B009RYSCAU EBOK by Gillian Bagwell Read Free Book Online Page A

against Queen Anne when the king turned against her, and then served in the household of Queen Jane. Audrey was with our lady then, but she does not like to speak of those times.”
    Bess was startled to think that she was among people who knew of the doings at court firsthand. One of her earliest memories was her mother crying at the news that King Henry had put aside his first queen, Catherine, and she knew that Queen Anne had been found guilty of treason and beheaded, but these episodes had seemed very remote from her life. Looking around at the girls’ faces, pale with anxiety, she realized with a sense of awe that she was now much closer to such great and tragic events.
    Lady Zouche swept into the room, two little spaniels yapping at her heels. Bess was struck with fear. She had almost forgotten about her mistress’s glare at her over dinner. Now her stomach went cold at the thought that perhaps Lady Zouche had arrived to cast her out and send her back to Hardwick. She jumped to her feet and curtsied, but as she raised her eyes, she was relieved to see that her mistress’s face was alight with excitement.
    “Such news!” Lady Zouche cried. “The king is to be married again! He has contracted with the sister of the Duke of Cleves.”
    “I knew it!” Lizzie crowed.
    “God help the poor lady, then!” Bess murmured. She felt Lady Zouche’s eyes on her, and wished she could bite her words back. But Lady Zouche only looked at her as if seeing her for the first time, and after a moment she nodded.
    “Yes. We must pray for the success of the marriage. And for the well-being of Anne of Cleves.”
    Bess felt she could breathe again.
    “Will we go to London, your ladyship?” Lizzie wondered. At that, Lady Zouche’s smile broke out once more.
    “Yes, certainly. We must be there for the wedding.”
    Bess felt a surge of excitement. London! The center of the world, from everything she knew. She had never really thought that she might go there, and now she would not only be going to London, but to the wedding of the king himself.
    “When?” she cried. “When will we go?”
    “Soon,” Lady Zouche said. “The marriage will not take place until December, but the new queen must have a household, and her ladies and others will be chosen very shortly.”
    “Do you think you will serve the new queen, my lady?” Doll gasped.
    “It’s over early to think about that,” Lady Zouche said primly. “But certainly we must be in London when she arrives. And the traveling will only get harder the longer we wait.”
    * * *
    T HAT NIGHT, WHEN B ESS AT LAST CLIMBED INTO BED NEXT TO Lizzie, her head spun with the events of the day. She had been overwhelmed at her introduction to the Zouche household and had feared that surely she had lost her place as soon as she’d arrived. But recalling the look of approbation in Lady Zouche’s eyes, she now felt on firmer ground. She would not be cast out. She had been accepted. She realized with a pang that Jem would leave the next day, and she missed her mother and sisters already, and said a prayer for their safety and happiness at Hardwick. But perhaps her being in the Zouche household would enable her to help them somehow. And soon she would travel to London, and would see the king and his new queen.

CHAPTER THREE

    Third of November, 1539—London
    T HE Z OUCHE HOUSEHOLD ARRIVED IN L ONDON AFTER A weeklong journey from Derbyshire. Lady Zouche and her children and attendants rode in horse litters, surrounded by Sir George and his riding household of fifty men and followed by five wagons of household furnishings, clothes, and personal belongings.
    They had stopped to stay the night at great houses along their way, and Bess had been particularly enthralled by Nottingham Castle, but as the sprawl of houses and churches along the river came clearly into sight, punctuated by the towering spire of what Lady Zouche said was St. Paul’s Cathedral, she craned her neck in excitement.