Checkmate - Dorothy Dunnett [259]
‘This intention, the Keeper of Seals will implement. And the document, for greater effect, is signed not only by Queen Mary but by the Dauphin.’
The clear voice stopped. ‘It only remains to add,’ said Francis Crawford to his brother, ‘that the Dauphin is impotent.’
No one spoke. Beside him, Adam saw Jerott open his lips, and put his hand, hard, on his arm. Lord Culter said, ‘Where did these papers come from?’
Lymond walked round and stood looking down at his brother. ‘A man who would be drawn and quartered were it known that he passed them on.’
Richard Crawford had not dropped his eyes from his brother’s face. ‘It is too important for that,’ he said. ‘If these are genuine, there will be no royal wedding on Sunday.’
‘I showed them to you first,’ Lymond said, ‘because you are intelligent, and moderate, and at the same time inclined by your convictions not to favour France.’ He paused.
‘If you are asking whether I am a Calvinist,’ Richard said grimly, ‘the answer is that I am. So are three other members of the Commission.’
‘I learned as much at Dieppe,’ Lymond said. ‘The preacher John Knox had been there, expecting to take ship for Scotland. Then he was told not to come. Do you know why?’
For a moment, it seemed that Lord Culter would not answer. Then he said, ‘He is a militant. We hope to receive the concessions we want without open rebellion.’
‘Should Mary die childless,’ Lymond said, ‘the articles she has signed for you provide for the Earl of Arran to reign after her. I am told that he also favours the Protestant religion.’
‘You are told correctly,’ Richard said.
‘What then,’ said Lymond, ‘do you imagine will be his reaction when he hears of this refutation?’
‘There’ll be a revolt,’ Jerott said. ‘God, every Calvinist in Scotland will be up in arms. You can’t expect anything else.’
‘Civil war, then,’ Lymond said. ‘With the Catholic faction eventually swept to victory by the combined Catholic armies of France, and a French Catholic nominee irrevocably placed on the throne as regent and eventual monarch. The Earl of Lennox, I understand, is a strong contender.’
Adam said, ‘How do you know, Francis, it won’t come anyway? The present Regent is not only the Queen’s mother, she’s a de Guise. She’s bound to know about this. You say she’s given the Calvinists hope of concessions. But is she likely to trouble, after this? And if she doesn’t, next time the Calvinists send for John Knox.’
‘It may come anyway,’ Lymond said. ‘But almost any time is better than now. There is a chance that the Queen Dowager will remain tolerant. There is a chance of a Protestant succession in England. There is a chance that France may become too preoccupied with the Huguenots on her own doorstep to have troops and money to spare for Scotland.’
‘The Vidame is leaving now, they say, with ten companies of Germans for Scotland,’ Jerott said. ‘To force us this time, in the Dauphin’s name, not to be so backward in attacking England.’ He looked at Richard, who had not spoken. ‘If the wedding were cancelled, they wouldn’t have that extra authority.’
‘However many troops they send, they won’t get anyone to invade England at the moment,’ Richard said. ‘That is a minor matter.’ He turned to his brother. ‘It seems to me that you are suggesting that we connive at this. That we let the royal wedding take place in the face of a betrayal as monstrous as any people has ever experienced at the hands of its own Queen. I am not of the same mind. First, I require to have proof that these papers are genuine. Then I shall take them with my fellow-Commissioners to the King of France and demand the cancellation of the wedding and the return of Queen Mary to Scotland.’
‘Then you would have not only civil war, but war with France,’ Lymond said.
‘Then,’ said Richard Crawford, ‘you are willing to allow your country to be sold in the market-place in return for the cash for a little girl’s bed hangings?’
‘I want you to keep the issues clear,’ Lymond said. ‘And as free as may be of emotion. Mary has signed these, presumably, out of a duty owed to the men who have