The Hammer of the Scots Read Online Free PDF Page B

his parents as he did he could see their faults so clearly.
    It was a good plan to have the children riding with them. There was nothing that appealed to humble people like children. He could see too that they liked the Queen. It was to her advantage that they had so disliked the previous one that they were inclined to think any successor was preferable; but there was something about Eleanor’s gentle demeanour and her obvious care for her children which entirely won their hearts.
    The scene was set fair. He was sure of it. And it was for them to keep it thus.
    Everywhere there were cheers and flowers strewn in their paths.
    ‘Long live the King! Long live the Queen.’ It was music in his ears.
    He could not suppress a sly smile when his mother passed in the procession and an almost sullen silence fell on the crowd. Dear lady, he thought indulgently, she could never see that the people blamed her for everything that had gone wrong because she would bring her poor relations into the country. She could so easily have won their approval. But she simply had not bothered to do so. He loved her tenderly. He remembered her maternal care for him and her passionate devotion to her family; yet at the same time his reason had always told him that she had brought her unpopularity on herself. He remembered that time when the Londoners had pelted the barge, in which she was trying to escape, with refuse and heavy stones in the hope of drowning her. None of the family had ever forgiven the Londoners for that; and yet he understood their reasons. Beloved mother, she was so clever in so many ways, but she could never understand that kings and queens must have the approval of their subjects if they are going to stay safe on the throne.
    They halted at the Castle of Tunbridge where Gilbert de Clare, called the Red on account of the colour of his hair, was waiting to receive the royal party and declare his fealty to the King.
    Edward welcomed this, for Gilbert the Red was a good man to have on his side. A forthright man, Gilbert had never been afraid to make his opinions known, and therefore to be welcomed by him added to that sense of security which the greetings of the people had given Edward.
    The Queen Mother was less pleased. She had thought they should not have stayed at Tonbridge. ‘There is a man who cannot be trusted,’ she had said to Edward. ‘He was not a good friend to your father. Now is the time to show men like Gilbert de Clare that it will go ill with them if they are disloyal to their King.’
    ‘My lady mother,’ said Edward courteously, ‘I know this man’s mind. He will be on whatever side he wishes and nothing would change that. If he dislikes my deeds he will be against me as he was against my father. He has now sworn fealty to me, which means that he is ready to support me.’
    ‘Providing he gets his way.’
    ‘’Tis not his way or my way, it is a matter of how the country is governed.’
    ‘And you will let him have a say in that and tell you what to do?’
    ‘Certainly he and the other barons must have a say. That is the way the people wish it to be. But rest assured, dear lady, that it shall be my will that is done – though it may be I have to persuade my subjects to accept it.’
    ‘They should obey unquestioningly.’
    ‘That is something they have never done. A king cannot prevent the humblest peasant from questioning if only in his mind.’
    ‘Peasants, dear son, do not possess minds.’
    ‘Ah, dear mother, let us not make the mistake of underestimating the people. We have seen what disastrous effects that can have.’
    ‘Your father never considered the people.’
    ‘There is truth in that and let us face it – he came near to losing his crown.’
    ‘Oh, how can you speak of your father thus!’
    He put his arm about her. ‘We loved him dearly,’ he said, ‘but our love did not prevent the disasters of civil war. I am determined that that shall never happen in my reign. This is as