“Nonsense, dearest Dame Cecily,” returned Velvet. “Remember, she promised me that I should not marry without love.”
“How can you know if you will love your betrothed or not if you are not here to get to know him? You were well aware of his impending arrival when you left for your sister’s home. Now I hear of this business of going to court as a Maid of Honor!” Having helped to raise Velvet, as well as most of her siblings, Dame Cecily was looked upon as a grandmother by Skye’s children. That, she felt, gave her the right to speak out and to interfere where she thought necessary.
“I could scarcely refuse the queen,” said Velvet innocently.
“Youaskedthe queen for it, and well I know it!” came the sharp reply. “You are a wicked lass, and your papa should have taken a switch to your bottom from the beginning. But no! Adam de Marisco simply dotes upon you, and look where it has led us!”
While she fussed on, Velvet’s companions listened with interest until suddenly, realizing their presence, the old lady stopped in midsentence.
Velvet sweetly introduced them in a sugary voice. “The Earl of Essex, Sir Walter Ralegh, Mistress Bess Throckmorton, and Mistress Angel Christman; and this is Dame Cecily Small, the sister of Sir Robert. She is as a grandmother to me.”
“You are all welcome toQueen’s Malvern,”said the dame politely, dropping a scant curtsy. “Come into the house for biscuits and wine, my lords, ladies.” Turning, she led the way.
“Why, what is this, Velvet?” teased Ralegh. “You have not met your betrothed husband? How old-fashioned, an arranged marriage.”
“It is not important,” Velvet muttered, feeling reduced to a child once more by the old dame’s scolding. “I was matched with the son of my father’s friend when I was so little I cannot even remember the gentleman. Besides, my mama said I need not marry him if I do not love him.”
“Yet,” persisted Ralegh, “your Dame Cecily says he is coming shortly, and you won’t be here to greet him, will you?” He began to chuckle. “You are rather a sly puss, aren’t you, Velvet de Marisco?”
“I rather admire her spirit.” Essex grinned. “Give me a lass with a mind of her own!”
“Give you a lass, period!” snapped Angel. “I never knew you to be particularly discriminating in your appetites, my lord earl!”
“My lords, Angel! Stop this instant,” cried the gentle Bess. “Angel, you and I have come to help Velvet and to advise her what she will need at court. You gentlemen will sit quietly and have your wine while we do so,” she finished firmly.
Both men smiled agreeably, and then followed the rapidly disappearing skirts of Dame Cecily down the hall. Elizabeth Throckmorton was one of the queen’s favorite ladies, both well liked and respected. At twenty-four, she had been at court some years and was the oldest Maid of Honor. Now she turned to her new charge and said, “Will you take us to your room, Velvet?”
Velvet nodded, then led the way upstairs to her chambers.
Angel Christman slipped an arm through hers and said, “If Bess has decided to take you under her wing, you’re a lucky lass. She is so very nice and most of the others aren’t—but then you’ll find out soon enough.” Angel was only two years older than Velvet, but her life at court had given her a worldly-wise look that made her seem much more mature.
Velvet was soon to realize how fortunate indeed she was to have the friendship of Bess and Angel. Examining her wardrobe, they declared it outdated for the most part and much too countrified. She would, they said ruefully, be laughed out of court, and first impressions were so very important. She would have to stay behind when the court leftBlackthorn Prioryand then join them in a week after her wardrobe had been refurbished.
“No, I can’t!” Velvet cried. “He might come in that time and then I would never get away! I would rather be laughed at by the court than …” She stopped as she realized that she had been close to disclosing her innermost fears.
“Well,” said Bess, not one to pry though she was curious, “perhaps we can have your seamstress redo several of your gowns tonight. Then you can come with us tomorrow while she makes you some new gowns to send along after us. The seamstress will have to sew you several gowns all in white. The queen prefers her ladies in black and her Maids of Honor in white when they are on duty with her.”
“Can the white gowns be trimmed with anything?” Velvet queried.
“Aye.” Bess laughed. “ ’Tis the only way we’re able to avoid looking like little French nuns. Sometimes our gowns are white with another color in the underskirt or in a pattern with a white background. Don’t fret, though, Velvet. You’ll get to wear your most beautiful and colorful gowns at the fetes and the masques. It’s just that Her Majesty sometimes has her moods.”
“What Bess is too nice to say is that the queen is growing old, and resents it,” said Angel astutely. “By keeping those attending her in either black or white, she can appear even more glorious than her legend makes her.”
“She is a kind mistress!” defended Bess.
“To those who don’t displease her, but she is jealous, too, Bess, and well you know it. She hates for any of her Maids to leave her to make happy marriages, for she will not marry herself. Woe to any girl fool enough to wish for a husband in the queen’s presence.”
“There are those who have married with her blessing,” Bess said.
“Girls who came to her long betrothed by their families, like Velvet, but the lasses who have found love at court have been cruelly handled by the queen, and you know I speak the truth, Bess. Why else wouldyoube so careful?”
“Angel!” Bess’s face was anguished.
“Oh, very well, but ’tis right glad I am to be only a humble royal ward.” Angel turned to Velvet with an impudent grin. “Are you excited to be leaving your country nest, little mouse, and coming with us?”
“Yes, yes,” agreed Velvet, greatly relieved and more at ease now that the conversation was off marriage.
They entered Velvet’s bedchamber, and, to her surprise, Daisy, her mother’s tiring woman, was awaiting her there.
