“They do, in secret, for there is much satisfaction to be had in it. Look closely at Lord Salisbury’s hands and you will spy calluses. I have found you a Susanna and the Elders,” he said, turning to Frankie and pointing to a large canvas propped against one wall. We gathered around and he turned the painting toward us. In silence we stared at the two old men hidden behind bushes, peering at a naked Susanna. So real was she I could feel the heaviness of her breasts, the slight swelling of blue veins under the skin.

“That is allowed?” I asked, in a display of prudery of which Prince Henry would have been proud.

“It is a Bible scene,” said Palmer, his eyes full of amusement at my response. “Susanna refused their advances, hence the old men accused her of adultery; ever the recourse of frustrated men.” Frankie and I glanced at each other in delight at our outspoken guide. “What think you of it?”

So rarely was my opinion sought by anyone other than Frankie that my tongue was slow. I enjoyed Mr. Palmer’s attentions, yet felt exposed by them.

“The artist puts us among the Elders,” I finally replied. Mr. Palmer let out another great bark of laughter.

“You have it exactly! The artist makes oglers of us all.”

“Come and see my cabinet,” said Frankie, her patience with the flirtations of others short-lived. I dropped a quick curtsy of farewell to Mr. Palmer and noticed, with pleasure, that he held my hand longer than necessary when he kissed it.

“It’s beautiful, don’t you think? Prospero likes it,” said Frankie, nodding toward a black lacquer cabinet set between two windows atop which the parrot was perched. When Brutus spotted the bird he jumped up at it, clawing a surface shinier than anything I had seen before.

“Down! You will scratch it!” scolded Frankie, smacking the dog’s nose. Purkoy was too well trained to do such a thing. “It is from China,” she said, opening the doors of the tall cabinet whose black lustre was inlaid with flowers and insects in ivory and mother-of-pearl. I would not have been surprised had one of the insects begun a courtship dance. “There are smaller cupboards and drawers inside. It is a marvel that human fingers can coax out such beauty. I am making efforts to learn about painting and sculpture and such curious chests. Robin knows so much. He has been made a knight of the Garter now, with my cousin.”

Robin? That silenced me. The last time I had been with Frankie it was “Sir Robert Carr” or sometimes “Viscount Rochester.” With every new title the King gave him, it seemed the favorite grew closer to Frankie.