‘Then the next evening I was to call on him in his chamber, and, in front of his gentlemen, apologize for going too far in discussing religion.’ She closed her eyes. ‘I was to say I knew a woman’s duty is to be instructed by her husband, and that I was only seeking to distract him from the pain in his legs. I did as he asked, playing my part in the performance.’ I discerned a note of bitterness, quickly suppressed, in her voice.

‘The next day, I was to walk in the garden with him and my ladies. By prearrangement with the King, Wriothesley was to come and arrest me with fifty of the guard. Wriothesley thought he had won, but when he arrived the King tore the warrant from his hand, called him a beast and a knave in front of the men of the guard and my ladies, and ordered him from his presence.’ She smiled sadly. ‘Since then his majesty has been loving and attentive to me in front of all. I am to have new jewels; he knows I love bright jewels. I have ever had good measure of the sin of covetousness, as well as vanity.’ She lowered her head.

‘Then – then the crisis is over?’ I said. ‘That dreadful burning and the new proclamation on forbidden books – that was the last act? Wriothesley and the conservatives have been humiliated?’

‘Would that it were the last act!’ the Queen cried out. ‘I have one book missing, the most dangerous of all, and it is my fault!’

Lord Parr put his hand over hers again. ‘Calm, Kate, stay calm. You are doing well.’