Queen Mary shook her head. ‘She could admit it privately to me, and I would forgive her,’ she said. ‘Her fellow plotters are dead or gone away, there is no plot left for her any more. And I am carrying an heir to the throne, an heir for England and for the whole Spanish empire, this will be the greatest prince the world has ever known. Elizabeth can admit her fault and I will forgive her. And then she should be married; the king has suggested his cousin, the Duke of Savoy. Tell Elizabeth that this time of waiting and suspicion can be at an end, tell her I am with child. Tell her I shall have my baby in early May. Any hopes she had of the throne will be over by next summer. Make sure she understands, Hannah. There has been bad blood between us but it can be over as soon as she consents.’

I nodded.

‘Sir Henry writes that she attends Mass as good daughter of the church,’ she said. ‘Tell her I am glad of that.’ She paused. ‘But he tells me that when the time comes in the service to pray for me she never says “amen”.’ She paused. ‘What d’you make of such a thing? She never prays for me, Hannah.’

I was silent. If the queen had been speaking in anger I might have tried to defend Elizabeth, and her pride and her independence of spirit. But the queen was not angry. She looked nothing more than wounded.

‘You know, I would pray for her, if our places were reversed,’ she said. ‘I remember her in my prayers because she is my sister. You could tell her that I pray for her every day, and I have done ever since I cared for her at Hatfield, because she is my sister and because I try to forgive her for plotting against me, and because I try to prepare myself for her release, and to teach myself to deal with her with charity, to judge her mercifully as I hope to be judged. I pray for her well being every day of her life; and then I hear she will not say so much as “amen” to a prayer for me!’

‘Your Grace, she is a young woman and very alone,’ I said quietly. ‘She has no-one to advise her.’ To tell the truth I was ashamed of Elizabeth’s stubbornness, and meanness of spirit.

‘See if you can teach her some of your wisdom, my fool,’ the queen suggested with a smile.

I knelt to her and bowed my head. ‘I shall miss being with you,’ I said honestly. ‘Especially now that you are so happy.’

She put her hand on my head. ‘I shall miss you too, my little fool,’ she said. ‘But you shall come back in time for the Christmas feast, and after that you shall bear me company when I am confined.’

‘Your Grace, I shall be so pleased to bear you company.’