shall be rectified.”
Katharine assured Lord Willoughby de Broke that she was well cared for. He was able to speak a little of her language and she was grateful for that. She realized that she would have been wiser to have spent the time when she was waiting to come to England in learning the English language. It was going to be very difficult for her to understand and make herself understood. She wondered why her parents had not insisted that she learn English and could only assume that her father might have been unsure that the match would take place and she be whisked off to some other country for the interest of Spain.
Almost immediately she was told that Don Pedro de Ayala had called to see her.
She was delighted to meet one of her own countrymen and asked that he be sent to her immediately.
Don Ayala was elegant and gallant and he reminded her so much of home when he spoke to her in Castilian. She felt comforted to have him at her side.
“The King is eager for you to arrive in the capital as soon as possible,” he said. “There the marriage will take place without delay. The King will meet you near London that you may be escorted there with all the deference due to an Infanta of Spain.”
“I had thought the King might have come to Plymouth,” she said.
“It is three weeks’ journey from London, Infanta.”
“It does not seem that he is eager to meet me.”
“He is eager, I promise you. This is a fortunate day for you, my lady, for England and for Spain. This marriage is one of the finest things that has happened since the expulsion of the Moors from our country.”
“Surely not as important as that. I should have thought my brother’s and sisters’ marriages were more important than mine.”
“Nay. We need the friendship of this island. Your father-in-law is a shrewd man. He is making England a country to be reckoned with. You may find it necessary to speak with me from time to time. You may think that there are certain matters which would interest your mother and your father.”
“Am I to be a spy in my new husband’s household?”
“Never that. Just a good friend to England and perhaps an even better one to Spain.”
“I cannot say,” she answered coolly. “There is so much I have to learn.”
Dr. de Puebla was announced while de Ayala was with her.
De Ayala’s face crinkled in distaste.
“Must you see this man, Highness?” he asked.
“He is my father’s ambassador,” she answered.
“I must warn you of him. He is a man of the people, lacking in education and manners. He is a Jew. He seems to forget his Spanish upbringing and lives like an Englishman.”
“I have been told that I must become an Englishwoman,” she replied. “Perhaps Dr. de Puebla is wise in his habits. My parents think highly of him.”
“He is on good terms with King Henry. Such good terms that he has been offered a bishopric.”
“Which he refused? Would that not have brought him in a good income?”
“It would indeed and his fingers itched to grasp it. But your father forbade it. He did not want him working entirely for the King of England.”
“Which makes me believe he is a man of sound sense. I shall receive him, Don Pedro. It would be churlish not to.”
“Then it must be, but I warn you, be careful of the man. He is of low origins and this comes out.”
De Puebla was brought in. He bowed obsequiously to Katharine and she noticed the looks he cast on de Ayala. The antagonism between these two was apparent. She would have to steer a path between them because they would be her chief advisers at the Court of England—de Puebla no less than de Ayala.
De Puebla assured her of his delight at seeing her, of the King’s pleasure at the marriage and of the joy this brought all lovers of Spain.
“And of England,” said de Ayala pointedly.
“My lady Princess,” said de Puebla, “the friendship between the two countries is the ardent wish of the Sovereigns . . . and of the King of England . . . no less. I’ll swear that the joy of the bride’s family equals that of the bridegroom.”
“I am very pleased that you are both here to be of service to me. I know I shall need your help.”
“It shall be my greatest desire to give it,” said de Ayala.
“And do not forget good Dr. de Puebla is standing by awaiting your command.”
When they left Exeter she rode between Lord Willoughby de Broke and de Ayala; and de Puebla was furious because he had to fall in behind.
She knew that she was going to have to endure their enmity when de Ayala continued to complain about the low-born Jewish lackey and de Puebla whispered to her to have a care of de Ayala . . . a self-seeker, a man bound by manners and customs rather than good sense, a coxcomb more interested in the cut of a jacket than matters of state.
“I will take care,” she promised both of them.
It was de Puebla who touched on those matters which de Ayala would have thought not for her ears.
