey shimmer of the Thames. Beyond she could see the rooftops of the city of London, but it all seemed remote to her. She would much rather have been at home, working in her herb garden or on her calligraphy. But to please her father she had succumbed to his will, or, at least, allowed him to think that she had succumbed.
Eleanor was well aware that her father intended to find her a bridegroom; though she would put no obstacles in his way, and she would be obedient to his wishes and willingly marry