“Queen of France! But I do not understand … ”
“Then let me explain. Louis XII, King of France, recently widowed, seeks a new bride. He has heard glowing accounts of your beauty and virtue and he offers you his hand and crown.”
She had turned pale; her blue eyes seemed suddenly dark. “No!” she whispered.
Henry came and put an arm about her. “Dearest sister, you are astonished. It is indeed a dazzling prospect. Louis is our friend now; he has shown us who our enemies are. Not for you the pallid Prince of Castile with the mad mother, but the great King of France. You will be crowned in Paris. Mary you cannot understand yet what honors are about to be laid at your feet.”
Still she did not speak. She could not believe it. It was a nightmare. She had longed so fervently for her freedom, had prayed so vehemently for it, and she must wake in a moment, for this simply could not be true.
“He is driving a hard bargain, this King of France,” went on Henry with a laugh. “Have no fear. I can provide you with a dowry rich enough to please even him. Mary, you will be the means of cementing this bond which, friend Wolsey here agrees with me, is of the utmost importance to our country.”
She spoke then. “I won’t do it. I won’t. I have been tormented with the Prince of Castile. I’ll marry where I will.”
“Why, sweetheart,” says Henry, “when you have heard what this means, you will be as eager for this marriage as we are. Queen of France! Think of that.”
“I’ll not think of it. I do not want this marriage. I do not want to leave you and England.”
“There, my dearest sister, partings are sad, we know well. But you’ll not be far away. I shall visit you and you shall visit us. We shall be rivals in splendor, for when you come to see us I shall have made ready for your entertainment such masques … ”
“Stop! Stop! I cannot bear it!”
She turned and ran from the room.
Copyright © 1993 by Mark Hamilton as Literary Executor for the Estate of the Late E.A.B. Hibbert
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by Three Rivers Press, New York, New York.
Member of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
www.randomhouse.com
THREE RIVERS PRESS and the Tugboat design
are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in Great Britain by Robert Hale, London, in 1993.
Subsequently published in the United States in hardcover by
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, News York, in 1994.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Plaidy, Jean, 1906–1993
The rose without a thorn / Jean Plaidy.
1. Catharine Howard, Queen, consort of Henry VIII,
King of England, d. 1542—Fiction. 2. Great Britain—History—
Henry VIII, 1509–1547—Fiction. 3. Queens—Fiction I. Title.
PR6015.I3 R67 2003
823′.914—dc21 2002031951
eISBN: 978-0-307-49761-1
Table of Contents
Cover
Also by Jean Plaidy
Title Page
Chapter 1 - The Scribe
Chapter 2 - The Duchess Calls
Chapter 3 - Nights in the Long Room
Chapter 4 - A Silk Flower
Chapter 5 - Dangerous Games
Chapter 6 - The Fourth Queen
Chapter 7 - Betrothal
Chapter 8 - A Meeting with the King
Chapter 9 - A Royal Wooing
Chapter 10 - The Queen
Chapter 11 - Warning Signals
Chapter 12 - Secret Lovers
Chapter 13 - Despair
Chapter 14 - The Journey to the Tower
Chapter 15 - The Last Day
Chapter 16 - The Scribe
Bibliography
About the Author
About the Book
The French Proposal
Copyright