Читать книгу The King's Minion - Рафаэль Сабатини - Страница 10

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His Majesty sat in council with his Lord Treasurer, his Lord Chamberlain, his Lord Privy Seal, the slender, supple Sir Thomas Lake, who had been so valued a servant to the old Queen, the ponderous, swarthy Sir Ralph Winwood, and some others who matter less.

On a stool beside the great gilded chair in which the King lolled and fidgeted at the head of the Council board, sat Sir Robert Carr, not yet a Privy Councillor and therefore feeling that his presence here was just such a tolerated intrusion as might have been that of Archie Armstrong, the King's fool.

The greybeards were talking. The Dutch towns were again the subject, and divergent views were being freely expressed. The two Howards, being Catholics in sympathy even if they did not in secret attend Mass as was commonly supposed, were stout advocates of the proposed sale to Spain, which might have the effect of tightening the friendly relations between James I and Philip III. Salisbury, who carried no interests but those of England in the stout heart contained in his frail body, as vigorously opposed the sale, on the ground of the well-founded discontent it would engender throughout the land.

The King listened to both sides, interjecting now to answer one and now the other, and enjoying himself vastly in the part of Solomon, a rôle so dear to his vanity that it was with difficulty he was restrained from sitting as a judge in the Court of King's Bench.

He answered Cecil now.

'You urge a matter of sentiment against a matter of necessity; and I cannot call to mind that the history of the world, of which my knowledge is considerable, affords a single instance in which sentiment is able to triumph over necessity in the end. Necessity must be served. If, so that the sentiments of the nation may be honoured, Parliament can be induced to remove the necessity by granting adequate subsidies, Parliament may be convened for the purpose. But I am none so very hopeful there. Because if Parliament had shown a proper sense of its duty and obligations to the anointed sovereign, and a seemly obedience to his wishes, we should not now be considering these other measures for furnishing supplies.'

The Howards applauded him. Northampton, the greatest sycophant of his time, pronounced the discourse an unanswerable marvel of lucidity and logic. Suffolk bluntly declared that it was idle to respect the sentiments of a nation which did not respect the necessities of its king, and that, if the towns were sold to King Philip and the nation were presented with an accomplished fact, it must be made to see that the blame for anything distasteful in the bargain must fall on Parliament which had left the King no other course.

Northampton, returning to the assault, and carrying matters further, his vulturine head and smouldering glance challenging Salisbury at every word, asserted that too much was being assumed on the subject of so definite a measure of alliance with Spain. Such an alliance made for peace; the peace of the world; and thus for general prosperity. This required only to be understood by the nation to be applauded, and the old rancour fostered by men such as Raleigh and other sea-robbers would soon die down.

This carried the debate into by-ways in which it was in danger of being lost, when Sir Robert Carr, taking his courage in both hands, made bold at last to intervene.

'Have I your majesty's leave to say a word on this?'

It startled them. Scornfully it amused them. So much their countenances showed. The King, who had been toying with the lad's shoulder-knot, paused in the act, and turned to regard him, rolling his eyes fearfully in his alarm.

'Ye'd intervene in the Council!' he muttered, scandalised. Then he recovered, and laughed his thick laugh. 'Ecod! Is it not writ: "Out of the mouths of sucklings ..."? To it, lad. Let's hear this word of yours.'

Sir Robert cleared his throat. 'Since this matter was last discussed two days ago, I've had an opportunity to look into Dutch affairs. Let that, Sire, excuse my presumption now.'

'Ye've been looking into Dutch affairs!' The King laughed, and the Council laughed with him, all but Cecil, who suddenly remembered Overbury, and already blamed himself for having neglected to ascertain what that man, whom he knew for a shrewd observer, might have discovered on his foreign travels. Young Carr, he instantly perceived, either by accident or design, had forestalled him there. Therefore he alone was not surprised by what ensued.

Sir Robert's opening was blunt.

'Your discussion here is so much waste of time and labour. For it rests upon the assumption of a state of things which does not, in fact, exist.' He paid no heed to the snortings of contemptuous impatience, but ploughed steadily ahead. 'You assume upon inadequate information—information which if it was once correct is so no longer—that King Philip will buy these towns, which it certainly would be within your majesty's rights to sell.'

Men shrugged and turned their shoulders to him. The upstart presumed too far upon his favour. Only the King troubled to question him.

'And for why would he not buy?'

'Because he cares, I take it, as little as another to waste money. As long as Spain's intention was to continue the war, so long was it possible to do what you now deliberate. But the chance is gone! The Archduke Albert is still in the Netherlands, it is true. But he is already taking measures for their evacuation. Spain recognises herself, at last, at the end of her resources. Within three months, maybe less, she will be negotiating peace with the United Provinces. Therefore Spain no longer wants these towns. It follows, then, that to offer them for sale to her would merely be to provoke discontent at home to no purpose and to rouse in the Dutch a resentment which must render the ultimate recovery of the debt more difficult than it now is.'

It was a bombshell to scatter dismay among those supercilious gentlemen.

Cecil and those who thought with him were not displeased by news which rendered impossible an act whose effect on public opinion must be disastrous. The others mingled with annoyance at the news annoyance at the source from whence it came. Each one of them would have challenged it had not the King forestalled them.

'Ud's death!' he ejaculated. 'How come you by all this knowledge of Spain's intentions?'

If to magnify himself Sir Robert was disingenuous, he but practised the disingenuousness which Mr. Overbury had counselled. He represented that, having been sought yesterday by a gentleman of his acquaintance who had but lately landed from the Netherlands, he had seized the opportunity to gather information which should perhaps be of assistance to their lordships in deciding this matter which he knew to be vexing them.

'This gentleman of your acquaintance,' quoth the King, 'would be that long-legged carle my Lord Treasurer presented to us.'

'The same, Sire. Mr. Overbury.'

'Overbury. Ay! I mind me. But what do we ken about him that we should heed his words?'

'My Lord Treasurer can speak to the worth of his opinion.'

My Lord Treasurer did so. He was impressive. 'In the past I have found him shrewd and cautious. If he says that Spain is on the eve of making peace, he will have good grounds for it in what he has observed. That being so, Sir Robert's reasoning from the facts is not to be assailed.'

'Ay, ay! But if this man were mistaken in his speerings? Humanum est errare, you know, my lord; and human inferences are to be taken cannily.'

Young Carr, eager to follow up his advantage and, whilst the occasion served, to impress himself upon them as something more than the fribble they had hitherto regarded him, was swift to supply the answer.

'A very little time will show whether Overbury's report agrees with the fact. Meanwhile, prudence suggests no action whatsoever. If in two or three months' time it be found that, instead of withdrawing from the Netherlands, the Archduke is renewing or increasing measures against them, then will be the time to consider this sale, and then the time to make the sale to best advantage. If the war drags on there can be nothing lost by waiting.'

'It's a Daniel come to judgment!' crowed the King, and his delight to discover such qualities of mind hitherto unsuspected in this handsome lad of his affection was freely displayed then and thereafter.

Later, when alone with Sir Robert, the King, having further considered, expressed a desire to test for himself the extent of Mr. Overbury's knowledge of Netherland affairs. As a consequence a messenger from Sir Robert waited next morning upon Mr. Overbury to bid him to Whitehall. Sir Robert's own barge, which had come down on the last of the ebb, awaited him amid the press of boats at Queenhithe.

The King, having need of him, received him kindly, and played the well-rehearsed part of a genial good-humoured fellow. In reply to the royal questions Mr. Overbury expressed himself crisply, lucidly, and wittily upon the state of affairs which he had lately found in the Netherlands.

His majesty quoted Lucian, and Mr. Overbury capped the quotation with such scholarly fullness that the King congratulated him upon his Latinity whilst censuring his Oxford pronunciation.

Mr. Overbury accepted both criticisms with a bow, making no attempt to defend his accent.

'Ye don't take my corrections amiss,' said his majesty.

Mr. Overbury bowed again with the utmost gravity. 'He that hates to be reproved by the master sits in his own light.'

The King's eyes quickened at the phrase. Its modesty, subtle flattery, and neatness all pleased him. 'Ye're a wit, I perceive.'

A pale smile illumined that narrow melancholy face. 'My wit, sir, is but as the marigold. It opens to the sun.'

Thereafter, the King's dinner-time being at hand, Mr. Overbury was given leave to depart, having done something to remove the bad impression his first appearance at court had created upon the royal mind.

He stayed to dine with Sir Robert, and, a lover of good food and good wine, he had occasion to admire the sumptuousness in which he found his friend in these respects. When the cloth was raised, and they were come to the comfits, Mr. Overbury opened the matter that was in his mind.

'Yours, Robin, was not the only messenger that sought me this morning at the Angel. There was a note from my Lord Treasurer, bidding me to wait upon him at the earliest.'

Sir Robert nodded, but said nothing. Mr. Overbury resumed.

'His lordship and I have already some acquaintance. I served him once in the old Queen's time, and his message means that I may serve him again if I wish, or so I conjecture. Why, else, should he send for me?'

'Why else, indeed?' Sir Robert smiled. 'I am glad, so glad, a door is to be opened for you.'

Mr. Overbury displayed surprise. 'You're glad?' A little smile that was tinged with regret flickered upon his lips. 'In that case there is no more to say.'

'No more to say of what? And what for would I not be glad? Do I not wish you well, Tom?'

'Of course you wish me well; as I wish you well.' And he repeated: 'There's no more to say. I shall wait upon my Lord Treasurer to-morrow.'

'Have you been hesitating?'

'Not hesitating. Waiting. Waiting to know your will with me.'

'My will with you?' Sir Robert understood less and less. Inwardly Mr. Overbury damned the sluggishness of his wits.

'Cecil sends for me because what happened yesterday shows that I may be of use to him. But before going, I bethought me that perhaps the same notion might have occurred to you. And I should be loath to serve another, Robin, if you had need of me.'

'Need of you!' Sir Robert rose in the excitement that accompanied understanding. 'Why, so I have: great and urgent need, as you have seen. And ye could serve me as could no other man; for in learning and knowledge of affairs you supply all that I lack.'

'Why, then ...' Mr. Overbury was beginning; but the other swept warmly on.

'But what have I to offer you compared with the employment you could find with Cecil?'

'No matter for that.'

'Ay, but there is matter to it. It were to abuse your friendship; to trade upon your love.'

'The trading would be mutual.' Mr. Overbury adopted complete frankness. 'You have the graces of person and of manner that have already conquered the King's affection. I have the knowledge and resource which would enable you to win a real position at court, to rise from being a mere minion—the word is yours, Robin—to become a powerful influence in the State. Thus you and I united compose a whole that should be irresistible. Each of us in this is the complement of the other. Apart each of us counts for little. United we could rule, if not the world, at least this England.

'Yesterday, in this matter of the Netherlands, you increased your credit with the King and no doubt with every member of the Council. Already they discover in you an unsuspected force. Let that be maintained awhile—and I could teach you to maintain it—and you will be the power behind the throne; you will be consulted and your views respected on every matter of weight that's to be decided. Cecil grows old and sickly, riddled with ills; and he, poor cripple, is the only man amongst them. When he relinquishes the helm of this ship of State, it should be yours to grasp it.'

Standing, Sir Robert had heard him out. As he ceased, the younger man sank back into his chair, his face flushed, his eyes aglow. He was trembling in his excitement at the dream-prospect spread before him. Had Overbury the power to convert it into reality? It was possible. If his own favour with the King were backed by such knowledge as Overbury could supply, it was probable. Already he beheld the fruits of it: saw his position at court justified by something more than a comely face and a shapely figure and a King's capricious fancy for such externals. He saw the sneers converted into looks of deference; saw his self-respect restored by the respect he inspired in others.

'Well, Robin?' quoth the watchful Mr. Overbury at length, to rouse him from his daydream. 'What is your will in the matter? It lies with you.'

Sir Robert raised his glowing eyes to look at his companion. 'You offer much, Tom,' he said.

'No more than I'll perform.'

'I doubt not that.' He held out a hand across the board, a hand that trembled. 'Do as you propose. Stand by me, Tom, to make common fortune with me, as I with you.'

Mr. Overbury took the hand in his own grip, which was as steady and cool as the resolute brain controlling it. 'It is a bond,' he said.

'A bond in which I'll never fail of my part,' said Sir Robert fervently.