‘Well, we shall have to pack,’ she interrupts him, as if this is an ordinary movement of the court from one palace to another.
‘Yes, indeed,’ I say, to support the lie. ‘Did you say in a few days?’
‘No hurry,’ he says feebly.
KITTY GOES TObed saying she cannot understand that the king should turn so hard-hearted. Can he want to put her away as he did Anne of Cleves? Can he blame her for what happened in her childhood, when she was – in any case – forced against her will by an older man, in a house that allowed all sorts of unholy licence?
‘You were forced?’ This is a disagreeable new turn of the story.
‘Yes,’ she says. ‘Francis Dereham persuaded and prevailed upon me and overcame me. I was nothing worse than a young and silly girl.’
‘Did you tell the archbishop that Dereham forced you into a promise of marriage? You never told me?’
‘You never asked me. But the archbishop asked me over and over. I said I couldn’t remember.’
‘This really matters Kitty,’ I tell her. ‘Is the archbishop saying that you were betrothed, against your will? But betrothed?’
She turns a mutinous pale face to me. ‘I don’t know! How should I know what he is saying? He just went on and on!’
‘Because a forced betrothal is a way out,’ I say. ‘It’s not forgiveness. But there are worse things that could be said against you. A forced betrothal is not your fault.’
‘I wasn’t betrothed!’ she insists.
‘The king’s marriage to you would be bigamous, and set aside but no fault of yours and no insult to him. You get away with it. They dissolve your marriage and you retire to the country.’
‘That would be dreadful,’ she says flatly. ‘My uncle would never forgive me, and my grandmother would beat me.’
‘She couldn’t beat you; you wouldn’t have to live with her,’ I start.
‘No, no. That would be awful,’ she insists. ‘What’s a precontract?’
It has been more than a week of interrogation, and she does not understand the accusation. I feel something like despair. How is she ever going to plead innocent when she does not understand the words they use? How is she going to manage a vulgar bullylike Wriothesley if he speaks the language of the law courts to a girl who knows little more than the language of the nursery?
‘When they say things you don’t understand you should stop them. You don’t want to agree to something by accident.’
She shrugs. ‘So what is it?’
‘A precontract is why the king put Anne of Cleves aside,’ I say very carefully.
‘She made him impotent,’ she says firmly. ‘That’s why.’
‘No, no, don’t ever say that! They said that she had been married before – d’you remember? That her first marriage contract was not properly cancelled. So, she could not marry the king because she was married already?’
It is no good. I can see that the most simple words pass her by, as if I were explaining in Greek.
‘They may be trying to prove that you were married, or at least betrothed, that you made promises to Francis Dereham to marry. If so, your marriage to the king was invalid and he will set you aside. But that’s not treason. That’s not adultery. He could put you aside, and you might get a nice house like Anne of Cleves and later... later... you could...’
‘I wasn’t married to Francis Dereham,’ she says fiercely. ‘I told the archbishop: Francis persuaded and forced me–I was unwilling. I was too young to know what to do, and he threatened me.’
‘But obviously they’ve questioned him, and he’s not going to admit to rape. He will say you were willing. And you kept his money safe for him as if you were a wife.’
‘I didn’t keep his money safe,’ she says triumphantly. ‘You did! If that’s proof, then you were his wife, not me!’ She shoots a sly little look at me. ‘You needn’t think I’m going to take all the blame! I’ll tell them you kept Francis’ money safe for him and then you got him a job!’
‘Don’t try to threaten me,’ I say steadily. ‘Your only hope is that I stay loyal to you and to Thomas Culpeper, too.’
At his name, her face crumples, and she pitches forward into my arms. ‘Oh, Jane! How am I ever going to see him again?’
‘If you get through this, you can see him,’ I promise her. ‘If you agree you were married to Dereham, then your marriage to the king will be annulled and you will be released. You could be free, Kitty!’
