Within minutes anyway we can all hear the laughter and the chatter of little Elizabeth, and within half an hour they throw open the door and out they come and Elizabeth has hold of the queen’s hand and Princess Mary, who was so dour and sad when she came in, is smiling and looking quite flushed and pretty. The queen presents us by name one after another and Princess Mary smiles graciously at each of us, knowing half of us to be her sworn enemy, and then at last they call for refreshments and the queen sends a message to the king to tell him that his daughters are come to court and are in her rooms.

Now things improve even more, for the next thing is that the king himself is announced and all the men come in with him, and I sink into a curtsey but he goes past me with hardly a second glance to greet his daughters.

He is very fond of them, he has some sugared plums in his pocket for the little Lady Elizabeth and he speaks kindly and gently to Princess Mary. He sits by the queen and she puts her hand over his and says something quietly in his ear and clearly they are a merry little family which would be very sweet if he were a wise old grandfather with his three pretty granddaughters around him, as one might almost think.

I feel a little sour and irritated by all this, since no-one is paying the least attention to me, and then Thomas Culpepper—whom I have not forgiven for one moment—comes up to me and kisses my hand and says, ‘Cousin.’

‘Oh, Master Culpepper,’ I exclaim as if I am surprised to see him. ‘Are you here?’

‘Where else could I be? Is there a prettier girl in the room?’

‘I don’t know, I’m sure,’ I say. ‘The Princess Mary is a beautiful young lady.’

He makes a face. ‘I am talking about a girl that can turn a man’s heart upside down.’

‘I don’t know of a girl like that for you, since I don’t know of any girl that could make you keep an appointment on time,’ I say sharply.

‘You cannot still be cross with me,’ he says, as if this is a great wonder. ‘Not a girl like you, who could have any man she wanted with a snap of her fingers. You cannot be cross with someone as unimportant as me when I am commanded away from you, though my heart was breaking at the thought of leaving you.’

I give a little crow of laughter, and put my hand over my mouth as the queen glances over to me. ‘Your heart was never breaking,’ I say. ‘You have none.’

‘It was,’ he insists. ‘Broken in two. But what could I do? The king commanded my attendance but my heart lies with you. I had to break my heart and do my duty, and now you still will not forgive me.’