Checkmate - Dorothy Dunnett [181]
‘… Whereas in France,’ said Lord James Stewart, as if he had not spoken, ‘you have fame, office and property with only one cloud on the horizon: soon you will be expected to declare yourself openly for the established church or the new religion. If you choose the Catholic Church, your future will be proscribed, for no man, however able, can rise higher in France than the de Guises. And if you choose the new religion, you will court death as surely as in Russia.’
Lymond was smiling. ‘Whereas in Scotland, you mean to convey, the possibilities on either side are almost unlimited?’
‘That is just what I mean to convey,’ said Lord James Stewart.
‘And the choice is mine. I can march into Scotland at the head of a French and Catholic army and fight the Reformers at the Queen Regent’s side, while retaining all my revenues and my goods in both kingdoms. Or I may abandon all I possess in this country and return to support the cause of yourselves and my brother—if, that is, my brother does not succeed in making a shred-pie of me with his fists or his dagger beforehand. I hardly know which to consider.’
John Erskine said stiffly, ‘It is not hard, if you allow material prospects to be your sole arbiter.’
Lymond said, ‘I thought, according to his lordship, that we were being practical.’
‘We are,’ said Lord James curtly. ‘Let us continue to be so. Any man joining our faction in Scotland will lose all his French possessions and will find little favour with the Queen Dowager during her lifetime. When her mother the Dowager dies, Queen Mary will stay here in France with her husband the Dauphin and later, one supposes, as joint queen of France and of Scotland. Meanwhile Scotland will be ruled by a regency. And by then, this party will be so strong that the regency will be unacceptable by the Scottish people unless it is a Calvinist one.
‘Some of the men you will speak to are despondent,’ said Lord James Stewart. ‘Some see no future for Scotland save as a Catholic province of France. I have no such fears. No country so far separated from another need call it master. In name, the monarch of France for some time to come may call himself King also of Scotland. But the Regency, and those who brought the regency into power will be the rulers of Scotland, nourishing it on their native wits and goodwill, and leading it to dwell in the pure light of the only true religion. That is our plan. And there were those who told me that you might be man enough to join us.’
‘As a member of the Russian Orthodox Church,’ Lymond said, ‘I could arrange to have the Water of Leith blessed at Epiphany. Otherwise the spiritual yield of the arrangement would seem to be as small as the material one. I am sorry that a drunken ride of mine should have so misled you. I have no interest in Scotland. All I can promise is that I shall not be beguiled into leading an army against you.’
‘You will forgive us,’ said Lord James Stewart, ‘if we fail to break into applause. What if the King of France does use force to put down the new religion in Scotland, and your brother and his house are all slaughtered? Will you not then come hurrying back?’
There was a little silence. Then Lymond said, ‘Yes. Indeed, I might.’
The Queen’s brother stood up.
‘Wait!’ said John Erskine suddenly. To Lymond he said, ‘You do not trust us, and we have not been open with you. Our people in Dieppe have received letters from Admiral Coligny, now in prison at Gand. We know what you did for his brother’s wife in the Hôtel Bétourné last autumn. That is our third reason for approaching you.’
He could not tell from the other man’s face whether or not he found that surprising. ‘I see,’ Lymond said. ‘And you attributed to me the highest spiritual motives. I am flattered, but I must disillusion you. I owed a slight debt of chivalry to the Maréchale de St André, who was also present at the Communion. Public exposure and confiscation of all the family goods might also have blighted somewhat my forthcoming marriage with her