Part 3 (2/2)

”Catherine,” she said, using my full name. My heart skipped a beat as I turned to face her again.

”Yes, Your Grace?”

”Cats are averse to water, are they not?” She peered at me with her keen eyes.

”Yes, usually they are. But I once had a kitten who liked to wash herself in a bucket-” I broke off, realizing that the queen had p.r.o.nounced ”water” as ”Warter.” Was she teasing me or warning me about Ralegh? What did she know? That depended on what Frances had heard with those big ears of hers.

Feigning innocence I asked, ”Why should your Cat be afraid of the water?”

”Because I should not like her to drown,” Elizabeth replied mildly.

Chapter 5.

From the Papers of Walter Ralegh 14 April 1584To Capts. Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe,Everything necessary for the provisioning and rigging of two s.h.i.+ps is being a.s.sembled and sent to the warehouse at Southampton. (Per attached inventory.)Please review and inform me of any omissions or further requirements prior to your departure.Yours,Master W. RaleghP.S. In answer to your earlier query, I will not be sailing. The sea does not agree with me.24 April 1584To Capt. Arthur Barlowe,I am pleased to hear all is ready for embarkation. I hereby charge you with the following duties on this voyage.1. Record the particulars of your journey, your observations of the natives and their customs, and the flora and fauna of the land. Your descriptions must be positive, that those who read your account will be given to wonder, not to fear, and induced to support future expeditions.2. Bring back a savage, the very finest of his kind. Let no force be used. In your dealings with the Indians, do nothing to offend them, but treat them with humanity, so they will be inclined toward friends.h.i.+p with us.3. Survey the land for an outpost suitable for launching raids that shall serve two purposes: hara.s.sing Spain and financing our ventures. Remember, the risk itself brings reward.Finally, although you and Amadas share the captaincy of this venture, you are to defer to the pilot Fernandes on matters relating to navigation, in which he has the greatest experience.With every expectation of your success, I bid you bon voyage and await your return in the fall.W.R.

Memorandum Debts owed: Tailor, 125 (new cloak, shoes, suit & hat w. feathers) .

Hostler, 250 (for 5 horses) .

Armorer, 73 (one suit, including etching) .

Salaries, 1,737 (for 35 men) Income: Estates in Devons.h.i.+re and Oxford, 625 .

Due from cloth exports, 87 .

Wine farm (due from last harvest), 330 Net owed: 1,143.

Write to Carew for more funds & report on Devons.h.i.+re investors.

Cannot find that d.a.m.ned handkerchief my royal mistress gave me. What if she asks about it? She likes to see her gifts displayed. Where did I lose that thing?

3 May 1584. At the Boar's Head tonight, d.i.c.k Tarleton settled a dispute between two soldiers over a certain lady.

”You are a very peasecod, or should I say codpiece?” he said to one then reviled the other. ”Your wit's as thick as mustard and your brain moldy from lack of use.” When the combatants were shaken with laughter and consequently harmless, they dropped their fists and were made friends again.

How I admire that fool's wit!

Later a comely wench offered herself to me, promising delights that not long ago I would have seized. Yet I declined them, which caused my drinking companion to mock my manliness. Remembering Tarleton's jest, I called him a ”green peasecod with no more wit than a mustard seed,” and upon realizing I had muddled the jest I threw the alepot at his head and kicked over the table.

Alas, where has my wit fled? Has love done this to me? Can I still write a pa.s.sing good verse?

To C.A.

O lady whom I in silence serve, Know the depth of my desire.

Only you I aim to deserve, That your grace might slake this scalding fire.

Send me a secret token To show the depth of your desire.

Say your love is not bespoken, And with your grace, O slake my scalding fire!

After twelve days of silent torment, a letter! How firm her hand, how well-chosen each word.

Dear Master Ralegh,I do not deserve your gracious attention. Yet I crave to hear from your lips more tales of sea travelers. Can a lady desire to be a discoverer?My wealth being slender, I have no token of value to send you, but I declare I am not bespoken to anyone, save my royal mistress on whom my fortune depends. Therefore burn this in your scalding fire, lest it fall into an unfriendly hand.The queen meets with her Privy Council tomorrow afternoon. I will devise some pretext upon which to visit you.I remain your humbleCatherine Archer She speaks of craving and of my lips, then in the next phrase of desire, then finally my scalding fire. O beneath her polite discourse, do I detect profound pa.s.sion? I will not sleep this night.

An Account of a Meeting On the promised day, upon the hour of three, my valet brought C.A. to me in the garden.

”My mistress wishes to borrow your volume containing the Spanish captain's account of his voyages,” she announced.

”Clever Cat!” I said and sent the valet to fetch the requested book.

Glancing about nervously, she said, ”Rather, I feel like the bird about to become the cat's meal.”

”There is no danger here,” I a.s.sured her, leading her through the elegant knots of greenery, the tall hedges, and the fig trees brought from Sicily. She scarcely seemed to notice my statues newly arrived from France. Then I brought her to a bower where petals of the flowering pear drifted down with each puff of wind. I tried to take her hand but she held it back.

”This coyness, lady, seems a crime; for here is solitude and time.” (In her presence my verses flow like wine.) She blushed very prettily but was not deterred from her purpose. She related a quip of Her Majesty, light words that weighed heavily on her. ”Do you think she meant to warn this 'Cat' away from you, her 'Warter'?”

”I would not drown you,” I said, smiling.

”I don't fear you, but her. She is ... in love with you.” She hesitated, as if revealing a secret, then added, ”Everyone knows this.”

”The queen can be jealous,” I agreed, ”but I daresay she was only enjoying a bit of sport with you. Do not be afraid to match wits with her.”

Thus rea.s.sured, she smiled. I took her hand and she did not resist.

”Now let us talk about you,” I said.

She talked but I remember little of what she said, for I was conscious only of her pretty teeth and lips. Then I related my upbringing in Devons.h.i.+re and made her laugh over my escapades at Oxford, where I never read a single book. Her eyes widened to hear of my soldiering in the Irish wars and how I despaired of subduing that barbarous land.

”Thus you are determined to succeed in this New World enterprise. I am certain you will,” she said. Under her admiring gaze, I longed all the more for the fame and favor of which I dream.

My valet had not returned with the book (a wise fellow who knows his master's wishes), and my dear Catherine was beginning to be uneasy again. Then from her sleeve she produced a handkerchief, saying ”You must have this back. I dare not keep it.”

I was confused, for I could not remember giving her my handkerchief. I said, ”You are unkind to return my token.”

”It is the queen's token.” She showed me the embroidered initials in the corner. ”She meant it for you, not for me.”

So that is what became of the handkerchief! I did not lose it after all. I remembered the delight it had given me to insert the cloth in Catherine's sleeve that day in my library. It would be ungentlemanly of me to reclaim it.

”What was the queen's to give to me, became mine to give to you,” I said. ”'Tis a traveling token of favor.” And I would not take it back despite her protests.

Moved and flattered, with blood suffusing her pretty cheeks, the lady departed-without the book. I shall have to carry it to Whitehall myself. Clever Cat, indeed.

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