The Rose Without a Thorn Read Online Free Page B

longer. I must see what was happening out there.
    I slipped out of bed, stood close to the bed curtains and, very cautiously, parted them.
    It was a strange scene. A number of the girls were sitting up in bed. I could not believe that I saw aright, for the girls were not alone. Young men were there. Some of them were lying on the beds, their arms about the girls.
    I had been right. They were eating and drinking. Several held goblets in their hands and it was clear that they were having a very happy time.
    I could not understand why the young men were there. They had their own apartments, surely. Some of the men were familiar to me, for I had already seen them about the house. The Duchess had a big retinue of people to serve her, and among these were the young men and women of lesser houses whose parents sought to introduce them into a ducal establishment.
    They were whispering together and, young as I was, I was old enough to know that they were doing something which, if it reached the ears of those in authority, would bring dire punishment upon these men and girls. I was stunned, shocked; and I knew they must not catch me spying.
    I went silently back to bed and lay there shivering—not with cold, but with fear. I was asking myself what I ought to do about this startling discovery.
    The next day, Isabel said to me: “I saw you last night. You were peeping through the curtains. What did you see?”
    I felt myself blushing.
    “Come, Mistress Howard,” urged Isabel. “You must tell me.”
    I stammered: “I saw the women … in their beds.”
    “Yes. What else?”
    “I saw the men … beside them.”
    “It was just a little gathering … of friends. An entertainment. You understand? It is the sort of party people have when they are grown up.”
    “I did not know.”
    “Of course you did not. You are not grown up, are you? You did not live in a great house like this one. There is much you do not know, but you will see and learn here. Have you told anyone what you saw?”
    “No. No one has asked me.”
    “If your grandmother should …”
    “I did not see my grandmother.”
    “No, but if you did, you must say nothing to her.”
    “Why? Is it wrong then?”
    “Wrong? Who says it is wrong? Did you think it was wrong?”
    “I … I don’t know … but as you say not to tell…”
    “You are too young to understand. It is what people do but do not talk about.”
    I was bewildered, struggling to understand, and suddenly she put her arms about me.
    “Mistress Katherine Howard,” she said. “I am growing very fond of you, and you are growing fond of me, I do swear.”
    “You have been kind to me.”
    “So you will promise me that you will say nothing of what you saw last night.”
    I promised.
    I had been in Horsham more than a week before my grandmother remembered me, and a summons came for me to present myself to her.
    I had changed a little since my arrival. Some new gowns had been provided for me, and, although they were by no means grand, they were a marked improvement on my previous wardrobe. I sat down to regular meals, which I took with the waiting women, and this pleased me because Isabel had now become my closest friend and she was always pleasant to me in a ratherconspiratorial way, which I realized was because I shared the secret of what happened in the communal bedchamber on some nights. No governess had been provided for me, and I was left a great deal to myself, for all the waiting women, though not overworked, had certain duties to perform. It was an extraordinary life, largely because of those scenes which I witnessed through the bed curtains. They did not occur every night, and I was never told when they would. I would go to the Long Room before the others and sometimes sleep through the night. On other occasions, I would wake and hear the giggles, the protesting murmurs which, some instinct told me, were more invitations than protests. I would be unable to resist the temptation to slip from my