“Have I not always kept your secrets, my lord?” Will replied.
Lord Cambridge smiled. “You are a treasure, dear boy, and you well know I could not do without you,” he said.
Elizabeth galloped back to rejoin them. “You two are so poky,” she said.
“We are simply letting you run off your great energies, dear girl,” Thomas Bolton told her. “Will and I are quite enjoying our sedate ramble.”
She laughed, and, wheeling her mount about, she dashed off down the road again.
“Ah, youth,” Thomas Bolton observed.
Elizabeth felt better for escaping the tedium of the court, and galloping about the countryside. She liked returning home to her uncle’s house and eating a rather well cooked meal instead of watching the king and Mistress Boleyn eat and then nibbling what she could find. She particularly enjoyed going to bed at what she considered a reasonable hour instead of staying up half the night. She was a country woman, and content to be so.
She returned to court the following day, and sought out her friend, Anne Boleyn.
“Where were you?” Anne demanded to know. “Your sister would say only that you were resting, as you were not used to the pace of court life.”
“You spoke to Philippa?” Elizabeth was surprised.
Anne’s little cat smile exhibited itself. “Aye. She came to me, and curtseyed, and said you were home in bed. It was difficult for her, I know, but her manners are really quite flawless, Bess. Does she still support the queen?”
“I do not know if ‘support’ would be the correct term, Anne,” Elizabeth said, careful to protect her sister. “You must remember Queen Katherine has been our mother’s friend from early girlhood. My mother’s friendship never wavered in those difficult days before Queen Katherine married the king. Mother brought Philippa to visit court when she was only ten years of age, and from that moment on my sister wanted nothing more than to serve the queen. She did, of course, from the time she was twelve until her marriage. The queen has been good to Philippa. She feels a certain loyalty to her,” Elizabeth explained. “If she did not I should not respect her as I do, but even Philippa is impatient with the queen’s intractability in the matter of a divorce.”
“And when I am queen will she feel the same loyalty for me that she feels for Katherine of Aragon?” Anne wanted to know.
“How can she?” Elizabeth answered candidly. “But she will respect your position as queen. Of that you may be assured. She is ambitious for her sons.”
Anne nodded. “I will miss you, Bess, for no one speaks so honestly to me as you do. Must you return to your bleak northern estates?”
“I will wither away, dear Anne, if I cannot go home soon,” Elizabeth said. “But I do not consider Friarsgate bleak. It is beautiful, with the green hills tumbling into my lake, and those same hillsides dotted with my sheep. I long to awaken to the song of birds, and a fresh Cumbrian breeze blowing through my windows. Aye, I must go home.”
Anne sighed. “To be able to do what you desire is a privilege that I will always envy,” Anne Boleyn said softly. “I must do as I am told. When I am queen, however, I shall obey only the king!” she declared.
“Anne, I would beg a boon of you,” Elizabeth said. “Will you ask the king if my uncle and I may leave Greenwich before he does? I do not think I can bear waiting.”
Anne nodded. “I will ask him,” she promised.
“Ask me what?” the king demanded to know as he entered Mistress Boleyn’s privy chamber. He bent and kissed her lips.
Anne colored prettily. “Bess would like to go home now, Hal,” she said softly. “While I will miss her, I do understand her need to be where she is happiest, for I am where I am happiest when I am with you. We will not leave Greenwich for several more days, and custom demands that having been a part of the court she remain until the king departs. Would you not, I pray you, give her permission to go sooner?”
The king looked at Elizabeth. He reached out and tipped her heart-shaped face up so he might meet her gaze. “You look like your father, but I can see you are like your dear mother in your heart’s desire. Friarsgate is where you get your strength, Elizabeth Meredith. I have thought you looked pale these last few days. Unlike your sister, the Countess of Witton, you are not a creature of the court. You have our permission to leave as soon as you may make ready. Tell your uncle to come and bid me farewell today, that you may then go with our blessing for a safe journey, Elizabeth Meredith.” He held out his big hand to her and, taking it, Elizabeth kissed it.
Anne watched, and thought that while she counted Elizabeth Meredith her friend, she would not be sorry to see her depart sooner than later. She brought back memories to the king that Anne would prefer he forget. She did not want Henry Tudor living in a happier past. Anne wanted him in the present, happy with her. If only his divorce could be arranged! They would marry, she would give him sons, and they would be happy forever.
“Thank you, your majesty,” Elizabeth said in a soft voice. Then she stood and, bending, she kissed Anne’s cheeks. “Thank you for your friendship, Anne. I will cherish it always. And I will pray for you, and your heart’s desire.” Then Elizabeth curtseyed to the king and his companion, backing gracefully from their presence. She hurried to find Lord Cambridge, and told him that once he had made his farewells to the king they were free to depart Greenwich at any time.
“Dear girl!” he exclaimed, “you have your mother’s charm when you choose to exhibit it. I shall go immediately. The day is young, and if we hurry the servants we can be packed and ready to depart on the morrow. I shall leave the house open for your sister, for Philippa will not leave until the king departs. And she will probably remain with the court until they go to Windsor in mid-June. But you and Will and I shall go home, Elizabeth! With luck we shall reach Friarsgate by Mid-Summer’s Eve, and watch the fires on the hills to celebrate.” Then, turning, he moved quickly off.
Elizabeth departed the palace, almost running through the wood that separated the king’s enclosure from her uncle’s house. Finding Nancy in the kitchens she told her, “We are to go home. Tomorrow, if we can be packed!”
“Us too?” Lucy, her sister’s tiring woman, asked.
“Nay,” Elizabeth told her. “You know your mistress.”
“Aye, she’ll stay till the angel blows his trumpet.” Lucy chuckled. “How she loves this court life. She was barely out of childbed with her daughter but that she would come for you, Mistress Elizabeth. I am sorry you have found no husband.”
“I’m not,” Elizabeth said. “Friarsgate is mine, and mine alone. I’ll be upstairs, Nancy. Do not dally.” And then she was gone from the kitchens.
