“I thought so, but I didn’t see clearly. Perhaps he didn’t see you, or else he has been told to keep his distance.”
“But he could wave, at least.”
“Not if he did not see you. Go on, hasten after him, just for a minute. No one will mind.”
Thomasin shot a look ahead to Catherine, who was walking with Maria.
“Go, go,” said Ellen, “I will cover for you. I’ll say you’re ill.” Then, when she saw Thomasin’s face, she corrected herself. “No, not at the moment, I won’t. I’ll say you were chasing a butterfly. Go on.”
“Mister Carey? Is it you?”
But Will Carey did not turn to face Thomasin, his broad back clothed in grey velvet, with a cap set with a pearl on his head. Little light curls were escaping at the back, round his neck and ears.
“Will, it’s me.”
The roses bobbed between them as he took a right, deeper into the maze of flowers.
Bewildered, Thomasin chased after him. His mind must be occupied with something very profound if he had not heard her.
“Will?” Finally, he stopped and turned, but the reluctance in him made her heart stop.
“Did you not hear me? What is it?”
His face was troubled, he could not hide it. He tried to avoid meeting her eyes. “Thomasin, you must return to the queen.”
“Why? What’s the matter? Are you unwell?”
“No, it’s not that,” he said helplessly. “Well, it is a little warm, but it’s not that. You must go back to the queen at once.”
“I will not. Not until you tell me what has happened.”
“The pox, you know what we have been advised.”
But Thomasin wouldn’t accept his excuse. “It seems more than the pox. Why so unfriendly?”
He looked away. “I must go, the king requires me.”
“I thought we were friends. What is this?”
He stared down at his hands.
“Are we not? Have I deserved this, somehow? I know not what it may be.” Frustration began to rise in her chest.
“I cannot say. Only that in the present time it is safer for us to be apart. Believe me, it is not of my choosing. Never.”
“Only because of the smallpox? Do you fear it so much?”
“Partly, well, no.” He looked around him with some anxiety, then took a step closer to her and held her with his gaze. “It is unfair that I do not tell you. But what a mess this is.”
Thomasin’s fears were mounting. “Please, tell me, you’re worrying me.”
“I was warned to keep my distance from you, by a member of Boleyn’s household. I was told that it was not seemly for us to spend time together.”
“What nonsense. Spending time together is not seemly?”
“Not for a married man and an unwed woman, I am told.”
Thomasin’s anger flared up. “Like the king and Anne Boleyn, you mean.”
