In French

Chapter Twenty nine

    “Philip you cannot raise the taxes any more.” I told him the next day.

    “Why not?” He frowned.

    “They have no more money to give. Or little. What will they feed their families with if you take even more of the little coins?”

    He thought it though before speaking, “it is not my concern.” He shrugged. “In order to make sure that the country does not sink into debt I need to higher the taxes.”

    “It will not work!”

    He sighed, “what else am I to do?”

    “Ask to borrow money from-”

    Philip broke me off by laughing. “Do not be ridiculous. I will not pull our country out of debt in order to be in debt to another country. No, we will pull ourselves out. That is the way we are going to do it and I will not speak to you about the matter any longer. It is not a concern of yours anyway.” And he kissed me on the cheek before telling me he was going to go out hunting and had decided to take August with him.

    “Be careful with my son, Philip.”

    “Always am, my Queen.” He brushed passed me and I let out a lonely breath.

 ******

     A month went and Philip began receiving letters from the French telling him how they could not afford to feed their families with such an extortionate tax rate. I didn’t tell him “I told you so” as I wanted to but merely sat there beside him wondering what we were to do. Sometimes I puzzled over what my current situation would be like if I had not told Agate my problems those years ago and she did not bump off Philip’s first engagement. I loved Philip dearly but would I have been happier not marrying him?

    It was raining outside, the gloomy dark clouds and the constant drizzle creating the perfect pathetic fallacy. “Anna?” Agate came into the library to see me dazing dreamily out of the window. “My, it is dark in here. You should have ordered for some candles to be lit.”

    “I could do it myself if I wanted it to be done.” I replied groggily as I faced her.

    She raised her eyebrows, pulling up a chair next to me. “That is not the point and you know it. I came to tell you that when we were in Paris we happened to be spotted by a few courtiers on an outing.” I did not understand so she continued. “They saw us all ‘pretending to be peasants’. It has caused a complete outrage. Especially amongst the peasants as they feel that we are making a mockery out of them and they are already angry at the increased taxes.”

    I buried my head in my hands, “so I am entirely alone am I? No more backing from the public? I am alone.”

    “No no, of course you are not alone. You still have your children, your ladies and of course the King…This-this is merely a rough patch.”

    I glowered at her then, exasperated. “Tell me what to do! No one is telling me what to do but you are all happily informing me of what everyone else is doing and feeling. I need to know what I am supposed to do, Agate.”

    “Invest more money into your charities.” She suggested. “It would remind them that you are helping a lot of people out.”

    She had a point and so swallowing back the torrent of threatening tears I gave a solemn nod. “Alright. That is a good idea, well done.” And for the rest of the day I went about sorting my charity money about. It meant that I would have to cut back on diamonds and jewels but that meant very little to me. I had enough to be quite content with.