A Queen of Nine Days

by Unknown

It was in our last talk together, before the fatal day of her execution, that my dear lady bestowed upon me her beloved Plato, advising that I should learn to read it in the language in which it was written.

'I cannot teach you Greek now, dear Margery,' she said, 'but there will be others.'

I made a gesture of despair. What should I care for others when she had gone? I could not speak without breaking down, so I said nothing. And Lady Jane seemed to understand, for she was very sweet and kind.

'It will always be a consolation to you, Margery,' she said, 'to remember that you have been the greatest comfort to me. Ever since I first saw your sweet face entering the drawing-room at Sion House I have loved you dearly. I had been praying for some one to come to me who was young like me—I feel old now, dear, though it is scarcely a year since then, but so much that is sad has happened.'

I stroked her hand and kissed it, for I could not speak, and if I had spoken my poor words might have spoiled the interview.

And then it was that she asked me to write an account of that last year of her life, relating exactly how it happened that she was made queen, and how the throne passed away from her, leaving in its stead a scaffold; also describing how it came about that the head which had worn a crown was forfeited, and that for an error of her mind her poor frail body was killed, adding, 'Margery, others may write more learnedly of the matter, but I would fain be represented to posterity as I am rather than as I am supposed to be. And God will help you, if you ask Him,' she said, seeing my fear and dread that I should not be able to do it properly.

'It is not fine writing that is wanted,' she went on, 'but a plain, unvarnished statement of the facts. And, Margery,' she said in conclusion, 'you must also tell the story of brave Sir Thomas Wyatt's insurrection and of your dear knight's gallant efforts to cause me to reign over this land, and to gain back the throne for me. I have been thinking, dear, that I was hard upon them always in my great desire to be left alone. But since you told me that Sir Thomas Wyatt's object was against Queen Mary's Spanish marriage and that Sir Hubert's motive was to save England from bigoted Roman Catholicism and Spain and the Inquisition, I have come to view the matter differently, and so will others, if you tell them exactly what they thought. Come, Margery, look up, dear one, for you have a great work before you, and you must take heart and live to do it. You have to vindicate the honour of two noble knights and of your mistress, and clear their names, which have been smirched and blackened by the tongues of powerful enemies. No one can do it but you, dear, in exactly the same way, for your loving eyes have seen us as we are and not as we are supposed to be; and you possess Love, the master-key, which can explain all that has appeared so wrong and presumptuous and rebellious in our lives. You must do this for me, Margery, and for your dear knight, Sir Hubert, and for Sir Thomas Wyatt.'

I promised that I would, and she blessed and thanked me very solemnly, saying that she was sure that God would give me strength and wisdom for the task.

And I thought then that this must be the special work which Master Montgomery said might be given me to do when I left home and went to London.