LADY MARGARET SPOKE LIKE the noblewoman she was, accustomed to giving orders. I made a courtly bow. ‘As you wish, my lady.’ The flourish must have looked absurd coming from a dishevelled soldier because she shot me a look of wry amusement before leading the way out into the daylight.

Jane and Evan left the enclosure and began climbing the hill to acquire the all-round view offered from its crest, while Margaret and I took a precautionary position in the deep shadows of one of several venerable yew trees that flourished on the high side of the sloping churchyard. Their gnarled trunks looked as if they had weathered at least a thousand winters and I wondered if they had been planted in some Druids’ grove, before St Aedan had converted the heathens.

Margaret plunged straight into her chief concern. ‘King Edward has been wooing me with gifts,’ she began. ‘Yet he refuses me the only one I really want – my son.’

‘Yes, I heard he had granted you the manor and palace of Woking. That must have been hard to resist.’

She ignored the irony in my voice. ‘Why should I resist?’ she retorted. ‘I can play the grateful Yorkist with the best of them. Besides it is convenient for my duties as lady in waiting to the queen.’

‘My lady of Richmond dancing attendance on a girl from Grafton; that must take some swallowing.’ I was trying to rile her.

She shrugged. ‘They call Elizabeth a commoner but her mother was a duchess – your royal brother’s aunt. She is as noble as you are, Jasper.’

‘Touché.’ I grinned. ‘And she is ennobling her family at the gallop I gather.’ Then in hope of an honest answer I sprang it on her:

‘And how do you like the notion of Maud Herbert marrying Harri?’

Margaret’s brow darkened. ‘About as much as I like Henry being called Harri,’ she snapped. ‘His drop of royal blood does not need diluting, although I fancy that is Edward’s plan. If he is to build a York dynasty he wants no hint of competition.’

‘Can Harri – your pardon, Henry; there are so many Henrys that it becomes confusing! – can he really be considered a contender for the throne?’

Her grey eyes turned glacial. ‘I have a blood claim to the succession and therefore so does he. And his claim grows all the stronger while Edward’s queen continues giving birth to girls. Perhaps Elizabeth should consider making a pilgrimage here to St Aedan. He certainly granted your brother’s prayers.’

‘Ah, you confirm my guess that Edmund came here to pray for a son.’