“Beiste loves cats,” Adair quickly assured her. “There was one who slept with him in my father’s hall. And he does not shit indoors but goes out. Even in the rain. And he is a wonderful watchdog as well.”
The queen laughed. “I think, Mags, that my lady the Countess of Stanton has made a good case for her wolfhound, don’t you?”
Margaret Beaufort allowed a small smile to turn up the corners of her mouth. “I suppose a good watchdog would be a fine addition to the nursery,” she agreed.
“Very well, child. The dog may come with us. Bessie, Mary, it’s time to return to our quarters.” She looked at Elsbeth. “You have a name?”
“Yes, my lady. Elsbeth, although my lady calls me Nursie.”
“You will continue to have charge over your mistress, but now and again I may ask service of you. Do you understand?”
“Yes, my lady,” Elsbeth said.No nonsense with thisone, she considered. She was yet young, but she was tough.
Adair took her leave of the queen, thanking her for her gracious welcome and curtsying politely. Then she and Elsbeth followed Lady Margaret back to the children’s quarters of the house, Beiste trotting along beside them. The nursery was made up of several chambers. The infant prince, Edward, had several of his own rooms for himself and his attendants. Adair was assigned a sturdy pallet cot in a bedchamber with the three princesses, who slept in a large curtained oak bedstead. Cicely, the littlest princess, was between two and three years of age. She was not considered old enough to visit her mother in the hall. The queen came now and again to coo over Cicely and her baby brother. The children’s personal servants slept in a small adjoining room.
Elsbeth immediately commandeered a serving man to find her a small trunk for the Countess of Stanton, who had fled her burning home with what she could carry in a cloth wrap. “Damned Lancastrians!” Elsbeth muttered to the man. With a sympathetic nod he found what she needed, and she thanked him with a tear in her eye.
Lady Margaret Beaufort watched Elsbeth’s dramatics, amused. The woman would prove useful to them all in time. She was clever and loyal, although her reference to the Lancastrians would have to be softened eventually. But then, it was unlikely that Elsbeth knew that Lady Margaret’s only child was the heir to Lancaster.
She would learn that fact in time, and guard her tongue once she did. But for now, unawares, Elsbeth un-wrapped the shawl in which Adair’s possessions were contained, and laid them carefully in the trunk.
In the days that followed, Adair’s life became quiet and orderly again. Each morning the little girls were wakened just before prime. They quickly washed anddressed and went to the first Mass of the day. A breakfast of hot oats, bread, and cheese followed. Sometimes on feast days there was meat. Lessons followed the meal. Lady Margaret Beaufort had a deep passion for learning. Her charges learned to read, to write, and to do sums. A lady must know sums so she could be certain that her servants were not stealing from her, Lady Margaret said. Adair had never heard any language but English spoken in her short life. Now she learned to speak her mother tongue without a northern accent.
And she learned French as well, for highborn ladies must speak French, Lady Margaret said.
There were other lessons as well. Lessons in house-wifery. A lady must know how to do many things if she was to direct her servants properly. Adair was taught remedies for dosing and caring for the sick. She learned how to make soap and candles. She was taught how to salt meat and fish; how to make butter, cheese, jams, preserves, and comfits. She candied violets and rose petals. These were mostly tasks to be done by her servants, Lady Margaret said, but if she did not know how to do them herself, she would not know if her servants were doing them properly. Adair and Elizabeth of York found these tasks fascinating, but the princess called Mary did not.
The girls were taught to sew and to weave. They learned how to fashion tapestries. It took Adair three years, but she designed and made a tapestry of Stanton Hall from her memory of it. Lady Margaret complimented her greatly when she had finished it, and Adair was pleased, for a genuine compliment from Lady Margaret was rare.
And finally the day came some weeks after her arrival at Westminster when she met the king who had sired her on her mother’s body. Edward of York was tall, with deep blue eyes and golden hair. He was charming, and had the ability to remember the name of every man or woman he had ever met. It gave the illusion to 38
those who came in contact with him that he really cared, that he was warm and kind. He looked down at Adair and remembered the beautiful and reluctant Jane Radcliffe. He remembered how he had overcome her natural modesty and made her shriek with a passion that later embarrassed her.
“My child,” the king said, and he picked Adair up in his arms and held her there while he spoke with her.
“You know who I am, Adair Radcliffe? I am your father.”
“Nay,” Adair said boldly. “You are he who sired me, but my father was John Radcliffe, the Earl of Stanton.”
The king looked surprised, and then he laughed.
“Why, I believe you are right, Adair Radcliffe,” Edward said. “Still, I have an obligation to you, my lady Countess of Stanton, and I will not shirk my duty toward you.”
“I am grateful for your kindness, and that of the queen,” Adair told the king.
“You have been with us but a month and already have the tongue of a courtier,” the king noted with a grin. “I can see you will one day be of great use to me, Adair Radcliffe. Is there anything I might give you now for your pleasure?”
“If Your Highness would be so generous,” Adair said sweetly, “Nursie and I could use some cloth for new gowns. We are not really fit for the company of your court in our country garments, and we escaped Stanton with little. And perhaps some new shoes. Ours are quite worn, I fear. I do not wish to appear greedy, my lord, but Lady Margaret will attest that our need is an honest one.”
“Indeed, my liege, Adair is truthful as always,” Margaret Beaufort confirmed.
“You may have whatever you think is necessary for the care and well-being of this natural daughter of mine,” the king told the royal governess. “You need not ask again. For as long as Adair Radcliffe is in our custody she shall be provided for, even as are the children of my queen.”
Margaret Beaufort curtsied politely. “Thank you, my liege,” she said, and afterward she took Adair herself to the room where bolts of material were stored. Together they chose enough cloth for three gowns. The older woman was pleased to see Adair had an innate sense of what would be suitable for a girl of her station. It was a rare talent, and especially in one so young. The colors she chose were a violet, a dark green, and a deep red-orange.
“Nursie must have something too,” Adair told her companion. “She has but one gown, and it is difficult to keep it clean for daily wearing.”
Lady Margaret cut cloth from a dark gray-blue bolt, and another from a warm brown bolt. “I think these will suit,” she said. “And we will need some soft cotton for camises, and lawn and crepe for veils.”
