Read Online The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir - Free Book Online

can hardly blame him, in the circumstances.”
    “So who is His Majesty to marry?” Lady Bryan asked softly, returning to the topic of the moment and glancing at Elizabeth to see if she was listening. The child appeared to be absorbed with her ABCs.
    “Well, it was to have been a French princess, I heard, but the French weren’t of a mind to it. Apparently, His Majesty had told their ambassador that the thing touched him too near, and that he needed to see the lady before any contract was signed.” Sir John again leaned closer to the governess, so that Elizabeth had to hold her breath in order to hear what he said next. “He asked that suitable French ladies be brought to Calais so that he could meet them and get to know them a little before choosing. Well, the ambassador was furious. He said that the great ladies of France were not to be paraded like prize animals in a market. And then he dared to suggest”—Sir John was almost whispering—“that His Majesty might like to mount them one after the other, and keep the one he found most agreeable.”
    Lady Bryan gasped and clapped her hands to her cheeks, which had gone rosy pink.
    “Aye, you may well blush, my lady,” said Sir John, “and the King did too. I’ve never seen him so embarrassed. As you can imagine, he has somewhat gone off the idea of a French alliance. He is looking to Cleves…”
    Elizabeth was bored by this talk of alliances. Besides, she was puzzled. Why had Lady Bryan been so shocked? And why would her father want to mount the French ladies? That was what you did to horses—you mounted them. It was all very strange and beyond her comprehension. She stared at her horn book. The italic letters carved delicately into the wood danced before her eyes, unseen by their owner. She was too busy striving to imagine her father riding the French ladies, much as she would ride her hobbyhorse, round and round Calais. The images this conjured up made her giggle under her breath. Adults did the silliest things.
     
    CHAPTER 3

    1538
    E lizabeth hurried down the stairs to the great hall at Hatfield, wondering why she had been summoned there by Lady Bryan. As she neared the bottom, she saw her governess standing at the door, greeting a fashionably dressed middle-aged woman with dark hair and kind, doe-like eyes.
    “I had not expected you so soon,” Lady Bryan was saying. “Please bear with me.” Looking a little flustered, she reeled around to her charge.
    “My Lady Elizabeth, allow me to present Mistress Katherine Champernowne,” she said. The visitor executed a graceful curtsy, which Elizabeth returned in kind.
    “You are welcome, Mistress Champernowne,” she said politely.
    “I am honored, my lady,” replied the dark-haired woman. She had a gentle Devon accent, rounded cheeks, a slightly turned-up nose, and a hint of mischief in her face, while about her there was an air of refinement. Is she a friend of Lady Bryan? Elizabeth wondered, expecting to be dismissed now that the greetings had been exchanged. But that did not happen.
    “Refreshments will be brought to you,” Lady Bryan told the visitor, still sounding a bit nonplussed. “Please sit down and make yourself comfortable. My Lady Elizabeth, you come with me. We will be back presently.” Briskly, she led the way back up to Elizabeth’s chamber. The child was mildly curious, and completely unprepared for what came next.
    “I must tell you that Mistress Champernowne is to be your new governess,” announced Lady Bryan.
    “My new governess?” Elizabeth was startled. “But I have a governess. You are my governess.”
    Lady Bryan took a deep breath. “Not anymore, dear child, I’m afraid. I am to be governess to the Prince and rule over his new household. That is why Mistress Champernowne has been sent here.”
    Elizabeth could not quite take it in. For as long as she could remember, Lady Bryan had looked after her. In all but blood, she had been a mother to her, the person who had cared