Legacy: The Acclaimed Novel of Elizabeth, England's Most Passionate Queen -- and the Three Men Who Loved Her (110 page)

papers with reedy fingers, knowing that if she had allowed that snapping

of her earthly authority at last, then the end must be in sight. He felt

relieved and at the same time faintly aggrieved that an old man should

have succeeded where he had failed; for he, too, had tried to make her go

to bed, because it offended his sense of order and dignity to see her lying

on the floor like a sick animal. He had told her she must “to content the

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people,” and she had smiled up at him, in that manner which made him

feel so damned insignificant and told him that “must” was not a word to

use to princes.

“Little man, your father, if he were alive, would not have dared to use

that word to me.”

Little man!
By God, he would see to it that the next reign was that

of little men, with himself the foremost among them. James was weak

and malleable, open to influence, and Cecil knew he had already made

an excellent job of ingratiating himself. The masterly secret corre-

spondence would surely bear fruit once the old harridan was dead,

but she must not die without giving her consent. It was the last thing

he wanted from her, the one word which would make everything so

easy for him. There was no way his plan could possibly fail unless, at

the last moment, she should name another heir for spite or jealousy

or whatever twisted emotion still flowed in her shrivelled veins. Her

last whim, and his whole future could depend upon it. The thought

made him sweat with nervousness as he gave the order for the Council

to assemble.

The corridors of Richmond Palace were crowded, but a deathly hush

oppressed the atmosphere and as Cecil strode past the silent groups, the

mingled grief and fear infuriated him. He wanted to shout, “What’s the

matter with you, you fools? It’s not the end of the world.”

But for most of the court, who had never known another monarch,

that was exactly what it was. There was no excitement, no joyful antici-

pation, just a bleak and fearful depression which clouded even Cecil’s

ambitious spirit. He shrugged it off impatiently and marched past the

grim-faced guards into the bedchamber, with the Council at his heels.

Rain was teeming down the tall windows and candles were flickering

in their sconces. The light was failing, and an irritable wind rattled the

shutters, as though something unseen was growing impatient to claim

what was owed to it. Involuntarily Cecil shivered and the councillors

hung back, nervous and ill at ease, as he approached the great bed silhou-

etted in the red firelight.

He knelt to take the hand which lay nearest to him on the coverlet. It

felt stiff and icy cold in his grasp and for a dreadful moment he thought

he had come too late.

Come back, he begged her silently, come back, God damn you!

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As he lifted his head and stared full into her black eyes, he saw the

gleam of hostility in their shadowed pits and knew she had heard his

thought. He swallowed his sudden terror and forced himself to speak.

“Your Majesty—the succession. Is it to be the King of Scotland?”

Nothing!

He got to his feet frantically and leaned over the bed, shielding her

from view.

“Madam—if speech tires you, a sign will do. Is it to be Scotland?”

But there was no movement from the bed, only those dark, dreadfully

knowing eyes staring up into his in their last moment of challenge.

James! Yes—she could well imagine the clumsy, uncouth lout pacing

his northern castle, waiting for news and cursing her for the delay, as

heartily as this little man who was so eager to plant his foot in the future.

Cecil would make his king, set him high and keep him there, and nothing

she could say or do now would alter it. And so she would not say it,

would not humour Cecil’s conscience by giving her consent to what

would happen as naturally as day following night. Let him go away and

stew, he and the master to whom he had already transferred his allegiance;

let them wait till she was ready.

She closed her eyes. For one anguished moment he stared down at

her, hardly able to believe that this living corpse had defeated him; then

he bowed, gestured to the Council, and followed them out of the room.

Outside, as the heavy double doors swung shut behind them, the little

group of grave-faced gentlemen turned to look at the Secretary with

appraising eyes. He was very pale and a nerve was jumping in his cheek,

his slight stoop more pronounced than ever, as though a great weight

rested on his crooked shoulders.

“Well, Sir Robert?”

He was staring at the panelled wall ahead of him, seeing nothing but

the memory of her mocking glance; but at last he realised the absolute

necessity of brazening it out.

He fixed them with a haughty stare, as though daring any man among

them to deny it, and said, in a tone he tried desperately hard to make

casual and convincing, “By the Queen’s own wish, my lords—who but

her cousin of Scotland?”

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Epilogue

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on and our little life is rounded

with a sleep.”

—Shakespeare,
The Tempest

W
ithin the labyrinth she walked slowly down the corridor,

knowing it to be the longest and the last. She had conquered and

no fear informed her stately progress now, only idle curiosity to see what

waited at the end of this journey inwards. When she found the door she

was not unduly surprised; and since she had nothing better to do, and

there was no one here to do it for her—as there had been as far back as

she remembered—she chose to open that door herself.

The door gave out on to an unfathomable expanse of darkness; cold,

empty, remarkably uninviting, it made her hesitate and look back down

the endless passage, a narrow tunnel that ended in a bright pin-prick of

light—the world she was about to leave.

“It
will
go on without you, you know.”

She whirled round, wild with hope.
“Robin
!”

“You were expecting perhaps the Devil in person?”

His voice was exactly as she remembered it, amused, cynical, slightly

peevish.

She laughed a little shakily and took an uncertain step towards the

darkness.

“I don’t know what I was expecting. What place is this?”

Susan Kay

“Oh, this is no-where. The boundary between our two worlds.”

“Then—then I’m not dead.”

“No, you’re not dead.” The voice paused, sighed, seemed to consider.

“You may return even now if you wish. Or you may come with me. But

if you go back now, I shall not wait for you again.”

She took another step towards the engulfing abyss and stretched out

desperate hands.

“But I can’t see you!” she cried. “How do I know this isn’t a dream, or

some trick of the Devil’s? How do I know you are really there?”

“You don’t know,” he said quietly. “That is the final test of your love,

you see—to take me on trust in death, as you never did in life.”

For a moment she was silent.

“What must I do to reach you?” she asked at last.

“You must step off the edge,” he said.

Instinctively she recoiled from the prospect and drew back from

the emptiness.

“Will you not do that for me, even now?” he asked sadly. “Are you

still afraid to fall?”

She smiled and flung up her head with pride.

“I’m not afraid of anything—in this world or the next.”

“I don’t believe you,” he said with soft challenge. “Prove it to me.”

She walked alone into the void.

The corridor was gone and the light at the end of it; the darkness

around her was absolute. She mastered a scream and held out one hand.

“
Robin
?”

“I am here.”

Joyfully, triumphantly, he took her hand and pulled her forward into

infinity.

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Bibliography

Beckingsale, B. W.
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Chamberlin, F.
The Private Character of Queen Elizabeth.

Dunlop, I.
Palaces and Progresses of Queen Elizabeth.

Ericson, C.
The First Elizabeth.

Fraser, A.
Mary, Queen of Scots.

Harrison, G. B.
Letters of Queen Elizabeth.

Hurstfield, J.
Elizabeth I and the Unity of England.

Irwin, M.
That Great Lucifer.

Jenkins, E.
Elizabeth the Great.

Elizabeth and Leicester.

Lacey, R.
Robert, Earl of Essex: An Elizabethan Icarus.

Luke, M.
A Crown for Elizabeth.

Gloriana: The Years of Elizabeth I.

MacNalty, Sir A. S.
Elizabeth Tudor—The Lonely Queen
.

Neale, Sir J.
Queen Elizabeth I.

Plowden, A.
The Young Elizabeth.

Read, C.
Mr. Secretary Cecil and Queen Elizabeth.

Lord Burghley and Queen Elizabeth.

Rowse, A. L.
The England of Elizabeth.

Scarisbrick, J. J.
Henry VIII.

Sitwell, E.
The Queens and the Hive.

Smith, Lacey Baldwin.
A Tudor Tragedy.

Elizabeth Tudor: Portrait of a Queen.

Strachey, Lytton.
Elizabeth and Essex.

Susan Kay

Waldman, M.
Elizabeth and Leicester.

Williams, N.
All the Queen’s Men, Elizabeth I and Her Courtiers.

Elizabeth I: Queen of England.

The Life and Times of Elizabeth I.

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Reading Group Guide

1. Throughout the novel, Elizabeth’s furious temper earns her quite a

reputation, but what is the underlying cause of this anger? Was it her

pride or her guilt that caused the queen’s famous tantrums? Or was

it something else entirely?

2. The struggle between Protestants and Catholics is central to the

division of the people of England and the other powerful European

countries. The foundation for their disagreement lies in the separa-

tion of church and state, forcing the argument: who should have

more power over the people, God or the reigning monarch? How

would events have been different if King Henry had not separated

from Rome? How much of an issue do you think the separation of

church and state is today?

3. Rivalries were abundant in the Elizabethan court. Do you think it is

the fate of those in power to always be surrounded by rivals, or did

something about Elizabeth’s nature lend itself to more controversy?

4. At the end of her life, Queen Elizabeth was overwhelmed by the

realization that “she had lost the love of a people notorious for their

fickle hearts; but she would win it back” (635). Why was she so

motivated to gain back the love of the people? How important are

the common English people to the events in the novel?

Susan Kay

5. After Robin’s death, almost everyone at court assumes that the

Queen will find a new man to have as a companion. Do you agree

with the court that Elizabeth could not rule without a man at her

side? Does this belief discredit her as a ruler since she was never

married nor had a king to rule with her?

6. Robin Dudley and William Cecil, the two men that Queen Elizabeth

trusts and holds most dear, are constantly pitted against each other. In

what ways are these two men similar? Are there any qualities the two

men share besides the fact that they are both loyal to and worship

the queen?

7. What drives Queen Elizabeth’s sudden, powerful, and unnatural

interest in the Earl of Essex? When she looks at him she sees bril-

liant red hair and other Tudor family traits. Is it because he looks as

though he could be her son, the child that she always longed for, that

for once she succumbs to the will of a man? What other factors play

a role in her out-of-character behaviour?

8. It is said many times throughout the novel that “the Queen destroys

every man she sets her eyes upon” (604). Is this true? Does the

Queen destroy those who come in close contact with her, or is it

their unrelenting desire to do whatever it takes to gain her attention

and stay in her favor that is their downfall? Are these characters to be

pitied or do you think they deserve their fate?

9. Upset by the constant death and betrayal of those close to her,

Elizabeth finally decides to maintain a distance from all those around

her. Does her adherence to this restriction allow Elizabeth to become

the powerful queen that she is? Or did her decision not to love, trust,

and grow closer to people hold her back as a ruler? Do you think that

this is a healthy way to live your life?

10. Though many try to win the queen’s heart, Raleigh asserts that

England was her lover and that no one else ever had a chance to

win her over. Do you agree with Raleigh that the queen only

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Legacy

ever loved her throne and kingdom? What do you make of her