A Love Most Dangerous (42 page)

The girls carefully placed the gowns on the couch,
curtsied, and left.

Sissy ran to the gowns and held one up to the window.
It was a beautiful deep grey, trimmed with darker velvet and with a red linen
partlet attached. She picked up a kirtle of light blue and held it against the
gown. 'This would go very well underneath it,' she said.

'You have a good eye,' I said. 'Perhaps you would make
a good laundry-maid.'

She flung down the robe and came towards me, her face
a picture of woe. 'But I want to stay with you, Alice,' she said. 'I want to be
your maid.'

'I was jesting,' I said, squeezing her hand to calm
her.

She looked relieved and turned once more to the gowns.

There was another knock on the door.

'Put your clothes on and see who that is,' I said.
'Hurry now,'

I went into the bath chamber, filled a basin with
water and bathed my face. I heard Sissy open the door and some clattering
outside. When I returned to the chamber the sideboard was laden with plates,
glasses and three platters of food.

'Is this all for us?' Sissy breathed in excitement.

'If you want it,' I said. 'There's always more than
enough to eat at court.'

She shook her head. She had lived on a farm and ate
better than most people but I don't suppose she had never seen a table with
more food than could be eaten.

'This bread is white,' she said in wonder, holding up
a loaf. 'And these rolls.' She held them to her nose and breathed in the fresh,
doughy scent.

'Shall I serve you?' she asked, as delighted as a
little child.

'If you wish,' I said, taking a seat. I decided that
for this morning at least, I would act out the role of great lady.

Sissy placed two plates on the table, a knife and fork
the wrong way round, and two glasses. Then she brought over a platter
containing the bread and rolls and another with cold meats, butter, cheese and
honey. She gave a doubtful look at the third platter which was crammed with
fruit.

'Leave that till later,' I said. 'And sit down with
me, little maid. As there's no one to see us we shall eat together.'

We ate our fill, Sissy seeming determined to eat up
everything in sight. She almost succeeded. Finally, she gave a sigh. She waited
for a while, grinning with pleasure, but could not contain herself long. She
went to the sideboard for the final platter of fruit and brought it to the
table, looking at it narrowly.

'What is all this?' she asked. 'I can see apples,
pears and blackberries but what are all the others?'

'Oranges, pomegranates and peaches,' I said. 'They
come from far to the south.'

'From France?'

'Possibly. Or Spain.'

Sissy shook her head in wonder and started to bite
into a pomegranate.

'You can't eat the peel,' I laughed. 'You must cut it
and scoop out the flesh inside.'

She put it back on the plate. 'I think I'll have a
pear,' she said.

After breakfast I tried on a variety of gowns and
finally settled on a russet one trimmed with velvet and a light green kirtle
underneath. The foresleeves were cream, gathered in bunches tied off with dark
grey trim. I chose a French bonnet with a coif of the same russet tone and a
veil of midnight blue which hung to the small of my back. The shoes fitted well
enough and I chose dainty ones of cream with thin bands at the ankle.

'You look like a Queen,' Sissy cried, clapping her
hands with joy.

I hope not, I thought. I wanted to live my life as I
chose it. Not as I was ordered or coerced. I glanced at myself in the mirror.
Yes, I had always wanted to live my life as I chose it. But now, after what I
had experienced at Crane and Thorne's hands I was determined on it more than
ever.

I insisted that Sissy dress herself in one of the
gowns. Not as rich as mine, perhaps, but more fitting to a maid of honour than
to an ordinary maid. She was so entranced that I could barely get another word
out of her. I certainly found it hard to keep her attention. She danced and
twirled in front of the mirror, bowing and curtsying for all she was worth.

Part way through this performance there came a sharp
rap on the door.

I almost went to open it myself but then caught myself
and ordered Sissy to do so. She stopped her twirling and walked towards the
door with her nose in the air. I smiled to see this and her unbounded joy at
being here.

She opened the door, peered out and glanced back at me
in some alarm.

'It's a boy,' she said.

'Not just any boy,' came a familiar voice. 'The only
boy.'

A head peeped in. It belonged to Humphrey the Page.

'It's good to see you again, miss,' he said, pushing
past Sissy without a word. 'My, Alice, but you do look lovely.'

'How dare you,' Sissy cried.

'He's a friend,' I said. 'Or at least I think he is.'

'A better friend to you than you realise,' he said.
'How do you think Master Cromwell found your whereabouts?'

I frowned. 'Through you?'

He nodded. 'I happened to bump into an old waterman
name of Scrump who'd just got back to London. He told me that you'd been
through some bad times and was residing at the Menagerie. So I took myself off
there and found out from Tom Pepper that you'd been there but had left and was
staying in the country.'

He came towards me and touched me gently on the arm.
'Tom told me something of what happened to you,' he said quietly. 'Not all but
enough. I am sorry that you went through such things.'

'It is in the past,' I said in a lighter tone than I
actually felt. 'And is Mr Scrump quite well?' I asked. 'And his wife?'

'They are. But not apparently, his son. Bits of him
are still turning up on butcher's stalls so it's said.'

I shook my head at his words. I could not forgive Art
for what he did to me. But I could not bring myself to hate him either.

A sudden realisation came to me. 'Was it you who told
Lord Cromwell where I was?'

Humphrey gave a cheeky grin by way of an answer.
'Anyway, it's good to see you back, Alice. And I'm not the only one who will
think that. The word is that the King is as savage as his lions without you.'

Sissy's stepped towards me when she heard this.

'Close your mouth, Sissy,' I said.

'Yeah, close your trap,' said Humphrey, 'there's a
draught in here.'

He turned to Sissy. And fell silent. His eyes blinked
and he took a sharp intake of breath. She went red and glanced away but then
her glance returned to him, a shy and wary glance. He took another intake of
breath. Neither said a word, which was a great change for both of them, but
continued to stare at each other as though they had been turned to stone.

I pretended a cough and they shook themselves out of
their trances.

'This is Humphrey, a rude nuisance of a Page,' I said
dryly to Sissy. 'This is Sissy Cooper, my maid and very good friend.'

Humphrey bowed so low his hat fell off. 'Charmed to
meet you, Miss Cooper,' he said.

Sissy's hand went to her mouth and she giggled. It was
her only answer.

Humphrey retrieved his hat, his face now burning as
red as Sissy's. He turned to me but as he spoke his eyes kept returning to
Sissy.

'Anyway, Alice,' he said. 'Compliments of Sir Thomas
Cromwell, he hopes you is settled here at the castle.' He paused, glanced at
Sissy once again and his brow abruptly furrowed as if he had lost his thought
completely.

A few moments later he clicked his fingers so sharply
I almost jumped. I glanced at Sissy who was gazing at him as if he were a
figure out of legend.

He clicked his fingers once again. 'I remember now,'
he said, turning once more to me. 'Lord Thomas wants to see you right away. He
also wants to inform you that His Majesty King Henry, ninth of that name, will
be arriving at Greenwich Palace an hour before noon.'

'Eighth,' I said. 'King Henry the Eighth.'

'That's what I said,' Humphrey replied. 'Sir Thomas
says you are to go to the river gardens, close to the entrance to the Palace.
And you're to be in good time so His Majesty may happen, as if by chance, to
see you.'

'Happen, by chance? By the order of Lord Cromwell?'

Humphrey put his hand on his waist and shook his head
ruefully. 'Things that happen and the orders of Lord Cromwell are much the
same. As you should know by now, Alice.'

'What about me?' asked Sissy, surfacing at last from
her reverie. 'Am I to meet the King?'

'I think that would be pleasant for you,' I said. 'If
you can tear yourself away from your other concerns.'

'I have no other concerns,' she answered dreamily,
unable to tear her gaze from Humphrey.

'And pray tell me what you will be doing, dear
Humphrey?' I said.

'I shall be close on hand,' he answered. 'Close on
hand to do any service you require.' He spoke to me but his eyes looked at
Sissy.

'Oh, Alice,' he said. 'There's one thing more. Lord
Cromwell wants to see you before you see the King.'

'Before I see the King?'

'Well immediately, to be honest.'

I picked up my cloak and headed for the door. 'Thank
you for being so alert,' I said.

A coach was waiting for me at the driveway and hurried
me down towards Greenwich Palace.

Thomas Jones was standing in the entrance, swaying
from side to side with anxiety.

'You must hurry,' he said, leading me with swift pace
and horrific creaking towards Lord Cromwell's office.

He was sitting at his desk, poring over some papers.
Does he never get tired of reading and weighing arguments, I wondered. Does he
ever get tired of making decisions for the King?

'Ah Alice,' he said. 'Thank you for coming to see me.'

I smiled but did not answer. We both knew well that I
had no choice but to come.

'I wanted to make sure that you understand what I
require of you.' He paused and a half smile flickered over his face. 'Or rather
what the Kingdom requires of you.'

'I did not know that I had come to the attention of
the Kingdom,' I said.

'The King is the Kingdom and you've certainly come to
his attention.'

'And been banished from it.'

Cromwell shrugged. 'That is what I intend to remedy.'

'And is this a remedy that will really suit the King?
Does he really wish to see me again?'

Cromwell laughed. 'Of course he doesn't. Not yet at
any rate.' He folded his hands together. 'You must understand that though the
King is a man of remarkable intellect he sometimes allows his great and
generous heart to rule his head.'

I blinked and smiled. 'Some people say it is Lord
Cromwell who is his head.'

He smiled with pleasure at my words.

'That is foolish talk, Alice. But it is my burden to
make many hard decisions for the King. He has been too often ruled by his heart
in the past. And by the machinations of the old nobility. Now it is time for
him to be guided by more simple people. Like us.'

I laughed at his words. 'You a simple person, Sir
Thomas? You know this not to be so. You are clever, Lord Cromwell. Perhaps the
cleverest person in the Kingdom.'

Cromwell nodded as if what I said was beyond argument.

Then he frowned. 'Some people say I am too clever, Alice. But is it possible to be too clever? Cleverness is a gift that I have. I cannot hide it or
undo it. It is the same with you Alice. You have a gift although you do not
know it.'

I shook my head, confused. 'What do you mean?'

Cromwell's eyes narrowed as if marvelling at
something.

'Every woman,' he said, 'has the power to make a man
fall in love with her. It is not an unusual power, and without it the world
would end soon enough. Some have the power to make two or three fall in love
with them.'

He paused as if recollecting something, something
which he swiftly put away as if he treasured it and would look at it again in a
little while.

'But some women,' he continued, 'have the power to
make not one or two men fall in love with her but every man. Every man, every
man who comes into contact with her. It is a rare gift. Perhaps one in fifty
thousand women have it, perhaps one in five hundred thousand. You are such a
woman, Alice Petherton.'

I stared at him, not comprehending his words. 'I don't
know what you mean.'

'Of course you don't. You are unaware of your power.
But I have observed it, Alice. I have seen you in a room, reading a book or
talking with some friends. Two men enter the room and pause. They feel it, a vast
potency beating down upon them. They look around, searching for the source of
that potency. And they realise in a moment that the source is you. Every man
feels this. Every man.