Let the boy inherit his father’s wealth. The King did not want it; he had that vast accumulation of riches, which his own father had amassed through his thrifty reign, to squander. Yes, let the attainder be repealed. Let the son of Edmund Dudley have his father’s riches. The King could then feel happier when the names of Dudley and Empson were mentioned; he could put aside the thought that those two men had been executed to placate the people from whom much of his father’s wealth had been extorted.
The first step was therefore taken. John was no longer penniless. He was a rich
Sir Richard came home full of excitement. “See what I have done for you, John!” he cried. “Now it will be your turn.”
“Yes, now it is my turn,” said the solemn boy.
Jane watched them gravely, wondering what this was all about. But there was no need to explain such matters to Jane. She was happy because her father was happy; and she saw in John that deep brooding concentration which she respected although she could not share it.
As they went out to the stables together she said: “Something good has happened, has it not?”
He nodded but he said no more then for he did not wish the grooms to hear.
As they rode across the clover-starred meadows, he said: “I am no longer without means. My father’s fortune is to be returned to my family.”
“John … does it mean you will go away?”
He smiled at the fear in her eyes. “If I went away, I should come back. You know, do you not, Jane, that when we are old enough we are to marry?”
“Yes, John,” she answered.
“You will be happy then, Jane. So shall I!”
He was sure of her contentment—as sure as he was that one day he would be a leader of men. It did not occur to her that this might be arrogance on his part; if he was arrogant, then, in her eyes, arrogance was a virtue.
As they cantered across the fields she was thinking of their future, of their marriage and the children they would have.
He too was thinking of the future, but not of his life with Jane. Jane’s love was something he took for granted. The thunder of horses’ hooves seemed to say to him “Dudley—Tudor!”
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1954, 1971 by Jean Plaidy
Excerpt from
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Three Rivers Press and the Tugboat design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in hardcover in Great Britain as
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming Three Rivers Press reprint of
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Plaidy, Jean, 1906– 1993.
[Spanish bridegroom]
For a queen’s love: the stories of the royal wives of Philip II /
By Jean Plaidy. — 1st trade pbk. ed.
p. cm. — (A novel of the Tudors)
Originally published: The Spanish bridegroom: G. P. Putnam’s Sons,
1971.
1. Philip II, King of Spain, 1527–1598—Fiction. 2. Great Britain—
Kings and rulers—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6015.I3S63 2010
823?.912—dc22
2009022659
eISBN: 978-0-307-58958-3
v3.0
