monarch

The sky in England’s autumn is always covered with lingering haze. The cold wind blowing from Norway and the North Sea is gradually overpowering the warm wind coming from the Mediterranean Sea and the European continent, turning the yellow leaves on the branches from increasingly Blows down on sparse branches.

The funeral carriage departed from the mansion in Dudley Manor, passed through the whole manor, and drove to the chapel on the other side of the manor.

In a long black coach lay the coffin of Miss Jane Gray, who had died alone on the Dudley estate two fortnight ago, and since her mother-in-law had died a year ago After his death, there was only one resident left in the whole manor.

His majesty's carriage with the king's flag on it, followed behind the hearse, and behind the royal driver, followed more than 500 private carriages and more than [-] mourners on foot. Since the death of the former chief minister, this manor has been a long time ago. I have never seen such a scene.

Most of the people who came to the funeral came for His Majesty's reasons. Since His Majesty chose to let go of the past, everyone was happy to follow the King's footsteps to make a favor.

However, in addition to this, there is more or less a sense of regret in the hearts of the mourners. This beautiful and pure girl, who never harbored evil intentions and never had any ambitions, lost her life because of the sins of others. Like a rose in a corner vase that no one cares about, it quietly withers alone in this monotonous and bleak season.The official obituary states that Miss Jane Gray died of heart failure, but everyone here knows she died of a broken heart.The poor girl's soul died two years ago, and the body left in this world can only slowly wither like a plant that has been removed from the soil.

"It's been almost a year since I last saw this lady." In the carriage following the king's carriage, Cecil sighed to Ponsonby who was sitting opposite him, "That's also On a sad occasion, at the funeral of her mother-in-law, His Majesty asked me to attend in his place, while he remained at the palace to write to Lord Robert. I remember the lady was wrapped in black veil, when she passed me I was struck by the sad air that hung around her in time, as if one foot had crossed the threshold of immortality, and the other remained outside, when I knew that she might not live long."

"It's also a relief for her." Ponsonby whispered, "Just like she was before, trapped between two worlds, sooner or later she will be torn in half alive."

By this time the hearse had passed the chapel and stopped in front of a white marble building about twenty feet high, where successive members of the Dudley family were buried.Two years ago, the decapitated bodies of the First Minister and his son, Lord Guildford, were laid to rest here. A year ago, the coffin of the First Minister's wife was also buried here. Now, Miss Jane Gray is with herself After two years of separation, her husband finally came here to reunite with him.

"What a majestic place." Cecil looked at the huge marble tomb, "It's majestic and magnificent, but it's cold and without a trace of warmth. Think of such a budding angel, but now it will sleep here forever , which really makes people feel that fate is uncertain.”

"Everyone has that day," Ponsonby said.

"Yes, everyone has this day." Cecil nodded, "One day, we will also live in such a palace that is warm in winter and cool in summer... No matter how magnificent a life is, it is just The hallway to eternal death. We all sit in this hallway, waiting for the bailiff of death to call our names and lead us through the doorway to the afterlife."

"You sound like a philosopher today." Ponsonby glanced at his companion.

"Everyone can be a philosopher in the right place," Cecil replied.

The convoy stopped in front of the tomb, and the passengers got out of the car one after another, and walked towards the entrance of the tomb along the path covered with withered honeysuckle on both sides.Two church deacons in black, one after the other, lifted Miss Jane Gray's coffin covered with black silk from the hearse.

Some people watched the coffin, but more eyes followed the king who was walking behind the coffin.

Compared with two years ago, the 20-year-old King Edward has gradually faded away from his youthful youthfulness. The French-style soft facial features inherited from his mother have completely grown over the years, and now he has added the Welsh man from his father's side. Celtic heroism.The king's pair of blue eyes are bright and keen, and the straight bridge of the nose seems to come from a certain ancient Greek marble bust. Whenever the pair of rose petal-colored lips are slightly opened, a row of white pearly lips are revealed. teeth.

King Edward VI is still unmarried, but unlike a few years ago, no one dares to mention the marriage before His Majesty.The reason for the king's refusal to marry was now an open secret, so well known to all, that no one in the British Isles dared to comment on it.A year ago, some unsightly tabloids published some unsightly caricatures featuring the king and Robert Dudley as the protagonists. A week later, the little nobleman behind the plot was sent to Thailand. Bourne's execution ground beheaded, and these newspapers, from bosses to typesetters, were all exiled to the newly opened colony of Newfoundland on the other side of the ocean, where they could publish whatever they wanted to publish.

The king was dressed in plain black, and the black velvet wrapped around his neck made his cheeks look even fairer. The only decoration on his majesty was a thin red ribbon hanging on his chest, which looked like it had been cut by a sword. There was a bloodstain.He followed Miss Jane Gray's coffin without saying a word, with his head lowered, making it difficult for the curious crowd to see the subtle changes in the expression on the face of the supreme being.

The funeral visitors gathered at the door of the tomb. They greeted each other with their eyes and gathered in twos and threes. There was silence in the vast world, except for occasional birds fluttering away from the branches of the tall oak trees on both sides. Sound, these migratory birds gather in the air to form echelons that stretch hundreds of feet, fly to the warm Mediterranean coast for the winter, and will not return to the land of the British Isles until next spring.

The priest of the local church summed up Miss Jane Gray's life in a melancholy voice and prayed for her eternal soul, now reunited with her untimely husband in heaven.From the surrounding crowd, the sobs of women could be heard from time to time. They wiped their tears with handkerchiefs and crossed themselves with their fingers on their chests.Most of these soft-hearted ladies have one or several daughters who are similar in age to Miss Jane Gray. They are hard to compare with the resting Jane Gray in terms of appearance or status, but they can be compared with this noble lady. How lucky they are in comparison!

The coffin was carried through the burial door, where it will be placed in a pre-dug vault to the right of Lord Guilford's resting place.His Majesty the King did not enter the gate of the tomb, and only the two sisters of the deceased, Catherine Gray and Mary Gray, entered the tomb together with the priest and the pallbearers. In the living room, the official cause of death was still "death from apoplexy", but again, no one dared to express their opinions on this.

The Tudor dynasty is declining, and the petals of this rose are withering and falling off one by one. Now, except for the two princesses who have married far away, and the former Queen of Scots Mary Stuart who was deprived of the right to inherit the throne in France, there are The two youngest daughters of the Gray family are the only remaining heirs to the throne.If King Edward VI was truly celibate, as some speculated, or as childless as his father was, these two girls would be the keys to the treasure-filled safe.So naturally, they have also attracted the attention of many people, but obviously the new generation of careerists have learned a lesson from their predecessors: no one dares to pursue these two girls anymore, because that means taking the throne. The pretender's hat was put on his own head.

The ceremony ended soon, and the two Gray girls walked out of the tomb accompanied by the priest. The heavy door of the tomb closed behind them, and it would not open again until the next member of the Dudley family moved in.

The funeral crowd dispersed quickly, and the king got into his carriage, but that carriage did not drive to the gate of the manor like the other carriages, but drove towards the mansion on the right.

The king's carriage was parked in the garden behind the mansion, and His Majesty opened the door and got out.

The appearance of this mansion seems to be the same as in memory, but everything looks much smaller than the last time I visited, the huge stone building looks far less magnificent than before, and the gardens with The tall chestnut trees that cover the sky and the sun seem to be bent over by the years like an old man.

The closer you get to the mansion, the more obvious the traces of time become.Those fast-growing creepers have covered the walls up to the second floor, and the tips of the climbing vines have already reached the windowsill of the third floor.The historic stone walls are covered with cobweb-like cracks, and heather, myrtle and pistachio are protruding from the cracks in the stone, growing lushly, obviously their roots have been deeply embedded in the stone structure. In the depths, it merged with the entire mansion.In the dense bushes surrounding the mansion, from time to time, one or two squirrels or wild rabbits pricked up their ears quietly, and when they heard the sound of approaching footsteps, they jumped and ran to the depths of the woods.

The king did not bring his entourage, but pushed open the small door leading to the main building alone and entered the mansion.

Since the first minister entered the cabinet, he brought his whole family into the mansion in London because of his busy government affairs, and he only came here occasionally for a few days every year.Two years ago, after the death of the Chief Minister and his son Guildford, the two widows they left behind returned to this ancestral house to live in seclusion. However, they only occupied the two floors of the left wing. The main building has not been used for nearly five years.

In a melancholy mood the king walked round the spacious ground floor.The furniture in the big living room were all covered with white silk covers, which were covered with dust if touched by hands. It was obvious that no one had lifted these covers for a long time.The floppy Persian rugs, rolled up and piled in one corner of the room, looked like the battered remains of a defunct country tavern.Every step the king took on the ground raised a cloud of dust, which swirled around the room, as if blaming the intruder for breaking the silence that had not been broken for a long time.

Following the familiar marble stairs, the king walked up to the second floor, and he quickly found the room he once lived with Robert based on his memory.

Compared with the scene in the king's memory, the house generally still retains the old appearance, but everything looks so different: there is a big hole in the glass window at some point, and there are cracks on the wall. The few gouache paintings hanging in the room were also faded due to damp, and the paint was smudged on the canvas, turning the people and objects in the paintings into blurred outlines.

The four-poster bed was still in its original position, but seemed to have shrunk in size along with the rest of the room.The curtains hanging on the pillars had been removed, and even the mattresses had been removed, leaving nothing but an empty wooden shelf.

King Edward VI put his hand on the bedpost and stroked the pattern on it.

His Majesty stayed in that room for about a quarter of an hour. His footsteps almost covered the room. In every tiny corner, he lowered his head and observed it carefully, as if he was connecting with his memory. compare the scenes.Everything looks so familiar, but everything looks so strange.

The Dudley family once climbed to the status of being under one person and above ten thousand people. Their patriarchs held important positions, one son was deeply favored by the king, and the other son married the third heir to the throne.But only a few short years have passed, all of this has disappeared like foam on the sea surface, and that dazzling power is like an iceberg under the sun, melting into water in an instant.In its glorious days the stately mansion had been filled with adjoining drawing-rooms filled with scented throngs, jostling shoulder to shoulder in the well-lit halls, the light reflected in every direction by their jewels. , looks like sparkling waves on the sea.

But now, instead of all this, there is only a suffocating emptiness.The luxurious crystal chandeliers have not been lit for a long time, and the gold-plated decorations on the silk veneered walls are also covered with spider webs. The pungent dusty smell has replaced the smell of incense powder. The shrubs and weeds growing wantonly in the garden have already distorted the perfect geometric patterns trimmed by the gardeners.

From this house the King walked down the corridor, all the way to the left wing where Miss Jane Gray had once lived.

Everything here is hung with black veils, and like the rest of the house, it is still deserted, Miss Jane Gray's servants have been dismissed before the funeral, and the house will be closed until One day in the future, maybe a new owner will move here, or it will be abandoned forever.

Miss Jane Gray's bedroom, as it had been before her death, was filled with a strong smell of herbs, released from the corners of the walls and from the crevices of the furniture, such as is common in rooms occupied by the chronically ill. .

Thick curtains were hung on the windows, and the ubiquitous black gauze in the room made the whole room look quite gloomy.There was not much furniture in the room, and a huge four-poster bed was also placed in the center of the room, on which Miss Jane Gray died.

The only decoration in the room is a portrait of Lord Guildford hanging on the wall opposite the big bed. In the portrait, Lord Guildford's eyes are facing the position of the pillow on the bed. The last scene I saw was my husband's slightly smiling face amidst the fragrance of flowers.

The solemn and gloomy atmosphere made the king tremble, and he exited the room lightly, as if he was afraid of further destroying the solemn silence.

Five minutes later, when the king came out of the mansion, he saw Cecil waiting in front of his carriage.

"This week's Spanish letter from Hampton Court, Your Majesty." He drew an envelope from the folder next door.The British embassy in Spain sends home a diplomatic package every week, which contains a personal letter from the ambassador to His Majesty the King.The package was sent to Cadiz by fast horse, and then sent to a sailboat. Usually, it was delivered to King Edward's writing desk at Hampton Court Palace after half a month to 20 days.And according to His Majesty's instructions, if he is not in the palace when this letter is received, no matter where he is, the steward of the court must immediately deliver this letter to His Majesty's hands with a fast horse.

The king's eyes lit up, and he reached out to take the letter from Cecil, gently stroking the kraft paper envelope and the wax marks on it.

"There is also a report for me sent by Hexin. The content in it is quite interesting. I think if Your Majesty doesn't mind, I can report to Your Majesty on the way back to the palace."

The king nodded, "Get in the carriage." He stepped on the pedal and got into the carriage as he said.

Cecil bent down, followed the king into the car, and closed the door behind him.