At the Mercy of the Queen: A Novel of Anne Boleyn Read Online Free Page A

father’s but soft-looking. And his hair, also dark, the exact shade of his eyes. Those eyes seemed to have laughed at her and she couldn’t figure out why. Was she so much of a country bumpkin? Were her features so ill arranged? Why should he mock her?
    “Pay him no mind, my girl. London’s filled with hundreds like that—all swagger and strut. You won’t have to settle for such as he. The queen will match you well enough, you can count on that,” said Cate, settling into comfort again. She reached down into a burlap sack at her feet and pulled out a rosy apple. Then a small knife seemed to appear from nowhere and Cate began to slice.
    “I care for no match. As well you know, I have no interest in marrying. I’d rather go to the convent or live as you do, Cate. I could serve as nurse to some darling child.” Madge smiled at her friend.
    “No, Maddie. You’re too highborn now to serve as nurse to any except the queen’s own child. Maybe that is how she wishes to use you. Who can say? But I’ll warrant there’s a marriage to be arranged in her plan as well,” said Cate as she held a slice of apple for Madge to take.
    In what seemed a short time, time enough for two women to eat an apple, the carriage pulled past the gates of a grand house and into a large courtyard. The coachman reined in the horses and a footman opened the door and offered Madge his hand.
    “Hampton Court, my lady,” he said, not daring to look at Madge as she descended the step and her foot hit the cobbled walk.
    Madge stared at the graceful lines of the building and understood immediately why Great Harry had taken over the castle from Cardinal Wolsey. The building was immense and the surrounding grounds perfectly manicured as precisely as the jewels sewn to the queen’s garments. Servants scurried hither and thither, each on an errand of utmost import, from the look on every face.
    Cate descended from the carriage and grabbed Madge’s elbow.
    “Don’t stand there agape, child. We must act as if this is the life to which we’re accustomed. Smile and chatter with me,” she said as she guided Madge to the enormous wooden door carved with wonderful scenes of shepherds and shepherdesses, trees and flowers, images of the apostles.
    The two women entered.
    “Welcome, my good ladies. I am mother of the maids, Mistress Marshall. Follow me and all will be well,” said the gray-haired woman. She led Madge and Cate to their beds just outside the queen’s apartments.
    “Her Majesty will greet you in a few days, when she has time. Until then, you are free to wander in the gardens and in the queen’s apartments, though stay away from the privy chamber until you are invited inside by the queen herself. Her Majesty instructs all her ladies to be modest in dress and to behave with decorum, remembering always that you reflect the queen’s own dignity. Bible reading is encouraged and the queen leaves her very own copy of Tyndale’s New Testament in the outer rooms of her apartments for her ladies to read at their leisure. Rest now and come to sup when you hear the bell. Just follow the others and you’ll find the Great Hall,” said Mistress Marshall as she ushered them into a small room featuring a window with many panes of glass and two small beds.
    “Queen’s own dignity, indeed,” whispered Cate.
    “She is full of dignity and good spirits, too, Cate. You must keep your feelings about her and the new religion to yourself. If the king had the least notion that you’re a papist at heart, we’d be finished before we got started. Mum’s the word, dear Cate,” said Madge.
    “I’ll be mum for your sake, Maddie. I know how important your being at court is—how your family depends upon it. But I don’t have to like it. Nor do I have to read books writ by the devil himself!” Cate ran her hands across the lumpy mattress, brushing off puffs of dust. “I intend to continue to worship as always. In secret, on that you can bet. And I am not