The Queen Dowager pressed her palms together. ‘My circumstances are much changed now. I am a widow, free to remarry. In a little time, I may.’ She coloured then, and looked quickly down, as though knowing that I and many others would disapprove. I thought, so the rumours are true, it is Thomas Seymour. My heart sank and I thought: what a waste.

I think the expression on my face gave me away, for she took a deep breath, and said, ‘If and when that time comes, I am afraid I should not be able to employ you, or see you again.’ Yes, I thought, it is Seymour, who detests me as I do him. But then, what had she meant by employment?

She continued, ‘You will know about the – promotions – that have taken place since the late King’s death.’

‘Only the gossip,’ I answered cautiously.

She smiled sadly. ‘Do not worry, Matthew. I am going to tell you something which should be kept confidential for now, but only because it is in your interest to know.’

I spoke quietly, ‘Forgive me, your majesty, but I wish to know no more secrets. Ever.’

‘It concerns Richard Rich,’ she said, her eyes on mine. ‘Baron Rich, as we must now call him.’

I bit my lip, did not answer. The Queen Dowager looked down at the chessboard. ‘Rich shifted his allegiances just in time. He has been promoted, and I fear he is about to be promoted further.’ She looked at me intently. ‘Thomas Wriothesley is a peer now, too, but strangely he of all people has had an attack of conscience, and is raising difficulties regarding some of the powers Lord Hertford is taking to himself. Wriothesley will not long remain Lord Chancellor. That is the word I have, and I trust my source.’ Thomas Seymour, I thought, the Protector’s brother. ‘His successor will be Rich.’

I took a deep breath. ‘It is what he has lusted after for years.’

‘Anne Askew’s book has already been smuggled in from the Continent. Its revelations regarding Rich will soon be public. The Protector already knows them.’ She frowned, then bent to the chessboard and moved a knight forward. ‘But he wants Rich for Lord Chancellor – he is a clever and experienced lawyer, he knows the ways of politics intimately, and – ’ she sighed – ‘people fear him.’

‘Rich, Chancellor, head of the legal profession. He will be able to destroy my career.’ I shook my head. Well, I thought, perhaps now was the time to retire. I had been thinking of it last summer, before the trouble began. But then I thought, stubbornly, I do not want to be forced out. I like my work, and I have responsibilities: Timothy, Nicholas and, yes, Barak. And I thought, too, where would I go? What would I do?