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“I refused to believe it. Edward is in France, and I have no one to turn to, Bess.”
Bess relented and put her arms about Catherine, wishing with all her heart that her dear friend Frances were still alive. “There, there, poppet, don't cry. Babies won't be ignored. Once you are impregnated, childbirth is inevitable, I'm afraid. You must throw yourself on the queen's mercy, confess all, and beg her forgiveness. It is your only hope, Catherine.”
“I cannot, I cannot,” she sobbed. “You must tell her for me.”
Bess vividly recalled Elizabeth's words about Catherine Grey marrying: I will hear no more from you on this subject! Do I make myself clear, Lady St. Loe?
“Dry your tears, darling. I'll do the next best thing. I'll ask Robin Dudley to beg Elizabeth to treat you with mercy, Catherine. The queen refuses him very little these days. I'm sure he will do me this favor.” Bess fervently hoped she was not giving her false hope. Once again Bess put off leaving for Chatsworth, feeling that she could not desert Catherine in her plight.
In a couple of days, Bess found an opportunity to speak in private with Dudley. “Robin, young Catherine Grey has done something that will anger the queen, and I will take it as a personal favor to me if you will approach Elizabeth and pour soothing oil on the turbulent waters it will stir up.”
“Bess, my dear, you know I would do anything for you.”
“Lady Catherine is almost seven months pregnant.”
Dudley laughed. “How ironic that Elizabeth appointed Catherine Grey because of her virtue.”
“Her virtue is not ruined—she is wed to the father.”
“She's secretly wed?” Robin was surprised; there were few secrets at Court to which he was not privy.
“She's married to young Edward Seymour,” Bess said quietly.
“What? She must be mad; the pair of them must be mad! You want me to tell Elizabeth that the heir presumptive to her throne is about to give birth to her own heir? And, even worse, that the father is royally connected to the late King Edward the Sixth's mother, Jane Seymour?”
“Dear God, to me they are just two youngsters in love. Now, I clearly see this strengthens her right to the succession and could be interpreted as deliberate treason, but, Robin, her entire family is dead—Catherine has no one to plead her case.”
“Aye, and her father and sister were executed for treason. Elizabeth won't be merely angry, she'll be incensed!”
Bess anxiously waited for news regarding the queen's reaction to Catherine's delicate situation, but she heard nothing until August 16, when she learned that Lady Catherine Grey was in the Tower of London. Bess immediately sought audience with the queen but was refused. Next she looked for Robin Dudley, but he seemed to be avoiding her.
Bess voiced her indignation to her husband, who, as captain of the queen's guard, had been responsible for arresting Catherine and escorting her to the Tower. “Elizabeth is being unfair. 'Tis too sharp a punishment for a girl who is seven months gone with child!”
“The young Earl of Hertford is being brought back from France. He'll likely bear the brunt of the queen's anger,” St. Loe soothed.
“Will, in my experience Elizabeth treats men far more leniently than she does females; there are very few women she likes.”
“She likes you, my dear.”
Bess hoped and prayed that St. Loe was right.
Four days later, on August 20—Bess's fateful day on which she had been evicted from Hardwick and married Cavendish—Sir William St. Loe's second-in-command knocked on the door of their Windsor apartment and handed his commanding officer a warrant. The queen was placing Lady Elizabeth St. Loe under arrest and ordering her to the Tower. St. Loe, visibly upset, began to wring his hands. He could hardly speak for the lump in his throat.
Bess herself was staggered. She resorted to anger, which had always served her well in times of trouble. “How dare she do this to me? She has had all my loyalty since she was twelve! We pledged our undying friendship to each other. The redheaded daughter of Satan cannot do this!”
“She is the queen, Bess; she can do anything.”
“She can bloody well rot!”
“Bess, please stop. You must obey this warrant; you have no choice, my dearest. I swear to you it will be for a few days only, while you are questioned about what you know of Lady Catherine Grey's unlawful marriage. Pack some things, dearest. I shall send food and wine and whatever else you need every single day.”
“I need my freedom, Will. I don't think I can bear to be incarcerated.”
“You are a strong woman, Bess; you can bear anything you have to and bear it with grace and dignity.”
Lord God, how little you know me, Syntlo. Ican bear anything, but not with bloody grace and dignity!
Bess decided to take her maid Cecily with her, and the guard waited patiently while she and Bess packed an overnight bag. She refused to allow her husband to accompany her, knowing how it would upset him, so Syntlo gave his second-in-command money to give to Edward Warner, the lieutenant of the Tower, in order to secure the best possible accommodation for Lady St. Loe.
