The King's Confidante: The Story of the Daughter of Sir Thomas More (19 page)

She was silent, but he insisted on an answer. “Yes, Father.”

“Well, then. The suffering of the body is as naught to the eternal damnation of the soul. If, by setting the flames at the feet of this monk Luther, we could restore his soul to God, then would it not be well to burn him alive?”

“I do not know.”

“Meg, it is a glorious thing to subdue the flesh, to become indifferent to pain. What happens to these bodies cannot be of importance. And if those who deny God are to suffer eternal damnation, what can a few minutes in the fire mean to them?”

Margaret covered her face with her hands. I have lost a part of him, she thought.

He drew her hands from her face and smiled at her; all the gentleness was back in his eyes.

She saw that he was tired, that he longed to escape from the life at Court, to retire to the quietness and peace of family life.

It was a strange revelation to find that she did not entirely agree with him. Yet how she loved him! Even more, now that she believed she had detected a certain weakness in him, than she had when she had loved him for all his strength.

She almost wished that he had not educated her so thoroughly, that he had not trained her mind to be so logical. She wished that she could have gone on seeing him as perfect.

He was begging her to return to the old relationship. He wanted to laugh and be gay.

“Now you have talked to me, Margaret,” he said. “You have examined me with many questions, and you look at me quizzically, and you are turning over in your mind what I have said, and you doubt the wisdom of my words. Very well, my Meg. We will talk of this later. Now I have something to say to you. Can you guess what it is?”

“No, Father.”

“Well then, it is about Will.”

“Will Roper?”

“Who else? Do you not like him a little, Meg?”

She blushed, and he smiled to see her blush. “I like him, Father.”

“He loves you dearly. He has told me so.”

“I would rather he did not burden you with his foolish feelings.”

“Is it foolish to love you? Then, Meg, I must be the most foolish man on Earth.”

“ 'Tis different with us. You are my father, and it is natural that you and I should love.”

“ 'Tis natural that Will should also. He is good. I like him. I like him very much. There is no one I would rather see as your husband, Meg. For although he may not be as rich or handsome as our gay young Allington, although he may not make a lady or a duchess of you one day… he is none the worse for that.”

“Do you think I should care to be a lady or a duchess, Father? I am not like your wife, who has been so proud since she has become Lady More.”

He laughed. “Leave her her pleasures, Meg. They are small ones, and we understand her delight in them, do we not? But to return to Will. You are fond of him, I know.”

“As I am of the others. To me he is no more than… any of them.”

“But, Meg, he is personable and clever… a pleasant boy. What do you look for in a man?”

“He seems to me to be overyoung.”

“He is seven years your senior.”

“Still, he seems young. He lacks seriousness. He is no great scholar. If he had written something like
Utopia
… something that showed his ideals and … Oh, you have set us a high standard, Father. Your daughter measures all men against
you
, which means that she finds them sadly lacking.”

He laughed those words to scorn, but he could not help showing his pleasure.

Now he was himself again, full of laughter, enjoying every moment. This evening they would be together … all of them; they would converse in Latin as they were wont to do; and Alice would chide them, but only mildly. Her title, to her, was a bright bauble. They all smiled to see her face when the servants addressed her as “My Lady.”

It was good to have him back, to forget his fierceness against heretics, to sing and be gay as in the old days.

PERHAPS THERE
is always something good in what seems to be evil, thought Margaret. She longed for the days when her father had been a humble lawyer and Under-Sheriff of the City; she remembered with a tender pain the walks through the City; but this was not the case with all the members of the family.

Ailie was bright-eyed with happiness as she came into the schoolroom where Margaret sat with her books.

How lovely she is! thought Margaret. And more beautiful now that she is a member of this distinguished family than she was in the days of our humility.

Ailie pulled off the net which held back her golden hair from her face. That beautiful hair now fell about her shoulders and down to her waist.

“Such news, Meg! I am to be married. My Lady Allington! What do you think of that?”

“So Giles is to be your husband?”

“I shall be the first in the family to find one.”

“That does not really surprise us.”

“To tell the truth, Meg, it does not surprise me. Giles says what a good thing it is that Father has written this book with the King and become such an important person at Court. His father could not withhold his consent to a union with the stepdaughter of Sir Thomas More. Oh Meg, is it not a marvelous thing … what great happenings are set in motion by such little things? A mere book is written and
I
become Lady Allington!”

Margaret laughed. There was that in Ailie which amused her as it did her father. Perhaps Ailie was selfish because she saw herself as the center of the world, but it was a charming little world, and Ailie herself was so pretty and pleasant in her ways that it was impossible not to love her.

“Ailie, you will go away from us, for Giles will not live here.”

“He will certainly have his estates to attend to. But, depend upon it, I shall insist on many visits to my darling family.”

“Then I doubt not that there will
be
many visits, for I believe you will have your way as Lady Allington just as you have as Alice Middleton.”

“So do not fret, dearest Meg. We shall be together often. I shall bring you tales of the great world. I shall tell you what the ladies are wearing and what new dances are being danced… and all Court matters which Father never notices. Meg, it will be your turn next… yours or Mercy's. I wonder who will first find a husband.”

Margaret turned away, but Ailie was looking at her slyly.

“There is Master Clement who comes here so often. Have you noticed how he looks first for Mercy? It would not greatly surprise me if our solemn Mercy told us she was to be Mistress Clement one day.”

“Mercy is too interested in her studies to think of aught else.”

Ailie laughed. “John Clement
an I
her studies both interest Mercy very much. There they sit, heads close together, talking of drugs and disease. Sometimes when I see them I think I shall die of laughter. I do indeed, Meg. I say to Giles: ‘You talk of my
beauty … of my charming ways … and that is by far the best way of courtship. But there are other ways, I have discovered, for I live in a strange household. Some lovers exchange recipes and talk of the internal organs of the sick instead of the eyelashes of the loved one.’”

“Ailie, have done with such frivolous gossip.”

“I will not. For 'Tis a strange thing, Meg that, when a girl has found a husband, she is anxious for all her friends to do the same. However solemn, however learned they may be, I want them to be married as I shall be.” Ailie began to dance a stately measure with an imaginary partner, tossing back her hair, smiling coquettishly into the face she saw in her imagination. “This is the newest Court dance, Meg. Giles taught it to me. Oh, how I long to be at Court, to dance in the great halls while the King's minstrels play in the gallery. I shall have rich gowns, Meg, and jewels…. I shall be the happiest girl in the whole world… and all because Father has won the King's regard; for Meg, had he not done so, I do not think Giles's father would have readily given his consent to our marriage.”

“You think of nothing but yourself, Ailie. Might not Father rather be at home as he used to be?”

“How could he prefer that! Giles says that the King is as fond of his as he is of Master Wolsey … and mayhap more … for while the Cardinal makes great efforts to please the King, Father does it without effort; while the Cardinal has to be a worshipper of the King, Father has but to be himself. Nay, we are going up, Meg. Up and up. Father will win more honors yet, and there are many who will be ready—nay, eager—to wed his daughters. But some of these, I vow, look not farther than their own home.”

Ailie was looking at Margaret slyly, and Margaret said: “Enough of this. Is it not your turn to be housekeeper this week, and have you not your duties to perform?”

“Lady More will not be hard on the future Lady Allington. So rest in peace, dear Meg. I'll swear Will Roper is a pleasant fellow, but now that our fortunes are rising, do not be rash, Meg.”

“I do not understand you.”

“What? Have you then become a fool? You … the cleverest of your fathers daughters! Listen to me, Margaret: if you do not look to Will Roper, then he looks to you.”

Margaret packed up her books and set them on a shelf; her cheeks were burning.

“You are making a mistake, Ailie,” she said, “when you think that everyone shares your desires for the married state.”

That made Ailie laugh, and she went on laughing as Margaret, in a most dignified manner, walked out of the room.

NOW SHE
must continually think of Will Roper. When, during mealtimes, she lifted her eyes, she would invariably find Will's upon her. While she studied she would find thoughts of Will coming between her and her work.

It was disturbing.

Then she noticed a change in Will. Often when she looked up she would find him staring into space, and if she caught his eye suddenly, he would start and smile at her; and she would know that his thoughts had been occupied with matters which did not concern her.

He would spend a long time alone and seemed to find great pleasure in his own company.

He has changed his mind, thought Margaret. He does not wish to marry me after all. Can it be that his fancy has turned to someone else?

She was astonished by her feelings. Could it be that, not desiring marriage with Will, she desired him to marry no other? She began to think of what the house would be like if he left it. Her father was away so much; how would it be if Will were not there at all?

Her father … and Will! She had come to think of them together. She realized how pleased she had always been when her father spoke well of Will.

One day, when she was alone in the schoolroom, Will came in.
He carried a book under his arm. She thought it was a law book until she saw that it was the Greek Testament of Erasmus.

“Oh, Margaret, I am glad to find you alone,” he said. “I want to talk to you. No, don't be alarmed…. It is not about marriage. It is another matter which gives me much concern.”

“Please tell me, if it is on your mind, Will. I have seen that something has bothered you of late.”

“I do not know how you will receive this news, Margaret. I have been reading this Testament, and I have pondered on what I have read. I have also read
Babylonish Captivity of the Church
, and I have come to this conclusion, Meg. There is no truth other than this which comes out of Germany.”

“Will!”

“I know. You are alarmed. You will hate me now. Your father has expressed his views strongly … and your views, of a surety, are his views on this matter. I had to tell you. I do not believe that Martin Luther is a bad man. I believe he is honest and Godfearing. I believe he seeks a better way of life for the world, and, Margaret, I believe that he, and he alone, has fallen upon the truth.”

Margaret stared at him; his eyes were bright and his cheeks flushed; he looked quite unlike the mild law student whom she had known for the last three years. He looked resolute and noble.

She thought: He knows that this confession of his may mean that he will be banished from the house, and yet he makes it. He knows that it will turn Father from him, and yet he makes it. He knows that Father is one of the brightest stars at the Court, and he knows that heretics are punished in this land. Yet he comes to me and says he will become a Lutheran.

Oh, Will, she thought, you fool…
you fool!

But she was moved by his courage, even though it was inspired by what her loyalty to her father insisted must be his wrong thinking.

She began to repeat her fathers arguments, to prevent her thoughts running she knew not whither.

“The man is trying to tear the Church asunder.”

“What of Erasmus? What of your father in the days when they were writing
In Praise of Folly
and
Utopia?”

She said: “They exposed certain evils in the Church. They wished these matters to be righted. This man Luther defies the Holy Pope and the whole Church. He would set up a new Church in its place.”

“But, Meg, if that were the true Church… is it not a good thing to set it up in place of the false one?”

“You would then deny the faith of your fathers?”

“I want a simpler way of worshipping God. I want to examine the Scriptures more carefully. I do not want to say, ‘My fathers thought this, therefore must I think it.’ I have thought much of Martin Luther, Meg. Can
you
deny that he is a great man? Think of him—the son of poor parents, thrown upon the world at an early age, begging his bread and studying … always studying. Meg, he reminds me of your father, for like him he studied the law, and like him he went into a monastery. And while he was there, he found much that was evil, and he determined to fight it with all his might. Margaret, think. These Indulgences against which he rails— are they good? I ask you: Can people buy, with money, forgiveness in Heaven? Picture him on that October day in Wittenberg … so boldly marching up to the church door and there nailing upon it his theses. He knew of the danger he was in. He knew that the whole Catholic world was against him. But he cared not, Meg, because he knew that what he did was right. He is a great man; he is a man of genius; he is a
goal
man whose teaching I would follow.”