I hesitate. Mary is intelligent and thoughtful. Perhaps if she were to have the chance of discussing religion with a husband of intelligence, she might become converted to my view that God speaks to us individually, each and every one of us, that we need neither pope nor priest, nor bleeding statue, to find our way to faith. God is calling and we only have to listen. There are no clever tricks to forgiveness. There is only one way and there is only one Bible, and a woman can study it as well as a man. Mary has listened to Cranmer, she has talked to the visiting preachers. She has worked on the Erasmus New Testament with me and is making a beautiful translation of the Gospel of Saint John, working almost entirely on her own. When she has to bend her will to a husband, she might find that the taming of her spirit leads her to God. I think that I heard the voice of God when I knew I had to stop listening to my own will. Perhaps it will be the same for my stepdaughter.

“I think it would be a great opportunity for her,” I say truly. “It would be very good for her to marry. But she could not go against her faith.”

“Aha? You think she should be married?”

“I think a good man might give her an opportunity to think and study and serve him and her country,” I say. “And to love him, and their children.”

“You could prepare her for this change in her circumstances? You could recommend it to her?”

I bow my head. “I would be honored to talk with her and tell her that it is your intention,” I say.

“Leave it for now,” he says cautiously. “Say nothing for now. But it is my intention. If I am to hold Boulogne and force France into peace, I shall need some help. Mary will make an alliance with the Germans unbreakable. She is a princess; she knows that is her life’s work.”

* * *