Chapter 10 ELEANOR: THE LION’S DEN

Windsor Castle May 1172 As Alais left the hall, Henry’s eyes followed her. Richard did not sit again until she was gone, but it was Henry I watched from the corner of my eye. As I did so, I raised one hand, and my footman stepped forward with my wine. He refilled my goblet¹ from my private silver urn². At Henry’s court, to take care to avoid poison, I drank my own wine. Also, one could never trust Henry’s steward³ at Windsor to keep decent wine at table, as Henry himself drank only mead⁴. I let Amaria spread the gossip that I drank a special draft for my health, but all knew why I took care at Windsor. There were many at Henry’s court who did not wish me well. Only after I had drunk deep and taken a last morsel⁵ of squab did I turn to Henry I was pleased to see him fawn⁶ over my daughter, as if she were some housemaid that he might take up against a wall. I thought of Rosamund, and wondered if she had spies in my court, as I would have, had I been in her place. I wondered if those spies would carry tales to her of Alais that night, and if so, how my old rival might receive them. The thought made my smile deepen, and it seemed Henry was caught in the light of my eyes. For all his attentions to Alais, now that she was gone, he had eyes only for me. I smiled my old, wicked smile, and Henry laughed, raising his tankard. The musicians began to play the first measure of the first dance. Henry rose to his feet, and I wondered which woman he would choose to partner him. He walked, not down the steps to the dance floor, but across the dais to me. “My lady Eleanor, would you honor me?” Henry held out his hand to me. He pitched his voice low so that the court could see him approach me but could not hear his words. Not for the first time, I wondered what had happened to the love that once had been between us, the great love that I had cast aside a crown for, more than a lifetime ago. “My lord Henry, it is you who honor me.” I, too, kept my voice low, to keep the matter private between us as I laid my hand in his. Of course, nothing for a king is ever private. I had lived as a queen since the age of fifteen. I had long since grown used to the eyes of others always on me. He said nothing more, but led me onto the dance floor. The musicians stopped playing when Henry offered me his hand, so shocked were they to see us together. We had not danced with one another in years, since Henry first touched Rosamund de Clifford. The musicians Henry employed were ill trained and had not the sense to start playing again as soon as we took the floor. But Henry and I had heard the first bars of the song, and knew what steps it called for. It was a dance we had enjoyed long ago, when we had both been happy. Henry met my eyes, as if in defiance⁷ of all who watched us. The entire court was silent, and for the first few steps of the dance, we were alone on the floor, moving as one. Our bodies remembered each other. The musicians started playing then, first the mandolin, then the lute⁸, the tabor catching⁹ up with a crash before they all settled together into harmonious¹⁰ time. Henry laughed under his breath and I joined him, my merry laughter filling that cold hall, touching¹¹ even the dark corners with my own brand of fire. “It is good to hold your hand again, Eleanor.” “I am glad to see you, Henry I missed you while you were away.” Henry believed me, for his face softened¹² as he looked at me. Had we been alone, he would have kissed me. As it was, he drew me closer in the dance. “Eleanor, I am not myself when I am not with you.” “Stay, then, and let us bide¹³ a while together.” He did not turn from me, but his emotions were engaged, and he did not like it. He changed the subject, a gleam of mischief¹⁴ coming into his eyes. I had forgotten how well matched we once had been in mischief making, too. “Your French princess is a beauty,” Henry said. I laughed again, and Henry smiled to hear it, the warm music that had been denied him for so long. “She is not mine,” I said. “Well, she did not learn to tempt¹⁶ a man that way in the convent,” he said. “You saw how Richard would follow her, like a hound come to heel.” I watched him, my eyes still gleaming with laughter. My smile did not slip; my expression gave nothing away. His face darkened. “I should not have brought that boy’s name into our conversation.” I changed the subject back to Alais before we could quarrel. “And how did you like the morsel I sent to tempt you?”Henry laughed, as if he had forgotten Richard, though I knew he had not. “Your morsel is tempting¹⁷, but not one I can digest.” “I knew that, Henry, or I never would have put her in front of you.” “Perhaps it is war I have no stomach for. I am growing old, Eleanor. I want peace.” The music stopped, and the court applauded us. Henry kissed my hand. He did not raise his head at once, but let his lips linger on my skin, before all the court, as if to swear me fealty¹⁸, as Richard often did. When Henry raised his head and met my eyes, Richard spoke¹⁹. “My lord king.” Henry straightened. Though his hand stayed on mine, his eyes sharpened like a hawk’s. His predator’s gaze swept the hall until his eyes fell on Richard. “My son,” Henry said. “Or should I say, one of the jackals that would feed on my carcass before I am dead?” A woman gasped²⁰, and her man shushed her, drawing her quickly from the hall. I felt the color fade from my cheeks as the bloom fades from a rose once it is cut. With Henry’s hand still in mine, I silently cursed Richard for refusing to stay quiet when I ordered him to. “There are no jackals here, my lord. Please, come and sit with me,” I said, though I knew it was too late. I pressed my hand to Henry’s arm, hoping to placate²¹ him as I once could have done so easily. He hesitated while he considered my soft voice, as he had for many years before strife²² fell between us. Hope rose in me, if only for the space of a breath. The court waited to see which would win, my voice of calm, or his hatred²³ for my son. As always with Henry, hatred won out. “You thankless whelp!” His voice was like the thunder of a god. More than one grown man flinched²⁴, wishing themselves anywhere but there. “You should join your cursed brother in Normandy. Henry, my eldest²⁵, scheming with the benighted²⁶ French king. And you, taking the Aquitaine without so much as a by-your-leave. I am still king in this hall, by God. And in this land. I will be damned if I succor²⁷ traitors²⁸ who call themselves my sons!” The word “traitor” almost made my heart stop. Never, in all the years I had known him, had Henry ever referred to one of our boys in such a way. He had spoken of Becket with that kind of rancor²⁹, and look what had happened to him. My plans had not advanced far enough for hostilities³⁰ to mount so quickly between Henry and my sons. I knew I must make the peace. Richard must have seen the look on my face, for before I could speak, he went down on one knee in front of Henry. “My lord king, it pains me that I have offended you.” Henry’s face was still red, his temper high, but his pallor had not risen to the color of puce. His hand was still in mine. He had not yet pulled away. He stared at Richard. Though Henry did not speak, he also did not order our son from his presence. “I ask that you support my rise, that I might serve you in the Aquitaine as I serve you here,” Richard said. Henry held my son’s eyes for a long moment. The silence in the hall was deafening³¹. Even the least loyal of courtiers felt nothing but fear. “Very well, Richard. Then let all be witness. You take the Aquitaine from my hand. Have it, and guard it well. I gift it to you, out of my royal largesse³².” Richard, being Richard, could not let the slight go. “My lord king, I thank you. But I remind you here, in the presence of this assembly, that the Aquitaine comes to me through my mother, as sanctioned by my overlord, the King of France, three years ago. Only now do I reach out my hand to take it.” I looked to Henry, as we all did, certain that he would send Richard from him now. I cursed Richard for a fool for not obeying me. He should have been well on his way to the Continent this night, and not at Henry’s court, deviling the king. Henry did not turn from me, even then, and I saw that we were safe. I realized what Henry was about: Richard and I had given him an opportunity to strike back at young Henry in Normandy. My husband was going to let Richard keep the Aquitaine to spite our eldest son. But there was something in Henry’s smile that I did not like as he turned it on Richard. It was not warm but calculating. And for once, I could not see behind the calculation in my husband’s eyes. “All here may bow to my son Richard, Duke of Aquitaine. He holds the land with his mother’s blessing³³, and with mine. God speed him on his journey hence.” I heard the order behind the blessing, and this time I would force Richard to have the sense to heed³⁴ it. My son bowed to the king, and the court applauded Henry’s words. Everyone present was grateful that the scene had ended so well, but I was still uneasy. Henry met my eyes only then, and bent³⁵ to kiss my hand. Then the king released me, and moved to leave the hall. I took an unsteady breath, unable to do anything but watch him go. The tension in the room did not dissipate when Henry left. I heard one old man say, “Christ’s blood, God help the prince. The king smiled like that on Becket, too.” Richard came to my side. He heard the man’s words but chose to ignore them, as he had chosen to ignore my advice. He took my hand, and led me into a dance. I raised my skirt in one hand, and we moved together in a dance of Richard’s choosing. He did not tell me the dance he thought of, but we moved together without thinking, in sympathy as we always were whenever Henry was not in the room. The musicians, behind three beats once more, soon caught up. Richard’s favorite men-at-arms took up partners and surrounded us, so that our conversation could not be overheard by Henry’s courtiers. “Richard, for God’s sake, never do such a thing again.” “Mother, I’m sorry. I lost my temper. I should—” “Have spoken with me first. Richard, you cannot beard the lion in his den¹⁵. There is a strategy to politics, as there is in war. If you will not use your mind for chess here as you do on the battlefield, you must trust to me to make your moves for you.” “Mother, you’re right. I’m sorry.” The contrition³⁶ in his voice moved me, just as I had hoped to harden my heart, to make him see how close we might have come to disaster. His blue eyes met mine, as they had when he was a boy, guileless and full of love for me. I turned to him in the dance, and pressed my lips to his cheek. “You must go to Aquitaine tomorrow. Do not turn back, even if you hear that we have all fallen to a plague. I have sent word to the bishop³⁷. He will be waiting for you in Limoges.” “Yes, Mother.” “While you are gone, I will find some way to distract your father. We want peace with him, until we choose otherwise. We have won this round, Richard. Let me see to it that we do not lose the next.” The music ended and he kissed my cheek there on the dance floor, with all of Henry’s court watching. “I swear, Mother, I will be ruled by you in this, as in all things.” Richard led me back to my chair. With Henry gone from the hall, he sat down at the high table beside me. He poured more wine for me and courted me for the rest of the night. Three troubadours sang to my beauty, a record at Henry’s court, and Richard, too, raised his voice in praise of me. Like all good things, those moments were not to last. Before long, one of Richard’s men signaled to him, and he kissed me and left the hall. I wondered if he went to meet a lover. I chided myself for being jealous of my son’s attention. Soon he would marry Alais, with her sweet eyes and her long, rose-scented hair. She would hold him for me.

1 goblet   

n.高脚酒杯

参考例句：

• He poured some wine into the goblet.他向高脚酒杯里倒了一些葡萄酒。
• He swirled the brandy around in the huge goblet.他摇晃着高脚大玻璃杯使里面的白兰地酒旋动起来。

2 urn   

n.（有座脚的）瓮；坟墓；骨灰瓮

参考例句：

• The urn was unearthed entire.这只瓮出土完整无缺。
• She put the big hot coffee urn on the table and plugged it in.她将大咖啡壶放在桌子上,接上电源。

3 steward   

n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员

参考例句：

• He's the steward of the club.他是这家俱乐部的管理员。
• He went around the world as a ship's steward.他当客船服务员，到过世界各地。

4 mead   

n.蜂蜜酒

参考例句：

• He gave me a cup of mead.他给我倒了杯蜂蜜酒。
• He drank some mead at supper.晚饭时他喝了一些蜂蜜酒。

5 morsel   

n.一口，一点点

参考例句：

• He refused to touch a morsel of the food they had brought.他们拿来的东西他一口也不吃。
• The patient has not had a morsel of food since the morning.从早上起病人一直没有进食。

6 fawn   

n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承

参考例句：

• A fawn behind the tree looked at us curiously.树后面一只小鹿好奇地看着我们。
• He said you fawn on the manager in order to get a promotion.他说你为了获得提拔，拍经理的马屁。

7 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

8 lute   

n.琵琶，鲁特琴

参考例句：

• He idly plucked the strings of the lute.他漫不经心地拨弄着鲁特琴的琴弦。
• He knows how to play the Chinese lute.他会弹琵琶。

9 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

10 harmonious   

adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的

参考例句：

• Their harmonious relationship resulted in part from their similar goals.他们关系融洽的部分原因是他们有着相似的目标。
• The room was painted in harmonious colors.房间油漆得色彩调和。

11 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

12 softened   

（使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰

参考例句：

• His smile softened slightly. 他的微笑稍柔和了些。
• The ice cream softened and began to melt. 冰淇淋开始变软并开始融化。

13 bide   

v.忍耐；等候；住

参考例句：

• We'll have to bide our time until the rain stops.我们必须等到雨停。
• Bide here for a while. 请在这儿等一会儿。

14 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

15 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

16 tempt   

vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣

参考例句：

• Nothing could tempt him to such a course of action.什么都不能诱使他去那样做。
• The fact that she had become wealthy did not tempt her to alter her frugal way of life.她有钱了，可这丝毫没能让她改变节俭的生活习惯。

17 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。

18 fealty   

n.忠贞，忠节

参考例句：

• He swore fealty to the king.他宣誓效忠国王。
• If you are fealty and virtuous,then I would like to meet you.如果你孝顺善良，我很愿意认识你。

19 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

20 gasped   

v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要

参考例句：

• She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
• People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

21 placate   

v.抚慰，平息(愤怒)

参考例句：

• He never attempts to placate his enemy.他从不企图与敌人和解。
• Even a written apology failed to placate the indignant hostess.甚至一纸书面道歉都没能安抚这个怒气冲冲的女主人。

22 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

23 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

24 flinched   

v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He flinched at the sight of the blood. 他一见到血就往后退。
• This tough Corsican never flinched or failed. 这个刚毅的科西嘉人从来没有任何畏缩或沮丧。 来自辞典例句

25 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

26 benighted   

adj.蒙昧的

参考例句：

• Listen to both sides and you will be enlightened,heed only one side and you will be benighted.兼听则明，偏信则暗。
• Famine hit that benighted country once more.饥荒再次席卷了那个蒙昧的国家。

27 succor   

n.援助，帮助；v.给予帮助

参考例句：

• In two short hours we may look for succor from Webb.在短短的两小时内，韦布将军的救兵就可望到达。
• He was so much in need of succor,so totally alone.他当时孑然一身，形影相吊，特别需要援助。

28 traitors   

卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人

参考例句：

• Traitors are held in infamy. 叛徒为人所不齿。
• Traitors have always been treated with contempt. 叛徒永被人们唾弃。

29 rancor   

n.深仇，积怨

参考例句：

• I have no rancor against him.我对他无怨无仇。
• Their rancor dated from a political dogfight between them.他们的积怨来自于他们之间在政治上的狗咬狗。

30 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

31 deafening   

adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The noise of the siren was deafening her. 汽笛声震得她耳朵都快聋了。
• The noise of the machine was deafening. 机器的轰鸣声震耳欲聋。

32 largesse   

n.慷慨援助，施舍

参考例句：

• She is not noted for her largesse.没人听说过她出手大方。
• Our people are in no need of richer nations' largesse.我国人民不需要富国的施舍。

33 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

34 heed   

v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心

参考例句：

• You must take heed of what he has told.你要注意他所告诉的事。
• For the first time he had to pay heed to his appearance.这是他第一次非得注意自己的外表不可了。

35 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

36 contrition   

n.悔罪，痛悔

参考例句：

• The next day he'd be full of contrition,weeping and begging forgiveness.第二天，他就会懊悔不已，哭着乞求原谅。
• She forgave him because his contrition was real.她原谅了他是由于他的懊悔是真心的。

37 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。