Page 48 of A Lady's Heart Deceived
“Well spotted. Yes, it’s been serving patrons since the year fifteen sixty-three. Can you imagine the people it has seen through its front doors? I mean, Lord Robert Dudley, lived only a half mile up the road, so it must have been a watering hole for many of England’s most powerful and wealthy in its heyday.”
A historian as well as a lover of fine food. Piers Denford was a man of many talents. In some ways he reminded her of her brother, James.
The thought of her family sent a pang of homesickness to her heart. She had been gone from home for less than a week, but it was the longest Maggie had ever been apart from her family.
A few more yards up the road, and Maggie got her first glimpse of Kenilworth Castle. Behind it the mid-morning sun framed its silhouette beautifully. Shattered towers of red sandstone reached into the sky.
What remained of the main castle was situated across a meadow, surrounded by green fields. There were many plump and wooly sheep grazing in and around what looked to have once been a moat. It was not how she had expected it to be—ruined and abandoned.
“You can understand why so many artists have painted that scene over the years,” Piers said.
Maggie nodded. She could just imagine James seated on a stool, sketchbook in hand, feverishly attempting to capture a likeness on paper. “I would love to see it at sunset. The fiery red of the dying sun would look spectacular on the walls.”
The coach drew up outside the front of the castle’s main entrance. Piers pointed out a nearby building. “That’s Leicester’s building. The local authority still uses it for town meetings. It’s about the only part of the castle the Parliamentarians didn’t slight during the civil war.”
“I have always found the term a touch peculiar. A slight is meant to be a small insult or snub. Taking a canon or explosives and reducing something almost to rubble really should be referred to by a different term, such as a levelling,” she replied.
“You have a valid point. A levelling or a destruction actually describes what happens. A slight, sounds more like someone marched up to the castle and gave it a slap,” he said.
Such a thought should have been amusing, but it was sad to see, what had once been a magnificent palace, now reduced to an empty ruined shell. The English Civil War had seen a great deal of the country’s heritage laid to ruin.
The coachman opened the door, and Piers climbed out. He helped Maggie down from the step, then reached in and collected the picnic basket. With a blanket draped over his arm, Piers bowed to her. He looked for all the world like a lord welcoming a lady to his humble palace. “Welcome to Kenilworth, Miss Radley.”
“Thank you, kind sir.”
Maggie glanced down at her boots, silently congratulating herself on packing such sensible footwear. The grounds were not well kept, and if they intended to have a picnic among the ruins, they would need to traipse across the wet grass.
I hope Elizabeth’s housemaid will forgive me if I get a stain or two on these pale pink skirts. They will require some scrubbing if I do.
They followed the narrow path which ran around the left side of the castle grounds and away from the main entrance. Piers pointed to the low, wide expanse which circled the site.
“When this was still a pleasure palace, there was a great mere full of water in the south-west of the grounds. It was deep enough for sailing boats. It’s all long gone now, but in the spring, the area still floods. That’s why the grass is lush and green, and why the sheep are so content to graze here.”
Maggie’s gaze traced the line of the red brick wall which circled the lower part of the castle grounds. In her mind’s eye, she could see the waters lapping against it. “From what I recall, this was once one of the premier castles in England. Queen Elizabeth visited on numerous occasions.”
“Yes, she did. The castle’s owner, Lord Robert Dudley, was one of Queen Elizabeth’s favorites for a long time. But when his wife died under suspicious circumstances, there were all manner of rumors of her having met with foul play. Dudley likely thought to marry the queen and being already in possession of a wife was an inconvenience. Nothing was ever proven, but the notion of him becoming royal consort pretty much ended at that point.”
They made for an area higher up toward the great hall which towered over the landscape. Maggie politely waited for Piers to deliver the next part of his guided tour.
“John of Gaunt extended much of the castle and the inner bailey during an eight-year period from thirteen seventy-two to thirteen eighty. He also built the great hall, which is the building we are standing under,” he announced.
There was a glint of pride shining in his eyes as he spoke. Piers truly loved this place. Kenilworth might well be a ruin, but it was still stunning—perhaps even more lovely in its shattered state than it might have been when it was a fully functioning castle.
Maggie lifted her gaze, taking in the massive structure. The stone frames of its soaring windows remained intact in many places.
“The great hall is almost one hundred feet high,” added Piers.
She pointed at the outer walls, counting the lines on the bricks which marked where the original floors had once been. “That’s at least four levels. There must have been hundreds of people living here in Dudley’s day.”
Piers nodded. “If we have time, I shall take you around to the other side of the castle and show you where the formal Elizabethan gardens once stood. It’s all just an overgrown patch of weeds these days, but you can still get a good idea of the scale of what the Earl of Leicester did to the place and how much it must have cost him.”
And all to woo a queen who decided that as much as she loved him, Dudley was too great a risk for Elizabeth to ever marry.
But if you don’t take a chance on love, you can never know how wonderful it can be.
Or how heartbreaking.
Maggie pushed that thought away. She had spent too long in the dark.Today was a day for sunshine and light. For spending precious time with a dashing army captain.
