‘Yes,’ went on Philip, ‘he visited his father and was there alone with him. When he left the sick chamber he had the seal. Now of course he has the authority. The seal is in his hands so it must be his father’s wish that he should have it. Depend upon it, those scheming uncles will never come to Court. They and the Queen will learn that Philip may be young but he has good men to advise him, and he is determined to be King of France.’


* * *

From a turret of the castle Henry watched William the Marshall ride into the courtyard. No one sat his horse quite as well as William. He was indeed a handsome knight. Henry narrowed his eyes. Of course William was seeking to become Marguerite’s lover and Marguerite was indeed taken with him.

He it was who offered her such affectionate sympathy over the rapidly deteriorating health of her father. Why should she go to William instead of to her husband? Perhaps because he was too friendly with Philip of Flanders and she had never been able to see how attractive he was. She thought he was a bad influence on Henry, no doubt told so by William the Marshall.

He shouted to one of his attendants: ‘Send William the Marshall to me.’

In a short time William appeared.

Henry narrowed his eyes and said: ‘There is something I have been going to say to you for a long time.’

William met his gaze steadily. ‘My lord?’

‘You offend me with your censorious manner,’ replied Henry.

‘I do not understand.’

‘And,’ cried Henry, ‘I find that you are too friendly with Queen Marguerite.’

‘My lord, I trust I am the good friend of you both.’

‘And particularly hers, eh?’

‘I do not understand these insinuations.’

‘Do you not? Then you are indeed a fool. I will say it plainly. It has come to my ears that you see a great deal of my wife. I will not have it. Were it not for the fact that you have been my friend for so long I would punish you as you deserve. However, I will be lenient.’

Henry quavered. It was so difficult when face to face with that steadfast gaze to believe these things. William had always been so honourable, so eager to serve him; and when in the past he had seemed to side with someone else, it had always turned out to be for his good.

‘Get out of my sight,’ he said. ‘I will not have you near me. You must leave my service. Go back to England.’

‘You mean that you are in truth dismissing me?’

‘I do mean it. Get out before I am tempted to do you some harm.’

William the Marshall bowed with dignity and left.

Before the day was out he was on his way to England.


* * *

Marguerite was sad and angry.

‘To dismiss William,’ she cried. ‘You are mad. He is the best friend you have.’

‘You would surely think so.’

‘Of course I do. As you must if you think sensibly about the matter.’

‘I know he is very friendly with you.’

‘He is the friend of us both. I know he loves you well and always has. He has tried to bring about a better relationship between you and your father. He is a better friend to you than ever Philip of Flanders would be. That man thinks only of his own advancement.’

Henry began to feel uneasy. The Count was more or less telling young Philip what to do. And there lay Louis powerless to help. The Queen’s brothers had already been forbidden to come to Court and the Queen herself was being treated churlishly.

Feeling that he had been foolish he sought to blame Marguerite.

‘I know full well what has been going on between you and the Marshall.’

Marguerite looked puzzled.

‘He is your lover … or aspires to be.’

‘Henry! You are indeed mad.’

‘Nay. I have seen.’

‘What have you seen?’

‘You both together.’

‘When?’

‘Well … there was the other day in the garden … when you were upset about your father. He comforted you.’

‘Why should he not? I will not stand and hear the Count and my brother speak of my father as though he is dead. I thought you might have expressed some resentment. But you did not. Instead you imagine … nonsense … about me and William.’

Henry said: ‘He is gone. I will not have him here. I have no intention of playing the cuckold.’

‘Oh, Henry, how can you say such things? You know them to be false. William is your very good friend. I am your faithful wife. You are misled by wicked people.’

Henry did not like to feel that he had been so deluded so he pretended to believe that there was some truth in the rumour concerning William and his wife. He felt it would be too humiliating to ask him to return and offer him an apology. He was sulky and went on with the pretence that he was a suspicious husband, much to Marguerite’s exasperation.

He was relieved when Queen Adela asked if she could speak with him privately.

She told him she was very anxious and she believed he could help her if he would.

‘With all my heart,’ he said. He went to her private chamber and there she told him that she was a very unhappy woman.

‘My husband is dying,’ she said, ‘and my son has turned against me. My brothers are refused permission to come to Court and they – and I – are threatened with confiscation of our lands.’

‘The King will not allow that,’ replied Henry.

‘How could I go to the King in his present condition and tell him what his son is trying to do and that he is listening to evil counsel?’

Henry bit his lip in mortification. Philip was not the only one who had done that.

‘If I could do aught to help you …’ he began.

‘You can and it is for that reason that I have asked you to come.’

‘What do you wish of me?’

‘Slip away to England. Seek out your father. Tell him of the position in which I find myself. He will help me, I know.’

Henry considered. He would be pleased to leave the Court of France, for he was feeling more and more ashamed of himself.

If he went to England to see his father that would be a way of escape from a delicate and embarrassing situation.


* * *

The King was in good spirits when he went to Westminster. There was dear little Alice eagerly waiting to greet him.

‘The news is mixed, good and bad, sweetheart,’ he said. ‘For your father is grievously ill.’

Alice tried to look dismayed but it was so long since she had seen her father that she could not remember what he looked like.

‘So sick,’ went on Henry, ‘that it seems he will not last long. That is the bad news. The good is that while he is in this condition there can be no question of a marriage between you and Richard.’

‘It is as though God looks after us,’ said Alice, forgetting that while He cared for them He was being rather unfair to the pious Louis.

‘I know that St Thomas à Becket is my friend. Now, sweetheart, we can put aside our fears.’

He wished that he could put her into Rosamund’s Bower, but that was not possible, for she was a princess and recently there had been so much talk of her marriage.

He stayed with her awhile and when he left to make a tour of Oxfordshire a messenger came to tell him that his son was in the country and on his way to see him.

Father and son met at Reading and there young Henry told the King why he had come in such haste.

‘The Queen of France is asking your advice, Father. The King lies near to death and young Philip is in the hands of the Count of Flanders who seeks to rule France through him.’

‘The foolishness of youth!’ said Henry in a way which made his son redden. ‘No doubt the Count is flattering young Philip as he well knows how to.’

Remembering it was the Count who had been responsible for his dismissal of William the Marshall which he now saw was folly, he said: ‘The Count is in fact ruling France at this moment, for Philip obeys him in all things and now that Philip has filched the seal he is in command.’

‘This cannot be allowed to go on,’ said the King. ‘For all I know they may be planning an invasion of Normandy. It is just the thing which would occur to them. Philip of Flanders would doubtless like Normandy. By God’s eyes, the upstart shall never have it.’

‘The Queen of France asks for your help.’

‘She shall have it.’

‘She will be very grateful to you if you go to her aid.’

‘She should be, for Flanders will make of young Philip nothing but a puppet to serve his ends. It is a sorry thing when a son flouts the authority of his father.’ Young Henry looked uncomfortable because it was a similar state of affairs which had arisen in France to that which had existed in England when the sons of Henry Plantagenet sought to take the power which their father would not give them while he lived. So was Philip taking power while his father was still on his sick bed.

The King was determined to bring home the lesson.

‘When my sons turned against me,’ he said, ‘they went to the King of France for aid and he gave it to them. Yet when the son of the King of France seeks to rob him of his authority, his wife the Queen asks my help. I am prepared to give it.’

‘It is noble of you, my lord,’ said young Henry.

His father burst out laughing. ‘Noble! Kings cannot afford to be noble. Kings must consider what is good for their kingdoms and if nobility is, then so much the better. If not, then that king who served his country ill in order to be noble would be a fool. Nay, I shall go to the aid of Louis and Adela, because I am determined to curtail the power of the Count of Flanders and his minion the King of France. I am going to make sure that Normandy is safe. So I will go to the aid of my erstwhile friend Louis and forget the ill service he did me when I was in like case. Your hold on the crown must be your first consideration, my son. Keep it firm. Then you will be a good king and however noble you are, consider it not.’