One of the King’s guards moved to stop her as she approached the gate of Genith’s comfortable prison. She held up her basket to indicate her purpose and cast him a look so quelling that he faltered and stood aside.

She hurried to the markets on the Cheap and quickly bargained for provisions to be delivered to the house. She eyed the vendors and their wagons as well as their wares, and stopped a bit longer with a few. She did not waste any time doing so, however, for she had much to accomplish and this might be her only chance.

Soon, probably today, her presence in London would become known to Archbishop Stratford and the other councillors who governed the realm in the King’s absence. Once that happened she doubted that the guards at the gate would let her leave again. She would be confined there, a guest of the crown, just as Genith had been.

Finally, most everything was bought. Now it was time to sell. Her own wares could not be hawked in a market, however. A side lane showed merchant shops, and she strolled along it, entering one to make some small purchases while she chatted with the owner.

Her questions procured the information that she needed, and she aimed down the lane toward a fine, tall house and entered the mercer’s shop on its first level.

Walls full of luxuries surrounded her, creating a square cave of visual delight. Silks and fine wools, some in colors she had never seen before, formed stacks higher than her head. One could tell without a touch that even the basic linens were better than most. The other merchant had said this shop was one of the best, but the abundance of riches astonished her.

An apprentice assessed her, then hustled into a back room. Soon the master emerged. He did not appear much older than an apprentice himself, no more than in his mid-twenties. He was handsome, with golden brown hair and deep blue eyes.

“How can we serve you, my lady?”

She set down her basket on a shelf’s edge in front of a stack of delicious velvets. “I am told that you trade in Flanders, and visit there often.”

“Not often, but I go there sometimes.”

She plucked out some parchments from the basket. “I have some tapestry designs to sell. I have sold them before to merchants who take them to Flanders and get a good price from the weavers there.”

He took the parchments and unfolded them. “They are very handsome, but tapestry drawings are normally full size.”

“Enlarging these will be easy for their workers. They will have men who know how to do it.”

He smiled vaguely. “I can see that you know this trade better than I do.”

“I have sold them before, as I said. There is a merchant in Edinburgh who buys from me.”

“Then why not sell these to him?”