Love, Remember Me by Bertrice Small Read Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Bertrice Small
They were more elegantly dressed than she had ever seen them. Philip was dark-haired and light-eyed like their father; Giles, fair like their mother. They wore haut-de-chausses of black velvet, the slashings in the fabric showing white satin beneath. Their stockings were striped black and white, and their black leather shoes had rounded, narrow toes. Their doublets were of black velvet, embroidered with pearls, over which they wore identical sleeveless jerkins of white doeskin with shoulder puffs. The jerkins hung to their knees. Each boy wore a small gold neck chain from which hung a medallion with the family's coat of arms. Small jeweled daggers hung from their girdles, and each wore a flat bonnet of black velvet with ostrich tips atop his head.
"You both look very fine," she complimented them, surprised.
"As do you, sister," Philip Wyndham told her in return.
"Look, Nyssa," Giles said excitedly. "I have my own dagger!" He proffered the bejeweled weapon for her to see. It was studded with garnets, tiny diamonds, and seed pearls.
"You must never draw it in the king's presence," she warned him. "Or the prince's either. Remember, Mama told you that was treason."
Giles nodded, his blue eyes wide. "I won't forget," he said.
Philip, however, looked irritated at his elder sister's admonition. "If you tell me once," he said archly, "I remember. It is not necessary to repeat it, Nyssa."
"Your apologies, my lord," she mocked him, settling her skirts about her. "I don't know why I always forget how wise you are, Viscount Wyndham. How terribly remiss of me to have done so."
Giles giggled, and even Philip was forced to smile at the barb.
"There must be no squabbling amongst you," Bliss warned.
Nyssa folded her hands meekly and became instantly silent, as did her two brothers. The coach pulled away from the house and headed down the road to Hampton Court. Soon the traffic was very heavy. Nyssa found herself fascinated by it all. Other coaches surrounded theirs, some of them even more elegant and rich-looking. There were ladies and gentlemen mounted upon fine horseflesh wending their way amid the carriages. Everyone was going, it seemed, in the same direction—to Hampton Court.
Hampton Court had been erected by Cardinal Wolsey, the king's counselor. It had been built on land acquired from the Knights Hospitalers of St. John in 1514. The Order of St. John, however, would not sell the cardinal the land. They rented it to him instead for ninety-nine years, at a nominal fee of fifty pounds. Building had begun in the spring of 1515. Although the king and Katherine of Aragon were entertained there in May of 1516, the palace was not completed for several more years.
It was built around three courts: the Base Court, the Clock Court, and the Cloister Green. The buildings were of red brick, decorated with blue-black patterns in a diamond shape. All the turrets were crowned with lead cupolas. The exterior walls of Hampton Court were decorated with the cardinal's coat of arms, as well as a set of terra-cotta roundels which had been a gift from the pope. There was a long, windowed gallery where the cardinal walked on inclement days, and a garden where he would sit each evening. The palace had a thousand rooms, of which 280 were guest chambers. There were two kitchens, and in a room between them sat the master cook, garbed as elegantly as any courtier, directing his underlings grandly by word and the waving of a wooden spoon, his badge of office.
Bliss explained this all to her niece and two nephews as the coach slowly traveled along the crowded road.
"Mama met the cardinal once," Nyssa told her aunt.
"I know," Bliss replied. "He was a man to be feared in his heyday. He climbed long, and high. His fall was swift."
"Mama always said he was a loyal servant of the king. Why was he executed?" Nyssa wondered aloud.
"The king grew angry with him because he could not seem to get the pope to agree to a divorce for him from the Princess of
"You both look very fine," she complimented them, surprised.
"As do you, sister," Philip Wyndham told her in return.
"Look, Nyssa," Giles said excitedly. "I have my own dagger!" He proffered the bejeweled weapon for her to see. It was studded with garnets, tiny diamonds, and seed pearls.
"You must never draw it in the king's presence," she warned him. "Or the prince's either. Remember, Mama told you that was treason."
Giles nodded, his blue eyes wide. "I won't forget," he said.
Philip, however, looked irritated at his elder sister's admonition. "If you tell me once," he said archly, "I remember. It is not necessary to repeat it, Nyssa."
"Your apologies, my lord," she mocked him, settling her skirts about her. "I don't know why I always forget how wise you are, Viscount Wyndham. How terribly remiss of me to have done so."
Giles giggled, and even Philip was forced to smile at the barb.
"There must be no squabbling amongst you," Bliss warned.
Nyssa folded her hands meekly and became instantly silent, as did her two brothers. The coach pulled away from the house and headed down the road to Hampton Court. Soon the traffic was very heavy. Nyssa found herself fascinated by it all. Other coaches surrounded theirs, some of them even more elegant and rich-looking. There were ladies and gentlemen mounted upon fine horseflesh wending their way amid the carriages. Everyone was going, it seemed, in the same direction—to Hampton Court.
Hampton Court had been erected by Cardinal Wolsey, the king's counselor. It had been built on land acquired from the Knights Hospitalers of St. John in 1514. The Order of St. John, however, would not sell the cardinal the land. They rented it to him instead for ninety-nine years, at a nominal fee of fifty pounds. Building had begun in the spring of 1515. Although the king and Katherine of Aragon were entertained there in May of 1516, the palace was not completed for several more years.
It was built around three courts: the Base Court, the Clock Court, and the Cloister Green. The buildings were of red brick, decorated with blue-black patterns in a diamond shape. All the turrets were crowned with lead cupolas. The exterior walls of Hampton Court were decorated with the cardinal's coat of arms, as well as a set of terra-cotta roundels which had been a gift from the pope. There was a long, windowed gallery where the cardinal walked on inclement days, and a garden where he would sit each evening. The palace had a thousand rooms, of which 280 were guest chambers. There were two kitchens, and in a room between them sat the master cook, garbed as elegantly as any courtier, directing his underlings grandly by word and the waving of a wooden spoon, his badge of office.
Bliss explained this all to her niece and two nephews as the coach slowly traveled along the crowded road.
"Mama met the cardinal once," Nyssa told her aunt.
"I know," Bliss replied. "He was a man to be feared in his heyday. He climbed long, and high. His fall was swift."
"Mama always said he was a loyal servant of the king. Why was he executed?" Nyssa wondered aloud.
"The king grew angry with him because he could not seem to get the pope to agree to a divorce for him from the Princess of
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