I re-read the letter and found that even I, the writer, was smiling at its odd mixture of coming forward and then retreating. I could wish to write more clearly, but that would only be possible if I could see more clearly. I folded it up and put it away ready to send to Daniel when the court moved to London in August.

* * *

The queen had planned a triumphant entry for her new husband; and the city, always a friend to Mary, and now released from the sight and stench of the gibbets, which had been replaced with triumphal arches, went mad to see her. A Spaniard at her side could never be a popular choice, but to see the queen in her golden gown with her happy smile and to know that at least the deed was done and the country might now settle down to some stability and peace was to please most of the great men of the city. Besides, there were advantages to a match that would open up the Spanish Netherlands to English traders which were very apparent to the rich men who wanted to increase their fortunes.

The queen and her new husband settled into the Palace of Whitehall and started to establish the routines of a joint court.

I was in her chamber early one morning, waiting for her to come to Mass when she emerged in her night gown and knelt in silence before the prie-dieu. Something in her silence told me that she was deeply moved and I knelt behind her, bowed my head, and waited. Jane Dormer came from the queen’s bedroom where she slept when the king was not with his wife and knelt down too, her head bowed. Clearly something very important had happened. After a good half hour of silent prayer, the queen still rapt on her knees, I shuffled cautiously towards Jane and leaned against her shoulder to whisper in a voice so low that it could not disturb the queen. ‘What’s happening?’

‘She’s missed her course,’ Jane said, her voice a tiny thread of sound.

‘Her course?’

‘Her bleeding. She could be with child.’

I felt a lurch in my own belly, like a cold hand laid on the very pit of my stomach. ‘Could it be so soon?’

‘It only takes once,’ Jane said crudely. ‘And God bless them, it has been more than once.’

‘And she is with child?’ I had foretold it, but I could hardly believe it. And I did not feel the joy I would have expected at the prospect of Mary’s dreams coming true. ‘Really with child?’

She heard the doubt in my voice and turned a hard gaze on me. ‘What is it you doubt, fool? My word? Hers? Or d’you think you know something we don’t?’

Jane Dormer only ever called me fool when she was angry with me.

‘I doubt no-one,’ I said quickly. ‘Please God it is so. And no-one could want it more than I.’