For a second, it looked as if Lady Norfolk might strike her. Thomasin stood her ground, seeing the rising fury her opponent was struggling to control.
At that moment, the doors to Catherine’s inner chambers opened, the noise having drawn out the queen. Catherine’s hastily put-together respectability showed she had been dressing when Lady Norfolk arrived. She was followed by her dressmaker, her seamstress, and Princess Mary, all with their faces set in concern. Catherine looked icily at Lady Norfolk.
“Am I to understand you have invaded my chambers, uninvited, unannounced? Defied my chamberlain and guards?And you are responsible for the state of this chamber?” Looking around, the queen’s eyes rested upon upturned cushions, discarded cloaks and shoes, and chairs and stools scattered across the floor.
“My lady, my apologies. I intended to…”
“But what could have occasioned such wanton destruction? Is there a fire? A flood? Have the gates of hell opened?”
“No, my lady. I have misplaced a book.”
“A book?” Catherine rolled her eyes. “All this disruption for a book?”
“An important book that I believe has been stolen.”
“Are you accusing any members of my household of stealing your book? Take a look around. Who would you like to accuse? Who is the thief? Or do you direct yourself to me?”
Lady Norfolk hung her head. “I apologise, my lady. I only came because I thought you were in the chapel.”
“So you thought it acceptable to ransack my chambers whilst I was elsewhere? What sort of scandalous behaviour is this?” She looked straight down at the top of the woman’s head. “Tell me, what book is worth this?”
Lady Norfolk seemed to crouch lower. “Just a book, my lady, that my mistress was reading.”
“You mean your niece?” Catherine could not bring herself to name Anne, although she knew to whom the intruder referred.
“Yes, my lady. She was reading it.”
“And why would anyone take it, let alone anyone from my household? What is this book?”
“I fear to say, my lady.”
Thomasin thought of the time she had almost been caught in the Boleyns’ chambers, looking for the very same book. Fortunately for her, on that occasion, it had only been Rafe she had encountered.
“Do you?” said Catherine. “You are afraid of a book?”
“Not the book, so much as the consequences of it.”
“Then I can only assume,” continued the queen, “that it is a book of which we do not approve.”
Lady Norfolk nodded. “I would be grateful, my lady…”
“A book that is classed as … heretical?”
Her words silenced the room.
“A book that should be burned, for endangering Christian souls?”
“I would not know, my lady. I have not read it. I was only sent to fetch it, on the chance that it might be in here.”
“Do you think it likely,” continued Catherine, building towards full indignation, “that such a book would be tolerated in the presence of a Catholic queen such as I? Queen of England, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the defenders of the true faith, who purged their country of heresy? Who told you to seek such a book here? The devil himself?”
Lady Norfolk cowered.
“I am insulted. You came here during my absence and caused chaos in my chambers, for the sake of a book that should be burned. You dare to speak to me, to accuse my ladies of entertaining heresy? Have you lost your mind? Leave this chamber at once, leave it and never return. Never come here again, nor approach me, such is my displeasure.”
They all watched Lady Norfolk scuttle outside, suppressing a sob, her footsteps echoing down the corridor.
Thomasin drew in a deep breath. First the disruption in her parents’ chamber, and now this? It felt as if all hell had broken loose today.
