I, Jane: In The Court of Henry VIII by Diane Haeger Read Free Book Online Page A

it, Tom?”
    “Father received a letter just this morning from court, from that cousin of his, Sir Francis Bryan, and now Mother is in an absolute state!”
    “Mother is always in a state,” she countered, as yet unimpressed. “So then you were eavesdropping?”
    “As
you
taught me to do. And you should be happy I did, since I heard your name. Truly, sister, you really must come!”
    “I am involved?”
    Jane felt the blood rise hotly in her face, remembering with fear the last time she had displeased her mother. Her hair was still recovering from that experience. Reluctantly, she left the room behind her brother, who scrambled out the door.
    The stairwell was as efficient a place to eavesdrop now as always, and as children who had spent their whole lives in these chambers and corridors, Jane and Thomas knew how to slip unnoticed from place to place if they so desired.
    Margery and John were standing near the door. There was an open letter dangling from her father’s hand. His other hand was on the massive open door, a messenger having just departed. There was a fresh wisteria-scented breeze blowing in from the courtyard.
    “This cannot be serious!” Margery shrieked, panic lighting her eyes, making them shine as blue as water in the shaft of sunlight through the door. “We cannot possibly afford to send them
both
! Think of the money for her wardrobe alone to keep up with the other invited girls there—if such a thing were even possible to imagine! Gowns are far more costly than boys’ costumes!”
    “Be that as it may, they’ll not take one without the other. Read it yourself. They have enough pages of honor as it is, so my cousin would be doing us an enormous courtesy just finding a place for Edward on the journey.”
    “But Jane? Saints above, John, can we not at least send our
pretty
daughter?”
    “Margery, the girl is not yet six and does not take direction well. We could not risk proposing that.”
    Jane heard her name and tried to process what they were saying. It has got to be Jane for
what
? What wrong had she committed now? It was like trying to translate the Latin Vulgate of the Bible, never quite getting past the words to the actual meaning of the text.
    “Pray, how will we possibly afford it, John? Our Jane cannot go to the French court looking like someone’s poor relation or we shall be the laughingstock of England, and Edward’s opportunities shall come to an end.”
    Her mother could not seem to speak without shrieking, Jane thought.
    “Perhaps I can ask Sir Francis for a loan.”
    Margery slapped her forehead with her palm and rolled her eyes with incredulity. The shrieks grew louder. “You cannot be serious! You wish us to ask a great lord to do us a family kindness and then ask him to foot the bill as well?”
    “A loan, Margery.”
    “’Twill not stand. No. There must be another way. Both of the children will need new costumes, shoes, costly beadwork, and lace to make certain they are fashionable enough.”
    “There
is
your grandmother’s brooch.”
    Margery clutched at the large pearl framed by a jeweled halo pinned prominently to her dress. She looked as though she had been wounded with a dagger by the mere suggestion. Their bickering fell to an abrupt halt as she held fast to the gem. “Out of the question. ’Tis my birthright,” she said with a snarl.
    “It really is the only thing we have of substantial value, Margery, something to provide ready money on the scale required. It is that, I fear, or humiliate ourselves when we ask Sir Francis for aid.”
    From the hidden stairwell, Jane saw the sheer panic bloom on her mother’s expression, like the unfolding of some grotesque flower, changing her face into something wild.
“Jane’s hair!”
she gasped, adding it then to the litany of reasons not to send their daughter to France.
    “That, I’m afraid, my dear, was your doing,” John said blandly.
    “’Tis pointless to assign blame now.”
    “Pointless was doing it