{"product_id":"2940013748767","title":"Katherine Christian","description":"Robert Herries looked up, staggered to his feet and, chuckling,\u003cbr\u003estarted across the floor towards his father.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNicholas Herries, his father, and Rosamund Herries, his mother,\u003cbr\u003elooked at him with love and pride.  Nicholas, a vast man, was in\u003cbr\u003ethis year 1603 fifty-nine years of age and his wife thirty-seven.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey were in their own house at Westminster and all was very well\u003cbr\u003ewith them.  Robert, their only child, was now three years of age.\u003cbr\u003eIn build he was broad and well-formed but short, his sturdy legs\u003cbr\u003estrong on the ground, his round head well set on his thick neck,\u003cbr\u003ehis eyes steady and piercing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was still a baby but already he had self-confidence and\u003cbr\u003eindependence.  He was a grave baby now: he chuckled only when his\u003cbr\u003efather was at hand.  Everything that was told to him, the rhymes\u003cbr\u003ethat his mother sang to him, the cautions and admonitions that Mrs.\u003cbr\u003eMargit, his nurse, gave to him--all these he took in and\u003cbr\u003eremembered.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlready it was facts that he liked the best; his mind wandered at\u003cbr\u003efairy-stories.  Any tale that he was told must be well\u003cbr\u003esubstantiated.  That was perhaps the reason that his father meant\u003cbr\u003emore to him than any other in his world, for there was no doubt or\u003cbr\u003equestion about his father, so large was he and solid, so strong in\u003cbr\u003ethe arm, and when he held his son against his breast the thumping\u003cbr\u003eof his heart was like the reassurance of a great beating drum.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlready Robert felt safe against any sort of peril if his father\u003cbr\u003ewere there.  But he was not in any case a nervous baby and he had\u003cbr\u003ealready a firm preponderance of the Herries matter-of-fact common\u003cbr\u003esense.  Facts indeed were facts and it was already his rule of life\u003cbr\u003eto go by what you could see, feel, hold and even seize.  And what\u003cbr\u003ehe seized he held.  At this present he was holding what was just\u003cbr\u003ethen his favourite possession--a Fool with silver bells, a red cap\u003cbr\u003eand a great hooked nose.  As he crossed the shining parlour floor\u003cbr\u003eto his father he held the Fool tightly in his chubby fist and the\u003cbr\u003ebells carolled gaily.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNicholas had been almost asleep, for he had had a hard day that had\u003cbr\u003eincluded a visit to the Queen.  Then the fire was blazing finely in\u003cbr\u003ethe open hearth, throwing its erratic lights on the colours of dark\u003cbr\u003egreen, gold, and brilliant blue that Rosamund was working into her\u003cbr\u003etapestry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNicholas had been almost dreaming--dreaming about his long life and\u003cbr\u003ethe principal scenes in it, of the girl Catherine he had loved who\u003cbr\u003ehad given her life for him, of his dear brother Robin who had been\u003cbr\u003etortured to his death in the Tower, and after that of England that\u003cbr\u003ehe loved so dearly.  He had come to full awareness with a start,\u003cbr\u003ecrying:  'England is a lovely place: I would have no other.'  And\u003cbr\u003ethen, realizing his son, he had stretched out his great arms:\u003cbr\u003e'Come, Robin--come!'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt once Robin had started across the floor.  They had given him\u003cbr\u003ethis pet name after his beloved uncle, but he did not hesitate, as\u003cbr\u003ehis uncle would have done, seeing both sides of the argument.  He\u003cbr\u003esaw only one--that he liked above all things his father's arms,\u003cbr\u003etheir warmth and strength and perfect safety.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo he started at once across the floor, the red-capped Fool, with\u003cbr\u003ehis proud nose, held captive in his fist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNicholas picked him up, carried him to his mother who kissed him,\u003cbr\u003ethen he took him from the room high on his shoulder.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47083165516016,"sku":"2940013748767","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013748767_p0.jpg?v=1763589727","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013748767","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}