‘Rise, master lawyer.’ The voice was rich, surprisingly deep.
I looked at the King’s eldest child. I knew Catherine of Aragon’s daughter was much older than the Lady Elizabeth and Prince Edward; well into her twenties and, with her thin, narrow features, looking older still. She had auburn hair under a round French hood studded with diamonds, and a green gown decorated with pomegranates; a popular design but also the emblem of her long-dead, rejected mother. Small, shapely hands played with a golden pomander which she wore at her waist.
‘Forgive me, my Lady,’ I said. ‘I did not know – ’
She nodded and smiled pleasantly, though her dark eyes were coldly watchful. She struck me as someone who had been watchful all her life, despite her poised manner. She waved a hand. ‘You were expecting the Queen, I know. But my father called on her to sit with him a little. Jane was with me when Mary Odell came to fetch her, and I said I would accompany her instead.’ She looked at me quizzically. ‘I believe you have been asked to investigate the Queen’s stolen ring.’
‘That is correct, my lady. By Lord Parr.’
Mary made a movement of her thin shoulders, a hint of a shrug. ‘I had heard vaguely of it. But I have been much engaged these last few days observing the building of my new lodgings.’ A touch of pride entered her voice. ‘I have brought two of my ladies along, as you see, for propriety’s sake.’ She did not introduce them, but continued to address me. ‘I am surprised poor Jane is to be questioned.’
She looked fondly at the little woman, who stared back at her appealingly and spoke, in a high voice. ‘I haven’t done aught amiss, my lady.’
I wondered, was Jane genuinely slow-witted and anxious, or was she acting? I could not tell; there was something oddly inscrutable about her moon face, either because her mind worked strangely or because she was a skilled actress. Perhaps it was both.
I said, ‘The Queen wished it, because Jane – ’ it seemed the custom to refer to her by her Christian name – ‘was one of only four people who entered her majesty’s bedchamber on the evening the ring was stolen.’ I turned to Jane. ‘You are not suspected of anything. It is rather a matter of whether you might have seen or noticed anything amiss—’
The Lady Mary’s voice, suddenly sharp, interrupted me. ‘I require that you address any questions to Jane through me, sir, as I am sure the Queen herself would wish, were she able to attend. I will not have her frightened.’ She gave a slight frown, which the two ladies-in-waiting instantly copied. The duck pulled at its leash, keen to investigate a scattering of herbs lying in a corner of the prayer closet.
‘Then may I request, my Lady, that you ask Jane where she went, and what she might have seen, from the time she entered the privy lodgings on the sixth of July?’
‘Well, Jane?’ the Lady Mary asked encouragingly. ‘Do you remember anything?’
Jane Fool gave me a quick look before addressing her mistress. ‘I wanted to show the Queen a new trick I have taught Ducky, to seek out herbs which I have hidden. But the ladies would not let me past the Privy Chamber, they said she was not in.’ To my surprise Jane then stamped her foot like a child, and raised her voice. ‘Often they try to keep me from the Queen, though I alone can divert her when she is sad. She has often been sad of late—’
Mary raised a hand, and Jane was instantly silent. ‘Yes,’ Mary said dryly. ‘She has. And now such a fuss over a missing ring.’ However hard the Queen might have tried to bring the King’s children into amity with her and each other, it seemed that with Mary at least her success had been limited.
‘It was of great sentimental value,’ I murmured. ‘My Lady, if Jane could say where she went – ’
Mary turned back to Jane. She spoke patiently. ‘When you went past the ladies into the privy lodgings, where did you go? Did you see anything strange?’
‘I looked in all the rooms for the Queen,’ Jane replied. ‘And when I saw she was truly not there, I came out again into the Privy Chamber. Nobody was in her quarters, the pages had gone and Mary Odell not yet come.’
‘Then all is well.’ Mary spoke in a tone of finality and Jane Fool shot me a quick, triumphant look.
I persisted. ‘Did she notice anything unusual in the Queen’s bedchamber? About her private chest, perhaps, where she kept the ring and other valuables?’
‘No. Nothing,’ Jane said – too quickly, I thought. ‘The Queen never lets me near it. My Lady, this crookback frightens me.’ I thought, you are lying. From the change in the Lady Mary’s expression I realized she saw it too.
‘Any information would be received most gratefully by the Queen,’ I dared to venture.
The Lady Mary looked at Jane. ‘Be calm, my dear. You know I can tell when you are playing games. Tell the gentleman anything you know, and I give you my word you will come to no harm.’