Bettina continued to answer her own question. “She cried out on my behalf. She said very loudly, ‘The whole thing is offensive.’ I tell you, Master Oliver, the entire room went silent. Everyone was stunned. And Rose was not finished. She turned to the princess and said, ‘Pardon me, milady. But I find it very offensive that this short woman is regarded as merely an object of amusement. It’s . . . it’s . . . it’s simply awful to treat a human being this way. Shame on you! Shame on you all!’ Then she stomped her foot.”

“Good gracious. And she kept her head? Wasn’t sent to the Tower?”

“No, sir; I think the princess secretly admired her boldness. Her boldness and her wit.” She inhaled deeply. She raised a hand to her eye and wiped a tear. “She showed me respect. Nobody in my life has ever shown me such kindness. My parents were embarrassed and hid me away, but when times were bad and we’d come near to starving on our small croft, my mother heard that they were looking for dwarfs at court. So she took me to Richmond Palace. I was given as a gift to the king’s new bride, Queen Anne Boleyn, and my parents were give ten bushels of groats a year, a dozen chickens, and a lamb every spring. I was worth a lot, they told me, and pinched my cheeks. I was ‘valuable,’ but I was not human.”

“I’m sorry, Bettina. I do remember you from Queen Anne’s court.”

“No need to feel sorry. Your daughter has more than made up for so much.”

“Would you help me meet with her? Could you perhaps take a message to her?”

“Certainly, sir”

Nicholas rubbed his chin as he thought about how he should do this. A note? No, notes had a way of getting lost, then found by the wrong people. As a spy he sent only coded notes. “Tell her to meet me when the clock tower chimes midnight in the rose garden. She must know the rose garden.”

“Oh yes, sir, she walks there every day with the princess. She especially likes the circle of the damask roses. They attract the loveliest hummingbirds.”

“She likes the damask ones, does she?”

“Indeed, sir.”

“Then tell her to meet me at the damask circle.”

“But whom shall I tell her she is meeting?”

“Just say . . .” He paused. “Her father.”

Chapter 36

The Damask Circle