She nodded, blushing. “I was also thinking I cannot wait to get home to England, my lord. I think perhaps that I have had enough of the court for now. I want to see my family in the north. I want you to meet them, and know them. My stepfather will want to take you grouse hunting. He does love the sport muchly. I want you to see Friarsgate.”
“Have you changed your mind about it, little one?” he asked her.
“Nay, it is not for me. Your Brierewode suits me far better,” she said. “It is peaceful, and would appear to be a good place to raise children,” and she blushed again.
He drew away from her. “I must get ready for tonight’s banquet. Holding you in my arms like this is difficult, Philippa, especially when I want to take you to bed, and make love to you, and create that first of our children.”
Reaching up, Philippa caressed his face with delicate fingers. “There is time, my lord, for all of that. We will depart this Field of the Cloth of Gold, as it has come to be known, in just a few more days. England and the rest of this summer await us.”
“I want to go to Brierewode first,” he said. “Before we go north.”
“My sister is to be wed in late summer,” she reminded him. “We shall know the date when we reach Oxfordshire. We will stay at Brierewode as long as we may, but I must see Banon wed to her Neville.”
“Agreed, as long as you and I may spend the winter in our own little nest,” he replied. “I picture us by ourselves before a warm fire on a snowy winter’s night.”
“Agreed,” she responded with a small smile. “But you must let me sit in your lap, husband, and you must promise to caress my breasts so I may have pleasure of you.”
He groaned. “Madame, the picture you paint makes me want to wish away the months until we may be together in so intimate a conjunction.”
“Peter,” Philippa called. “Come and help your master prepare for the banquet this evening. Lucy, go to the cook tents, and fetch me some supper.” She slipped from his embrace easily with a small smile. I love him, she thought to herself, surprised.
The earl washed himself in a basin, and then with his serving man’s aid dressed for the banquet being held this evening, given by the French admiral for the two royal couples. “I don’t know when I’ll be back,” he told her before he left. “You know how these things can go, and each side has been striving to outdo the other.” He kissed her lips lingeringly, and then with a sigh drew away.
“If I fall asleep, Lucy will awaken me when you return,” she said. “I want to be helpful to the cardinal. It cannot hurt to have him in our debt.”
“Thomas Wolsey only takes, little one,” her husband said. “And he will not remain in power forever. He has made many enemies over the years. No matter his value to the king, there will come a day when he makes one mistake too many, offends the absolute wrong person one time too many, and poof! The king will dismiss him without a thought, and even take revenge on him for disappointing him.”
“King Henry would never be unkind,” Philippa said innocently.
“May you never see that side of him, little one,” the earl told her, and then, turning on his heel, he went off to the banquet being held this night.
Lucy was returning with food for them as he left. She was practically bowed down by the weight of the tray she carried. Mistress and servants sat down at the table to eat. There was a fat capon roasted to a golden brown, three meat pastries, fresh bread, butter, a soft French cheese, and some fresh peaches. To her surprise Philippa found, despite all that had happened today, she had a large appetite. She ate heartily, and drank two cups of a sweet rich wine. But having eaten, she found that she grew quickly sleepy.
“I can’t sleep,” she said.
“You can’t remain awake either, my lady,” Lucy said. “Come along. When the earl returns I will awaken you.” She escorted Philippa into the smaller half of the tent, helped her to undress, leaving her mistress in her chemise, brushed her long hair, and put her to bed. Philippa was instantly asleep. “Poor lady,” Lucy said to Peter when she had returned into the other room, “she was so brave today, but surely she must have been very frightened. I know I should have been.”
“Aye,” Peter agreed. “I’ve seen those before who have taken a fright. Afterwards they sleep, and it helps to heal them. She was a brave young woman standing up to those French ruffians, pretending she didn’t understand their garbled tongue.”
The earl returned close to midnight, bringing Cardinal Wolsey and his servant with him. He instructed Lucy to awaken Philippa, and then the three servants waited outside beneath the awning while their masters met in secret. Philippa came from the makeshift bedchamber in her long silk chemise. It was tied at the neck with white silk ribbons, and had long sleeves. Her garb was as modest as it could be under the circumstances. Her unbound long hair gave her a particularly young and innocent look.
“Your grace,” she said, curtseying, and kissing the outstretched hand. The cardinal, she noted, had a large hand with well-shaped, graceful fingers and neatly pared, clean fingernails.
The cardinal was seated, but he did not invite his host and hostess to sit. “Your husband has told me, madame, of your adventure this afternoon. Now I would have you tell me. Begin where you left the French king’s tent.”
Philippa blushed, but then she began. “My husband’s cousin had departed, and left me to find my own way. And the tent, your grace, was where the king changed after the jousts. It was not that great thing that blew away this afternoon. As you may know, the tents in that area are small, and lined up one after the other. It was like being in the midst of a garden maze. I had no idea where I was, or how to proceed. Then I recalled that our encampment was to the west. I looked to see if I might ascertain the position of the sun, and once I had I went in that direction, turning twice. I finally saw the jousting field ahead of me, but there was also a party of rather rough-looking knights near the exit, and so I moved one row over in order to avoid them. Frankly I did not wish to be seen. At that point another of those nasty little dust storms came up, and I could see nothing ahead of me. I was afraid to proceed lest I be lost again, and so I stopped, waiting for the storm to subside. It was then I overhead two men talking.”
“Your husband said there were three,” the cardinal interrupted.
“There were, but only two spoke. And when I first heard them I could not see them through the dust,” Philippa replied. She looked directly at the cardinal. He was a fat man with a long nose. He was dressed in his red cardinal’s robes, but the sleeves that showed from beneath his robes were black.
He looked back at her from beneath his hooded eyelids. “Continue, madame.”
She did, reciting her tale once more, and when she had finished he nodded at her.
“You are certain they are in the service of the dowager of France?” he asked.
“Aye, and they said she would protect them if they were caught. Your grace, I somehow believe this plot is of their own making in an effort to ingratiate themselves with their mistress. Although she could have said something in an unguarded moment that they misunderstood, or mistook, I cannot believe a great lady like Louise of Savoy would devise such a conspiracy.”
