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What horses can afford you...; Catherine Brandon
Topic Started: Dec 11 2010, 07:42 PM (222 Views)
William Spencer
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Lord Winchester (courtesy)
William Spencer did not particularly liked being accosted following a ride, and this blundering idiot not only accosted him after a ride (when all he wanted was a nice glass of wine), but had proceeded to follow him into the hallways. Did this poor fellow assume to follow William right back into his room? He folded his gloves and stuck them in his belt and then turned to face the man.

"Let us understand one another, shall we, Master Purcell?" he started, looking down at the brown-haired man from his rather tall height. "Yes, I understand she is a gorgeous mare. I understand that you want to procure her for your betrothed. What you do not seem to understand is that she is not just a pretty horse. My family does not just breed pretty horses. My horses have some of the best, oldest, and rarest bloodlines in the country, if not several countries. You simply could not afford her, so I am not going to further insult you by informing you of a price which will make you stutter and feel silly. That is, if you do not already."

Well that seemed to have rendered the man mostly speechless. Purcell had queried him about it before, but William simply was not interested in selling any of his stock to anyone he did not deem worthy of it. It would not matter if Purcell was worthy or not, because William simply knew that man did not have that sort of money at his disposal.

"Now, please, can you leave me at peace on the matter?" he asked, resting his right hand on the hilt of his sword and his left on his hip. "I will make an introduction to someone more suited to your needs at a later date."

As the man retreated, finally, William noticed a lady in the corridor as well and wondered how much of that exchange she had overheard. Not that it particularly mattered. He had been perfectly polite and civil and had not used any particular terms he would not use around a lady.

At closer inspection, was that Suffolk's wife? He gave her a bow of recognition wondering if it were serve her better if he were to turn and retreat. It would save her from needing a reason to excuse herself if they exchanged words. He found that most knew him by face and avoided him because of the 'french' talk, or else knew him when they heard the soft undercurrent of 'french'ness in his voice when he spoke.
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Catherine Brandon
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January 1512

When the weather prevented her from wandering out of doors, Catherine wandered the corridors. It did wonders for her, rather than being cooped up in her bedchambers the entire time and inventing new and interesting things to do. One could only practice their sewing and write their letters too many times before it became monotonous. If she had her way, she would rather be with her husband, but since he held the duchy, was the president of the Privy Council and held a close friendship with the king, he was always busy. "I should just be thankful for the time he spends with me," she mumbled, as she continued to wander the corridors. Even this became monotonous after a while, but it was better than nothing. At least people populated these corridors and were of a rather interesting stock. Much like the scenario she had the fortune of witnessing.

A man was following another man and giving him quite a bother about what seemed to be a horse. At this, she perked up. Horses? Catherine never had the occasion to ride a horse. Her family could never afford it, and the only encounter she ever had with a horse was when she was nearly trampled by His Majesty's stallion. Perhaps she might ask Charles if they might go riding sometime? She never expected to go on hunts with him, and never wanted to...but the two could always go riding when the weather was fine, and then stop to have a picnic somewhere. That sounded divine. "I wonder if this man might consider speaking with Charles on the matter of purchasing such a thing." And of course, she would have to plant the idea in her husband's head. Seeing as he already gave her expensive and lavish gifts, sometimes for even no reason at all, Catherine saw no difficulty in asking Charles for a riding mare. Plus, she received so many nice gifts at the wedding, and she was not selfish, but she always appreciated gifts of any sort.

Her mouth fell open as the...was he French? The Frenchman fully chastised the man. A hand covered her mouth as she giggled; she couldn't help it. The poor lad looked as if he was red all over in sheer embarrassment from the thorough tongue-lashing. As the embarrassed man left, the Frenchman looked her way, and gave her a bow of recognition. Curiosity overcame her...Catherine had to go and speak to this man. A few friendly words would do no harm to either her or him. Thank goodness she knew some French from both her cousin Anne and Mademoiselle Jane. She walked right up to the man, and nodded back. "Bonjour, monsieur. Ca va? Je m'appelle Madame Catherine Brandon." It was so much easier to speak French than it was Italian, yet she hoped she wasn't making too much of a fool of herself.
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William Spencer
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Lord Winchester (courtesy)
William moved his hands from the aggressive posture of being on his hips to resting lightly behind his back. The corners of his lips lifted up just slightly when she approached him and introduced herself. Her French was very, very good for an Englishwoman and seemed to have some practice. It was brazen of her to use it with the current climate, and he found such a thing generous and endearing. She knew he spoke English as he was quite sure that she had to have overheard part of his conversation.

"Je m'appelle William Spencer de Wilmington, Madame...Je sais qui vous êtes, Madame de Suffolk," he said in the best, fluent courtesan French with a gracious nod.. His fluency and perfection when speaking French in a fluid French accent was likely why he did not detect any hint of French in his voice when he spoke English. To him, the difference between his voice speaking in both language was in stark opposition, no similarities. He nearly sounded like two different people when he spoke French and English. However, to the English it was not pure English, no matter how different it was from his French. "Je suis très bien, merci, et vous?"

William had never had the opportunity to be this close to the lady, but he found her quite beautiful. He could see why she would be a fitting choice for the duke. They would make a handsome couple, indeed, and handsome children as well.

"Tardive félicitations pour votre mariage...peut-elle être une heureuse et fructueuse. En anglais s'il vous plaît," he requested with a bit of a sheepish smile, "It is not wise for me to be conversing in French, let alone conversing in French with another man's wife as if I do not wish to be understood and have something to hide of my words to you."

Unsure of why she had chosen to speak to him, because it had most certainly been a conscious choice, he could not help but be curious. If she spoke to him in French, she had definitely heard him speaking to the man who had left.

"I apologize if I came off of ill-humour, but that man has been attempting to persuade me of the impossible for weeks now," he said, hoping he had not offended her by speaking that harshly in her presence. He had not seen her until he was done dealing with the man.

*I know who you are...I am very well, thanks, and you? Belated congratulations on your marriage. May it be a happy and fruitful one. In English if you please.
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Catherine Brandon
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Catherine just wanted to make this man feel comfortable, and since his English was tinged with French, she knew he was not from around here. Perhaps he would feel more at home speaking in his native tongue. Who cared if they were going to war with France, quite possibly? Despite the fact it would send Charles away for months upon months, war was a nasty business that she never endeavored to understand. Just because one French person was bad, it did not mean they were all bad. And besides, this William Spencer seemed very nice. "Oh? Vous savez qui je suis?" She still was not used to being recognized as such. All she did was marry the Duke of Suffolk. Now, it seemed as if everyone knew who she was. At times, it made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"Je suis très bien aussi, merci, monsieur. et vous? Je vous remercie pour vos compliments." She flushed prettily at his request that they speak in English. "Oh, of course, of course. I didn't mean to offend you, sir. I just thought you would enjoy conversing in your native tongue. I know you also speak English, and I hate it that we cannot speak such a beautiful language without others thinking ill of us." Thank goodness there were some of her ladies in the corridor as well, far enough back, but out of sight, so they might observe and bear witness to her behavior. She trusted them completely, and would never tell her husband unnecessary falsehoods.

"Monsieur, you did not need to apologize; you were only doing your job. Besides, I found it rather amusing." She beamed, and went off onto her next series of questions at a rather fast clip, burying him in the monsoon of her speech. "So you deal with, and breed horses? How exciting! The only encounter I've ever had with a horse was when I was nearly trampled by one. But I still love them. I've never had occasion to go riding, or have never even owned my own horse. They are such wonderful animals!" Her eyes shone in excitement. "Would it be possible...oh, never mind. This request would sound rather silly." She wanted, so dearly, to ask this man about the matter of purchasing a horse, but at the last second, she changed her mind. She didn't want to sound untoward. "I was going to ask you if you might speak to my husband on the matter of quite possibly purchasing one of your animals. But I don't wish to rob you of your animals." Catherine smiled. "I'm sure they are all magnificent."
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William Spencer
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Lord Winchester (courtesy)
William smiled down at this friendly girl very young lady. She was rather cute, but William could not find any attraction in her beauty. It would be daft to find attraction in Suffolk's wife and it nearly reminded him of his sister and his favourite cousin. That made it rather difficult for his mind to drift to any baser desires. Even when she flushed, which would have led him straight to base desires usually, he could do nothing other than find it 'cute'.

"Your Grace did not offend me in the least, and I do enjoy it, but you have precisely identified the problem with it," he said with a soft huff-like chuckle, the corners of his eyes crinkling in amusement. "I rather fancy my head just where it is, and the thought of my brother inheriting my earldom is appropriately frightening." He was of course, joking, but there was a tone of seriousness behind the words. He knew, all too well, that both things were not impossible.

It was slightly bothersome to him that she continued on calling him 'monsieur', but far be it for him to say anything. At least at this juncture. However, when she said he was just doing his 'job'. William blinked. God's Blood, his JOB?!? He was quite sure she had not meant it to be insulting, but his mind let out a string of inappropriate words in French in his head as he blinked for a moment.

"Hardly," he finally said with a chuckle, although it was not as genuine and did not travel to his eyes. He was too arrogant to get over the word 'job' as much as he wanted to do so. "It has been a family hobby for generations, you will not find finer animals in the kingdom aside from His Majesty's, and some of those have been gifted from my family or descended...Horse breeding and competition has been a favoured hobby of gentlemen for over a thousand years," he said, his voice seeping with his enjoyment of said hobby.

His head tilted to the side as she informed him that she had never had much experience with horses and had never had one of her own. That was seriously unfortunate. Every proper lady should know how to ride and have a gorgeous horse to show off her status.

"That is so very unfortunate!" he said, genuinely, "And no request would sound silly. I am at your service, do not be afraid to ask anything for fear of sounding silly. I am far more gracious than to think such a thing."

William was already thinking that perhaps he should gift the very mare that other man had been questioning him about to Suffolk's young wife. He had no qualms about one of his horses going to a duke and duchess, to be sure. When she asked him about the very thing he had been thinking about, he smiled warmly.

"They are all magnificent, yes, Your Grace...However, such an animal is the only animal fitting of a young duchess. Do not set your sights lower. I will most gladly write to your husband or seek to speak with him on the matter. I should like to gift that beautiful, kind, gentle mare to you, but only with your husband's permission. If he does not wish to accept, I will assuredly allow him to purchase her."
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Catherine Brandon
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"Oh, good. I am very glad I did not offend you." If Catherine ever did offend anyone, she did not do it intentionally....it was just a matter of her words not catching up with her brain. Which happened when she mentioned that horse training was his job, and not a hobby that he happened to enjoy. "Of course. You are titled, and it is insulting for someone to call such a thing your job...again, I am so sorry to have caused you any kind of offense." She did not wish to do so, or to make her husband look bad. "I did not mean to; it was just me not thinking again, as usual. I feel I still have so much to learn." She smiled, and listened to him as he started talking about his hobby.

"I agree. I do find it to be rather unfortunate indeed. My father, Lord Edmund, and my mother, Lady Joyce, had nine other children besides myself. I am the youngest. We had enough money to survive on, but not enough for trifles, which is what horses were considered. We only used them for work, not for our enjoyment." She didn't even know how to ride a horse, and never had occasion to even learn. She asked him about possibly having one of his animals, but it was rather silly. After all, they had only just met. If anything, she would ask Charles if he might purchase one for her. But she didn't want to see too untoward or offend the man any further than she already had.

Then, he said something that surprised her. "You...you would want to give me one of your beautiful animals as a gift? Sir, you are much too kind. But I am unsure, even if I did receive her, how I would learn to ride her. I would ask my husband to teach me, but he is much too busy with his duties, and I wouldn't dream of disturbing him." She sighed. "If you chose to gift me or if Char--I mean, His Grace, purchased her, I'm afraid she would be little more than a showpiece, so I would truly be robbing you. Unless you know of anyone that could teach me to ride?" She smiled. "That way, I would feel so much better about the whole situation. As I have said, the only experience I have had with horses is nearly being trampled by His Majesty's horse. If I learned to ride then I'd have more experience with them, of course..." she breathed, and continued. "Sir, do you know of anyone that teaches such a thing?"
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William Spencer
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Lord Winchester (courtesy)
William was perfectly happy to let the young lady go on her misspoken words. He really had not thought that she meant it, but he was simply sensitive about it because many people really did mean it when they said things like that. William half thought that those who spoke of him like that must think that his father had him with some french whore and were not aware of the entire story or who his mother was. His mother was not a whore, she was the great-granddaughter of Louis II, King of Naples, Duke of Anjou, and numerous other titles. In fact, were it not for his one surviving uncle, William would inherit from his grandfather the Duke of Nemours.

All of these things were the prime reasons why his pride simply could not handle all of this rubbish he went through at court. He could not hold his pride at bay.

"No, no, it is quite fine. I am certain it was an honest case of misspoken words. I would not have been bothered in the least if there were not people around who would say such a thing and mean it, and have done so," he gave her a small smile which likely illustrated that the situation of that displeased him and that it was not her.

It was amazing to William what one could find out when talking to innocent young ladies who were loose in their honesty. Most would not speak of money unless they had plenty of it. Those that did not pretended and were spoken about in hushed voices in corners where chuckles and giggles intermittently broke through the staring. William had no idea what it was to not have money. Even before he had been to inherit after his brother died, he had been well taken care of.

"That is a pity. You must enjoy it now that you have the means and then some," he said to her with a smile, scrunching up his nose mischievously, the corner of his eyes crinkling as if he was talking to a child in a way.

A soft, good-humoured chuckle escaped him as she said that she had no idea how she would learn. Well good God, with the money her husband had there would be no mystery there. She could have nearly anyone teach her. Not that she needed to rely on such a thing, because William was more than happy to provide for that as well. He was generous, and he had no real need to watch his money. That was especially the case when he could put it out in the proper directions.

"How you would ride her is the very least of worries. Of course I would know such a thing. Being in the hobby and sport, I know the best persons for such a task, many of them in my employ to start. I could have one of them to the task, and I could likely offer some assistance myself. It is pure recreation to me, as seriously as I take it. Would that be amenable to Your Grace?"

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Catherine Brandon
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"People can be rather cruel," she agreed. "Though I hope that you do know not all of us here at court are bad," Catherine said. She hated it when people equated all courtiers as snobbish; she met a lot of nice people here, along with an equal amount of the opposite. "I cannot believe that there is such meanness in this world, but..." she couldn't finish her sentence, for she didn't know what else to say. But it didn't take her too long to launch into another story, pretty much immediately, and almost forgetting about what she said before. In this instance, she was truly her father.

A giggle escaped when he talked about her enjoying her money. "Well, I am already indulged with dresses and all sorts of other pretty things. Charles spoils me." When she came to court, her uncle and father often gifted her with dresses to wear at court; when she was the king's mistress, he often gifted her with jewelry; now, married to Charles, she was gifted with both. The young woman was used to being spoiled. "Though I don't see myself spending money just to spend it...I see myself only spending it on the things I need." Right now, the idea of owning a mare was something she needed.

Her eyes widened when he talked about offering some of his own men and his assistance to teach her how to ride. "That would most definitely be amenable. You have my permission to speak to His Grace on such a matter. Even if Charles would not allow it as a gift, I am sure he will purchase her for me." With him, it did not take much. His wish to be happy in their marriage, and her wish to also be happy was working well for them so far. Catherine hoped they would continue to be as such.
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William Spencer
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Lord Winchester (courtesy)
William really rather did see some of his sister's naivete in the Duchess of Suffolk. She was a young girl. It was endearing and forgivable. She had this genuine belief in goodness, it seemed. William had seen many realities of the world for his rather young years.

"I do not make global judgments, Your Grace," he replied with a nod-like bow. "I take evidence from each thing as it comes to me, or person, as it were."

He had no idea why it was that most all of his conversations seemed to be with women. William had always been fond of women and spent many hours in their company, but he was accustomed to a certain masculine camaraderie that he was not receiving. It seemed the only persons he was speaking to were women.

"You are a most kind young lady," he replied, not knowing how else to reply to her only purchasing things she needed. William never thought in such a way. If he wanted something, he purchased it. Perhaps there were shadows in his mind of what it had been like before he had such an ability. Even when he was a child at the mercy of someone else's purse and grace, he had gotten many things.

"I will do so, my lady," he said with another small bow. "And now I must take my leave of you, it appears you have proper escort enough. I hope that the results of my efforts please you and that we'll have reason to speak again soon."

(OUT)
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