The Dragon and the Rose by Roberta Gellis Page B

suitable, but even that expression congealed on his face until he wore an unmeaning mask. And when he saw the seal on another enclosed letter, he passed his hand across his eyes as if he did not trust them.
    "Ramme," he said very softly, "you know where I lodge, Be so kind as to bid one of my Welsh servants to come here to me, and do you return, also, I am sorry to put you gentlemen to so much trouble when you are doubtless weary, but I must ask you to attend me until I have studied these proposals more finely. You know what is herein?"
    "It is not hard to guess," Conway replied. Henry's eyes flicked to him, and Conway swallowed and added, "My lord."
    When Ramme returned with the servant, Henry looked up from his reading. "Go find the duke," he ordered, "and beg him to grant me a time with him alone in his chamber. Bid my groom to saddle a horse for you, and when you have brought me word from the duke, ride posthaste to my lord of Pembroke. I will have a letter for you to carry. Oh, and send me a clerk with materials for writing."
    Francis sent word that Henry could attend him at once. By then the few lines Henry wrote to summon Jasper to him had been dispatched, and the messengers followed him to the duke's apartment. He left them just outside the door.
    "What now?" Francis asked somewhat irritably. "I have told you I will not give you up to Richard's envoys. Do you doubt me at this late date that you must speak to me each time they do?"
    "I did not know they had audience with you today, my lord. I have received a proposal that touches on a plan dear to both of us. I have been offered the hand of Princess Elizabeth by her mother, the dowager queen. I have the Lady Elizabeth's very gracious consent to this proposal. And I have been offered the throne of England by the duke of Buckingham, who set Richard of Gloucester thereon."
    "What?" Francis gasped, and then, "It is a trap."
    "It is well baited, then." Henry shrugged and passed him the contents of the messenger's pouches. His face and voice were calm, his hand steady, but Francis did not miss the pale lips and cheeks. "The messengers are outside. One has been my mother's trusted servant for many years. The other I do not know, but my mother's man vouches for him."
    Francis read the two letters written in French and obviously meant for him although they were addressed to Henry. He asked Henry to translate the dowager queen's letter and Elizabeth's note and then sat in silence looking from Margaret's seal to the dowager's to Buckingham's. Finally, he asked for the messengers, questioned them minutely as to their instructions and voyage and dismissed them. Then he handed all the papers back to Henry except Buckingham's letter of credit on a house of Florentine bankers.
    "Write me an order for a bearer of mine to collect this sum."
    "What name for the bearer?" Henry asked, walking toward a table with writing materials which were always kept in the duke's chamber.
    "Landois."
    Henry picked up the pen without an instant's hesitation or a single glance in Francis's direction.
    "Stop!" Francis said. The pen suspended, Henry looked up inquiringly. "Come here," the duke ordered.
    Obediently Henry laid down the pen and came back. Halfway across the room he could see the tears on Francis's cheeks. "What is wrong, my lord?" he asked, hurrying to kneel at Francis's feet.
    "Should I not grieve at the loss of such a son?" Francis asked. "Landois is your enemy, yet you would put your chance for a throne into his hands at my word. There are many men who have sons of their own flesh who would not do as much."
    Henry kept his eyes lowered. It had been such an obvious test that he was ashamed of giving the correct response. He was even more ashamed of springing the trap Francis had unknowingly set for himself. With a further welling of shame, Henry knew he would even use the trembling lips and voice his emotion had given him to lock the trap in place so that Francis could not escape it.
    "Order