Serpent Never Sleeps Read Online Free

carried the king's mark, I decided to eat breakfast in the kitchen, not with her in her bedroom as I usually did. Later, I'd work on the spot with the harsh yellow soap the servants used for the dishes. But I had no sooner reached the kitchen and begun to eat than she appeared, leaned over the table, and squinted at me.
    "You've rubbed the skin off," she said. "The king's ugly mark is gone. An odd man, King James. When he comes to Foxcroft he always hunts by the river, as you know, and appears covered with blood. Do not quail if he wishes to daub you again. Appear honored,
make a bow, and thank him. I hope you did so this morning."
    "I don't know what I did."
    "Did he give you the ring before or afterward?"
    "Afterward."
    "Then you didn't insult him. He insults easily and doesn't forget. Remember my advice when he comes to Foxcroft for the masque."
    "I shall."
    Countess Diana, who had decided to eat with me in the kitchen, picked at her smoked herring. She ate like a bird. I often marveled that she could look so much like a female Buddha on the morsels she carefully selected to put in her stomach. I marveled, too, at her son, who could consume platefuls of venison and suet dressing yet remain as thin as she was enormously fat.
    The countess divided her smoked herring into three pieces and gave them to the three piebald cats weaving in and out between her feet. "You told me that the king laughed," she said, "when he heard the story, and that he told Carr to see that Anthony was freed. What did Robert Carr say?"
    "Carr advised the king to keep Anthony in jail for a while. At least to show him the rack and the leg clamps. He said that Anthony was an arrogant young upstart and needed a lesson—that nits grew up to be lice."
    "You'll remember the two of them quarreled here at Foxcroft. That was two years ago at a masque.
I've forgotten what started it, but Carr challenged Anthony to a duel with two-handed swords. Anthony, because he is not a swordsman, refused the challenge. Then he challenged Carr to a duel with pistols, which Carr refused. They don't like each other, which is unfortunate, because Robert Carr is the king's favorite."
    "I was terribly afraid all the time we were talking that the king would take Carr's advice and give Anthony a scare."
    "Anthony has needed a scare," the countess said. "He's become something of a monster, a sweet monster, 'tis true, but a monster nonetheless. He seeks out danger, hatches quarrels the way Sir Walter did. He's as arrogant as Raleigh was when that swashbuckler was young. He adores Raleigh. He even had a painting of Raleigh in his room, where he could see it when he awakened in the morning. And a pair of Raleigh's rusty swords, which he bought in London, crossed just so and hung up beneath the painting."
    She picked a crumb from her plate and studied it, trying to decide whether to put it in her mouth.
    Hunting horns blew in the meadow, and I heard the sound of galloping hoofs moving away toward the south.
    "I think the king plans to bring a large party to the masque," I said. "But he says for you not to trouble yourself. He'll bring tents, victuals, and cooks."
    "The king always says that. Last year he came to
Covington with one hundred twenty-five and stayed for a week. Twelve of his guests, and most notably the earl of Southhampton, his lady, and their three children, were afraid to sleep in a tent. Sir John Lambert of Edinburgh and his two daughters had bad colds and couldn't sleep in tents. A baronet and his guest were sleeping in the carriage house. Isn't 'baronet' a silly title? The king invented it, and now we have as many baronets as there are fish in the sea."
    The sound of hoofs faded away. Countess Diana ate the crumb she had been toying with, licked her plump fingers, admired her new ring, and after a while said to me, "Considering why I present the masque, searching your deepest thoughts, what do you suggest for the subject? Something historical, don't you think? But