Katharine of Aragon Read Online Free PDF Page A

position?”
    “Because, Highness, he understands the King of England and the King of England understands him. He has been long in England. In London he follows the profession of lawyer; he lives like an Englishman. Ah, I could tell you some tales of him. He is parsimonious—so much so that he brings disgrace to our country. He has his lodgings in a house of ill-fame and I have heard that when he does not dine at the King's table he dines at this disreputable house at the cost of two pence a day. This, Highness, is a very small sum for a man in his position to spend, and I have heard it said that the landlord of this house is glad to accommodate him in exchange for certain favors.”
    “What favors?” demanded Katharine.
    “The man is a lawyer and practices as such; he is on good terms with the King of England. He protects his landlord against the law, Highness.”
    “It seems strange that my father should employ the man if he is all you say he is.”
    “His Highness believes him to have his uses. It is but a few years ago that the English King offered him a bishopric, which would have brought him good revenues.”
    “And he did not accept?”
    “He longed to accept, Highness, but could not do so without the consent of your royal parents. This was withheld.”
    “Then it would seem that they value his services.”
    “Oh, he has wriggled his way into the King's confidence. But beware of the man, Highness. He is a Jew, and he bears his grudges like the rest.”
    Katharine was silent, contemplating the unpleasantness of having to meet two ambassadors who clearly disliked each other; and she was not surprised when Puebla seized his opportunity to warn her against Ayala.
    “A coxcomb, Highness. Do not put your trust in such a one. A Bishop! He knows nothing of law and has never mastered Latin. His manner of living is a disgrace to Spain and his cloth. Bishop indeed! He should be in Scotland now. It was for this purpose that he was sent to this country.”
    “It would not please my parents if they knew of this discord between their two ambassadors.”
    “Highness, they know of it. I should be neglectful of my duty if I did not inform them. And inform them I have.”
    Katharine looked with faint dislike at Puebla. Not only did he lack the charming manners of Ayala but she found him pompous, and she thought that his petty meanness, which was noticed by many of those who travelled with them, was humiliating for Spain.
    “I used the fellow in Scotland,” went on Puebla. “He was useful there in cementing English and Scottish relations which, Highness, was the desire of your noble father. War between England and Scotland would have been an embarrassment to him at this time, and James IV was harboring the pretender, Perkin Warbeck, and seemed likely to support him.”
    “Warbeck has now paid the price of presumption,” said Katharine. “Your Highness most wisely has become informed of English politics, I see.”
    “Her Highness, my mother, insisted that I should know something of the country to which I was going.”
    Puebla shook his head. “There are bound to be such impostors when two young Princes disappear. So we had our Perkin Warbeck claiming to be Richard, Duke of York.”
    “How very sad for the Queen of England,” said Katharine. “Does she still mourn for her two brothers who disappeared so mysteriously in the Tower of London?”
    “The Queen is not one to show her feelings. She has children of her own, a good husband and a crown. The last certainly could not be hers had her brothers lived.”
    “Still she must mourn,” said Katharine; and she thought of her own brother, Juan, who had died, young and beautiful, a few months after his wedding. She believed she would never forget Juan and the shock and tragedy of his death.
    “Well, quite rightly Warbeck has been hanged at Tyburn,” went on Puebla, “and that little matter has been settled. That would be satisfactory if it did not mean that Ayala has