I don’t know what goes on at court these days, but I saw her at Christmas and the New Year, and I thought then that she was ready for a lover, and hoping for love. And how could she stop herself? She is a girl coming into womanhood with a man old enough to be her father as her husband, a sickly man, an impotent man, perhaps even a madman. Even a sensible young woman in those circumstances would turn for friendship and comfort to one of the young men who gather round her. And Katherine is a flirt.

Dr Harst comes riding out from London to see me, and the moment that he arrives, he sends my ladies away so that we can talk alone. I know from this that it is grave news from the court.

‘What news of the queen?’ I ask him as soon as they have gone from the room and we are seated, side by side, like conspirators before the fire.

‘She is still being questioned,’ he says. ‘If there is any more to be had they will get it out of her. She is kept close in her apartments at Syon, she is allowed to see no-one. She is not even allowed out to walk in the garden. Her uncle has abandoned her and she has no friends. Four of her ladies are locked up with her, they would leave if they could. Her closest friends are under arrest and being questioned in the Tower. They say she cries all the time and begs them to forgive her. She is too distressed to eat or sleep. She is said to be starving herself to death.’

‘God help her, poor little Kitty,’ I say. ‘God help her. But surely they have evidence for the annulment of her marriage to the king? He has enough to divorce her and let her go?’

‘No, now they are seeking evidence for worse,’ he says shortly.

We are both silent. We both know what he means by that, and we both fear that there may be worse to discover.

‘I have come to see you for something even more grave than this,’ he says.

‘Good God, what worse could there be?’

‘I hear that the king is thinking of taking you back as his wife.’

For a moment I am so stunned that I cannot say anything, then I grip the carved arms of my chair and watch my fingertips go white. ‘You cannot mean this.’

‘I do. King Francis of France is keen that the two of you shall remarry and that your brother and the king join with him in a war against Spain.’

‘The king wants another alliance with my brother?’

‘Against Spain.’

‘They can do that without me! They can make an alliance without me!’

‘The King of France and your brother want you restored and the king wants to rid himself of the memory of Katherine. It is to be just as it was. It is to be as if she never existed. As if you have just arrived in England, and everything can go as planned.’