‘He is nothing like my dear Lord Edmund of course – a little older and not as handsome – but I liked him, Jane. At first he was very quiet and let his father do all the talking but while Jasper and his grace of Buckingham were discussing terms and contracts Sir Henry kept glancing at me and smiling, just a small twitch of the lips and twinkle of the eye, so that I found that I could not wait to talk to him and to hear what he had to say.’

‘And you liked what you heard?’

She looked a little sheepish, as if her memory of their conversation still surprised her. ‘Yes, I did. His voice is low and musical and he asked me what I liked to do, what entertainments and games I enjoyed and it turned out that his favourite pastimes are very similar to mine. He likes reading and hunting and hawking and even dancing, just as I do. And he is also devout, attending Mass daily and favouring St Catherine and St John the Baptist in his prayers. Although I am so much younger than him, I felt we might be kindred spirits – is that not astonishing?’

Privately I thought that the prospect of becoming lord of the Somerset estates would be good reason for any younger son to be charming, especially when the widowed heiress was lively and attractive, but I nodded agreement. ‘Yes, it certainly is. But you say he is not handsome?’

Margaret pursed her lips. ‘Not exactly, but he is pleasant looking and he dresses well – not extravagantly but elegantly, favouring muted colours, his doublet not too short and not too long.’

I laughed at this detail. ‘He sounds the perfect gentleman,’ I said.

She frowned a little. ‘Not completely perfect. I do not like his beard. It is dark, like his hair, but he wears it trimmed into forked points. It makes him look like the Duke of York.’

I sucked in my cheeks. ‘Not good on a Lancastrian. But still, perhaps a clever wife could effect a change.’

She gave me a sly smile. ‘Exactly what I thought.’

‘So have you agreed to marry him?’

The smile vanished in a solemn nod. ‘Yes I have, but not immediately. Lord Jasper told his grace of Buckingham that I needed time to mourn Lord Edmund and recover from Henry’s birth. The wedding will be at the beginning of next year. There will never be another for me like Lord Edmund but I understand that I must have the protection of a powerful family and the duke was very reassuring on that point. I think I have done the right thing.’