I shake my head.

Robert Dudley flings himself into a chair beside the fireside, but he does not invite me to sit down. I hold on to the high back of the other chair and lean against it. He picks up a knife from a side table and turns it this way and that, to catch the light, as he thinks.

“No question but that it is Ned’s child,” he says. “Tell me the truth now, absolutely.”

“No question,” I say, swallowing the insult.

“And when he comes home, he will own it?”

“He cannot deny it.”

“And you have proof of your marriage?”

In answer I show him the chain around my neck, my betrothal diamond and my wedding ring of five links.

“I see you have a ring,” he says dryly. “Who were your witnesses?”

“Janey,” I say. “But she is dead.”

“But there were others present?”

“Just the minister.”

“A proper minister, with a parish?”

“One that Janey knew.”

He nods. “And you have letters from Seymour. Did he give you money? Did he give you deeds to land?”

“I have a letter of betrothal and his will names me as his wife and his heir,” I say proudly.

Robert nods.

“I have a poem,” I say.

He puts his hand over his forehead and rubs his eyes, as if he is trying not to laugh. “Never mind that. Now listen, Katherine. I cannot send you into hiding. That would make things worse for you and very bad for me. I will tell the queen what you have told me and you will have to face her. She will be very angry. You should not have married without her permission—as an heir to the throne your husband is of tremendous importance to the safety of the realm. But it’s done, and thank God, you could have done a lot worse. He’s not a Spanish spy or a papist, he’s got no claim in Scotland. He’s of a good family—a reformer, thank God, and well liked—and you are with child, and if you have a boy, then it eases some of the pressure on her.”

“She could marry who she liked, if she had a Protestant English boy heir,” I observe.

Dudley’s dark eyes flash at me. “So she could,” he agrees. “But it is not for you to observe. Don’t try to be clever. It is very evident that you’re not that. So you are going to go to your room and, in the morning, wash your face and dress and do your hair and wait for me to send for you. I am going to wake the queen early, and tell her what you have told me.”