“It will take my servant several days to pack,” Adair replied.
“Nay, madam.” The captain looked uncomfortable.
“We must leave on the morrow, and you can bring no one with you. A woman from the queen’s household has traveled with us to serve you.”
“Is the queen all right?” Adair asked anxiously.
“Aye, madam, her health is excellent. The queen is with child, or so the rumor goes,” the captain said.
“Praise God and his sweet Mother for that blessing!”
Adair said. “Albert will see to your men, Captain. I will be ready to depart at sunrise. Will you send the serving woman who traveled with you to me?”
Elsbeth was most put out that she was not able to travel with her mistress. “As much as I dislike those long days on the road, I do not like leaving you alone with strangers,” she grumbled. “Why, I should like to know, must you travel without me?”
“I think that the queen wishes to see her ladyship as soon as possible,” the serving woman who had beensent to escort Adair said. Her name was Clara, and she was a bit dour. “Her Highness did not share her reasons with me.”
“Well, you had best take good care of my mistress,”
Elsbeth said. “I have had her in my charge since she was born.”
Clara was fed and given a bed space for the night.
“I don’t like her,” Elsbeth grumbled. “I don’t understand why Lady Elizabeth didn’t want you to travel with your own servant. She knows me.”
“Perhaps she remembers how much you dislikedtraveling when we moved from palace to castle and back again,” Adair suggested. “Elizabeth has an eye for detail, and has ever been thoughtful of others.”
“Humph,” Elsbeth said. “I’ve packed a trunk for you.”
Adair shook her head. “We have to travel quickly, the captain said. I’ll be riding, and there will be no place for a trunk. We can pack two saddlebags with what I will need. I’ll ride astride, and wear breeches. Give me two clean chemises, and two simple gowns, my ribbon crispine with the ruby red jewel, the black pair of sollerets. I’ll wear a warm cape over my breeches, shirt, and jerkin, and my boots.”
“It’s hardly what my lady the Countess of Stanton should be seen in at Windsor,” Elsbeth muttered. “What can you be thinking of, my lady?”
“If Bess wishes to see me now then I shall go with all possible haste,” Adair answered her serving woman. “If this were to be a social visit the queen would have sent me a missive and given me time to prepare. This is something else, though I have no idea what it is she wants of me. Still she is queen now, and she is my blood.
I will go with all possible haste, Elsbeth. I doubt I am being invited for a long visit. But if I am mistaken then Bess will see me decently clothed.”
“I should be with you,” Elsbeth muttered.
***
The trip south was quick. The queen’s captain was delighted that Adair could ride astride, for it allowed them to cover more miles each day. The serving woman, Clara, hiked her skirts up and rode astride as well.
When they finally reached Windsor she brought Adair to the servants’ dormitory, where Adair did not recall ever having been. Asked, Clara provided Adair with a basin of warm water and a rag. Adair took the worst of the dirt from her face, neck, and hands. She longed for a bath.
Opening one of her saddlebags, she drew out a gown of orange-red velvet, and carefully unfolded it. It showed scarcely a wrinkle, for Elsbeth had a special way of packing garments. Carefully Adair shook the velvet out, donned a clean chemise, and slipped the gown over her head. It had long, tight sleeves and a small, square neckline. Its hemline was neatly bound. Elsbeth had thought to pack a small cloth of gold girdle that was embroidered with pearls and clear sparkling stones. Adair affixed the girdle about her hips.
Her hair was dusty, but vigorous brushing brought its shine back. Seeking the ribbon crispine with its centered ruby stone, she drew it over her head and down over her forehead. She wished she had a glass in which to observe her preparations. Pulling out her sollerets, she slipped her feet into them. It was already the noon hour, and Adair hadn’t eaten since a breakfast of porridge and stale bread early this morning at the convent in which they had overnighted. She was hungry, but Clara was insistent that they go to the antechamber outside of the royal receiving rooms.
“Are you not to take me to my lady the queen?”
Adair asked the woman.
“I was told to bring you where I’m bringing you,”
Clara said.
And when they had arrived Clara departed, leaving Adair amid a crowd of strangers. Amid the crowd of petitioners Adair knew she would be received when shewas wanted, but still she went to the majordomo keeping the door and said to him, “I am the Countess of Stanton. The queen sent for me.”
