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"Poor Cat," Nyssa said. "You should not have stressed all of the delights of being queen, my lord. You should have also told her of the difficulties involved, and the responsibilities, but you did not. She was ill-prepared to be a queen, but then I wonder if any girl is well-prepared."

"She should have been prepared," he told her. "Catherine was born a Howard after all."

Nyssa laughed. "Is there something magical in being born a Howard, my lord? You make it sound as if being born a Howard endows a person with not just beauty and grace, but wisdom and the ability to meet any challenge. Your name is an ancient and honored one, but God did not give the Howards any more ability to struggle through life with than He gave the rest of us. It is past time you realized that."

"Impudent chit!" he growled, and stamped from the chamber.

With a small smile of triumph, Nyssa returned to her embroidery. Besting Duke Thomas was very satisfying.

A servant entered the dayroom to announce that the king's sister, the lady Anne, was here to see her. Anne of Cleves hurried in behind the man. Putting her needlework aside, Nyssa arose to greet her former mistress.

"Welcome, dear madame. Come and sit by the fire with me."

"Ach! Such troubles for poor Hendrick and little Catrine," Anne said. "Vhat a surprise to learn of her life before court! The old Dowager Duchess of Norfolk vas certainly not a goot influence. Imagine allowing men to run about her house at night vith all those little girls in her charge. Is she dotty, then?" Anne settled herself, spreading her fashionable yellow velvet skirts about her. She accepted a silver goblet of wine from the attending servant, who then withdrew from the room.

"We are fortunate to have had good mothers and fathers to watch over us; to guide us; to see we learned morality," Nyssa replied. "Poor Cat was really quite badly brought up, I fear."

"Ya," Anne said sympathetically. "God help her now, for who else vill? It is not a goot thing to be a qveen."

"I have already heard a rumor that the king is considering returning to you, madame, should his marriage to Queen Catherine be over and done with," Nyssa told Anne, who blanched.

"Gott und himmel, nein! I vill never marry vith that rutting old boar again! Once vas more than enough! I vould tink that Hendrick vas through vith marriage now. He does not seem to be able to find a voman who can suit him, and the only one he claimed did, died, Gott assoil her goot soul. He is an old man. Vhy vould he vant another vife?"

"You know he does not see himself as an old man," Nyssa said. "Besides, the council will insist he remarry, and attempt to father other children. Little Prince Edward is his only legitimate male heir. What if something should happen to him?"

"Nyssa, when vill you see that a voman is just as capable of ruling a country as a man? Hendrick has two daughters, and both of them are very bright. Especially my darling little Bess. Bess vould make a vonderful qveen, but it is unlikely she vill ever haf the chance. Poor child. She is very upset about Catrine. They are cousins, you know, through Bess's mutter. Catrine has alvays been kind to her, and Gott knows few others haf. They hold the sins of the mutter against her little daughter. It is not kind.

"That is vhy I come to you today. Vhat is going on, Nyssa? Ve haf all heard the gossip about the qveen's early life, but vhat else is there? Catrine's behavior prior to her marriage to Hendrick cannot, my confessor tells me, be held against her as long as she has been a goot vife to Hendrick. Vhy do they continue to press her? Vhat do they suspect? Or is there some secret the court does not know? You vill know, for you are in this nest of Howards, and their safety depends upon the qveen's fate." She took a great draught of her wine.

"The Howards are just as mystified and frightened as the rest of us. Duke Thomas, to his chagrin, did not know of the queen's early bad behavior. He is frantic the king will hold him responsible for all his unhappiness relating to the queen," Nyssa said.

Anne of Cleves snorted. "Duke Thomas is a vicked old man. He dangled that poor little girl beneath Hendrick's lustful nose, and look vhat he did to you, my sveet Nyssa."

"Ahh, but there, despite Duke Thomas, Varian and I have had a happy ending, madame. He loved me from the beginning, and I have come to love him. We were so happy at Winterhaven with our babies, until the queen demanded our presence on the progress. God, I hate the court!" She looked at Anne. "Why did you not come this summer?"

"I am too vell liked by the people. They still are angry at poor Hendrick for replacing me. I tink that may be the reason for these silly rumors you mention that Hendrick vants me back. The king asked that I stay home this summer so he might present his young vife to his people. I vas happy to comply vith his vishes. I enjoyed being by myself. Bess came to visit vith me, although poor Mary vas forced to go on the progress. Mary does not like Catrine."

"Princess Mary was hardly in evidence at all on the progress. She hunted with her father, but other than that, she only appeared on those special occasions when the king wished to present a united family front," Nyssa said. "She and her women were rarely seen, and kept to themselves."

The two women sat chatting about a variety of things, of the coming holidays and how this distressing matter of Catherine Howard would affect them. Nyssa told Anne how they had wanted to leave the progress at Amphill, but that the king, in an effort to please his frivolous wife, had reneged on his promise to them.

"You know how I love the holidays atRiversEdge," Nyssa said. She did not tell Anne of the real reason behind their desire to leave.

Finally the Princess of Cleves departed, and Nyssa returned to her embroidery. It was already dark outside with the coming winter, but with her young eyes she was able to see her work in the firelight. What was going to happen to poor Cat? Would they learn of her adultery, or would she somehow escape the revelation of her treasonous behavior?

The archbishop had gone again to the queen, and cajoled her into making a written declaration of her scandalous premarital adventures. Catherine firmly believed that her liaison with Dereham was no true contract, but the archbishop thought otherwise. He believed that he now had enough evidence to prove a precontract had existed between the former lovers. It was possible under such circumstances to invalidate the marriage. Catherine had not been a virgin when she came to the king. There were no children involved to be harmed. A potentially explosive situation could easily be avoided under these conditions, yet Thomas Cranmer was still not satisfied. He sensed that there was something else.

"You did what?" Jane Rochford's narrow face was filled with rage. "You stupid little fool! You have given the archbishop the very weapon he needs to see that your marriage is dissolved!"

"But the archbishop said the king would forgive me if I admitted to my wickedness," the queen said. The fact that her lady-in-waiting had addressed her so disrespectfully went completely over her head.

"Aye, why should he not forgive hiswhore?" Lady Rochford was pleased to see that Catherine grew white with shock. She continued, "For that is all you will be to the king if you admit to this willing liaison with Francis Dereham.The king's whore. Not the Queen of England, but a royal mistress. Even your cousin Anne was never considered that, but then Anne Boleyn was an intelligent woman. You, poor child, have not the wit to know what you have done, do you?"

"Ohh, Rochford, what can I do?" Catherine whined. "I do not want to be known as a common whore! Tell me what to do!"

"Call back the archbishop," Lady Rochford said. "Tell him you were so frightened that you did not make clear to him that Dereham came into you with force. Say he raped you, damnit!"

"Will the archbishop believe me?" the queen quavered.