Read Online The Star of Lancaster by Jean Plaidy - Free Book Online Page B

I shall see to that.’
    Mary smiled. ‘We always had to obey you, my lady,’ she said. ‘So I must do so now.’
    ‘Indeed you must and shall.’
    Henry had come into the sick room and the Countess was aware of the manner in which Mary’s face lit up at the sight of him. A fine boy, she thought, and indeed a worthy husband for a de Bohun, but they were too young . . . far too young, and there was going to be no more of this.
    Henry welcomed her gallantly and was clearly delighted that she had come for he was apprehensive about his young wife’s health and she liked him for it. She told him she would soon have Mary well.
    ‘No one understands a daughter like her own mother,’ she announced.
    She took charge of the invalid. She had a bed brought into the room which she would occupy. She would be with Mary day and night. She made possets and special broths for her daughter which under the stern eye of her mother Mary dared not refuse.
    She felt a great sense of security which she had missed in the days of Pleshy. To be here with Henry and her mother made her very happy and she began to grow away from her sorrow at the loss of the baby.
    ‘You have your whole life before you,’ said her mother. There was one matter which she had not discussed with Mary yet, but she intended to when she considered the time ripe.
    She blamed herself for not being firm enough in the first place. When she became a widow she should have refused to allow her younger daughter to be taken out of her care.
    The King had given the wardship to John of Gaunt as a consolation prize for something else, and she had been obliged to let her daughter go because of the royal command. Her husband, Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex,had been one of the richest men in the country and so had a vast fortune to leave, and it was that fortune which had led to this situation when Mary might have lost her life.
    She was now putting her foot down firmly and taking matters into her own hands.
    She broached the subject to Henry first.
    ‘Henry,’ she said, ‘I am going to talk to you very seriously. I am deeply concerned about Mary.’
    He looked alarmed. ‘I thought she was getting better.’
    ‘She is. But you know, do you not, that she has come near to losing her life.’
    ‘I know she has been very ill.’
    ‘The plain fact is that she is too young to bear children. Her body is not yet fully formed. She needs another two years at least in which to grow up.’
    Henry looked shamefaced and the Countess went on hurriedly: ‘I do not blame you. It is the fault of those who put you together at such an early age.’
    Henry flushed hotly. His father was a hero in his eyes.
    ‘Oh, men do not always understand these matters,’ said the Countess hastily, realising that if she were to have her own way in this matter she must not antagonise John of Gaunt.
    She believed she knew how to handle this, but she would have to be tactful; and she knew that John of Gaunt’s great desire had been to get the marriage celebrated and Mary’s fortune secure. That had been done and he would be prepared to postpone the begetting of children for a few years.
    ‘What do you want me to do?’ asked Henry.
    ‘There must be no marital relations between you for at least two years. You must see the reason for this. There must not be any more children . . . yet.’
    ‘Have you told Mary?’
    ‘I will explain to her. She will understand. In fact I am sure she does not want to endure again what she has so recently come through. What I am going to suggest is that I take Mary back with me. I shall look after her and you will know that she is safe in her mother’s care. You will be welcome at my castle whenever you wish to come on the understanding that there is to be no lovemaking until she is of a suitable age.’
    Henry was ready to swear to agree to these terms. He had been very very anxious about Mary and had felt a terrible sense of guilt. But now she was well again and