“Great-uncle Northampton has finished his new house at Charing Cross and he invited me to view his collections. Robin was there. He told me that my great-uncle reminds him of monks he met in Europe; they wear black and are profligate, just like my great-uncle, so Robin and Overbury call him ‘The Dominican.’ Clever, don’t you think?”

“Robin” was every other word she spoke! He would not have thought of “The Dominican” himself; such archness would have been Overbury’s.

“I told him that we call Sir Thomas Overbury ‘The Cockerel,’ which perhaps is not all that quick-witted as he resembles one so completely, we cannot have been the first to think it.”

“You told him we speak ill of his best friend?” On her breath I smelt both wine and tobacco.

“He thinks it is funny. We are not alone in finding Sir Thomas arrogant; he’s been banished from Court, have you heard?”

Much had occurred in my absence; illness had a high cost for me.

“Overbury and Robin were in the Privy Garden while the Queen was at her window. She claims that they laughed at her.”

I am sure they did laugh; Carr innocently, Overbury because he considered himself above any woman. The Queen would not lightly suffer such an insult and I was glad she had protested.

“She says she will return to Denmark if the King does not punish them. Robin has apologized but Overbury has refused and been banished. Robin threatened to leave as well, if Overbury was sent away, but instead he has been very much with my great-uncle. We have met several times in the Long Gallery at Northampton House.”

I could picture it exactly. Lord Northampton had provided Robert Carr and Frankie with a haven in which to become better acquainted, away from Whitehall, her husband and the gossips of Court. The political advantage to Northampton of a connection with the King’s favorite was obvious, but would he gamble for it with the honor of his great-niece? It was a dangerous ploy, at least until her husband had known her fully. I wondered how intimate she had become with Robin Carr.

“My parents are trying to buy my obedience, so they paid for the new decorations. My great-uncle values the influence he enjoys with Robin through me, so he bought me the two paintings. Robin found the cabinet and I suppose he paid for it,” Frankie continued, “or at least he has not presented me with a bill. All manner of people have come to admire it.”

She laughed. I did not. I felt as if we were standing on a precipice that she refused to see.