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"You realize that the queen will be found guilty," Nyssa said.

"What do you know?" Kate demanded.

"I know nothing," Nyssa answered. "But it is obvious from the way things are going that Cat's reign is over. The question remains as to whether they will kill her, or not."

"If the king is angry enough," Kate said, "he will show her no mercy at all." Kate's mother was Mary Boleyn, who before her sister, Anne, had been the king's mistress. It was believed that Kate's eldest brother, Henry, was the king's son, but the king had never acknowledged him.

The young women fell silent again. The cityscape had given way to the rural landscape of Middlesex. The leafless trees were silhouetted black against the gray November sky. There was no wind, and the Thames ran dark and smooth. Rounding a bend in the river, they saw Syon House. Until recently it had been a convent. There seemed to be a macabre humor in incarcerating Catherine Howard here. The barge nosed its way into the quai serving Syon House. Upon landing they learned that the queen had not yet arrived.

The majordomo assigned to Syon led them to the apartment assigned to the queen. It consisted of three rooms, and was furnished modestly. There was a bedchamber for the queen, with a small dressing room, as well as a dayroom and a small dining room where they could eat.

"Where will we sleep?" Nyssa demanded of the majordomo.

Recognizing the tone of authority in her voice, he said politely, "A single chamber has been set aside for the ladies, madame."

"I am the Countess of March," Nyssa told the man. "Is there a dressing room for us to store our garments in and where our tiring women may sleep, sir? I realize our purpose here is serious, still, we must have some small comforts." She favored him with a smile.

"The room is spacious, with its own fireplace for warmth, m'lady, and there is not just a dressing room, but a smaller interior room for your servants." He bowed, and then asked, "Might I know the identities of the other two ladies?"

Nyssa nodded graciously. "This is the king's niece, Mistress Katherine Carey, and Lady Elizabeth FitzGerald, sir."

The majordomo bowed politely to the trio. "May I welcome you to Syon, my ladies," he said. "Allow me to show you your own quarters."

He led them from the queen's small apartments down the hallway and opened an oak door, beckoning them into a large square room, the walls of which were done in a linen-fold paneling. A bowed window with leaded panes and a window seat looked out upon the river. There was a fine fireplace in the room, and opposite it, a good-sized bed hung with tapestry curtains, dark green on natural linen. The draperies at the windows were heavy, dark green velvet.

"The bed will sleep two comfortably, m'lady," he addressed Nyssa, as the senior in rank of the three. "There is a fine trundle beneath that can be pulled out to sleep a third person."

"Excellent," she said to him. "I assume there is a trundle beneath the queen's bed as well, for one of us will always be with her."

"Aye, m'lady, and Lord and Lady Baynton have their own bedchamber."

"Very good, then," Nyssa answered him. "Since the queen is not yet come downriver from Hampton Court, will you have our baggage brought in so we may settle ourselves? Please notify us the moment the queen's barge is sighted. We must be at the quai to welcome her."

"Yes, m'lady," he said, and departed.

Kate and Bessie had elected to share a single tiring woman between them. Her name was Mavis, and she was a motherly, older woman. She and Tillie had hit it off immediately. The two women chatted amiably as they unpacked and stored away their mistresses' clothing and other possessions. They were pleased with the tiny room, and with the good-sized bed that they would share. They considered their quarters quite luxurious. It backed up on the large fireplace, and consequently would always be quite warm as long as the fire was going.

While the servants worked to make their small quarters comfortable for them all, the three young women went out into the gardens of Syon House. Wandering about, they found some late roses, not yet touched by frost, blooming pink against a south-facing wall. They gathered the fragile blooms and brought them indoors to arrange in the queen's dayroom, for they knew how much Cat would appreciate the little touch.

The majordomo came to tell them that the queen's barge had been sighted. They hurried down to the quai to greet their old friend.

"I wonder how she is feeling," Kate said.

Nyssa wondered too. She did not know whether to be shocked or surprised when Catherine, stepping from her barge, greeted them as if there were nothing wrong at all and she was not in a fight for her very life. She kissed and hugged each of them in turn, expressing her delight that they were to be with her.

"I suppose you are most put out with me, Nyssa," she said with her most winning smile. "I know that you hoped to be home at your belovedRiversEdgefor the twelve days of Christmas."

"I am not in the least distressed, Your Grace. I am honored that you would ask me to serve you in your trying hour," Nyssa replied.

"Henry is most put out with me," Cat said, linking her arm in Nyssa's and walking up to the house with her. "I wrote him a very beautiful letter. I am certain that he will forgive me eventually. In the meantime he will isolate me here in the deep country to punish me, but," she laughed gaily, "we will make ourselves a most marvelous twelve days of Christmas, won't we? It shall be like when we were all children. No cares, and no gentlemen to worry us."

Nyssa could hardly believe what she was hearing. Did not Cat understand the seriousness of her position? Obviously she did not.

"Lady Rochford, they say, has gone mad," she said quietly.

"I am so relieved to be rid of her," Cat exclaimed. "She was always badgering me. I thought she was nice, but she is really quite nasty. 'Tis no wonder she never remarried. Who would have her?"

They entered the house, but when the queen saw her apartment, she immediately complained. "This really will not do! I cannot be expected to live in such cramped quarters. Oh, damn Henry! He is just doing this to be mean!" She whirled about and said to Edward Baynton, "My lord, you must write to the king and tell him I need more space."