Kat Ashley protested at the dress. “My darling lady, it is too old for you. Black at your age!”

“I am grown up, Kat. Do you not realize that I am fourteen?”

“So you are, sweetheart, but you are but a girl in growth.”

“Do you not think the black suits my hair?”

“It does,” Kat admitted.

“Then it is time I began to look my age.”

Kat put her arms about her and kissed her. “Oh, my lady, I don’t want you to be grown up.”

“Why not?”

“Because I am afraid. I am afraid of when you grow up.”

“Dearest Kat, why should you be afraid?”

“Afraid for you, sweet. Now they say: ‘Oh, she is just a child …’ And they think of you as a child…of no importance.”

“But I am of importance, Mistress Ashley. I do not wish to be thought of no importance.”

“It is safer so…until…”

“Until, Kat?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Kneel and kiss my hand, then.”

She took the bracelet from her arm and put the circlet on her head.

“My lady! My lady!” cried Kat in dismay.

“There are just the two of us, so what matters it? And, Kat, you are not to gossip of it.”

“No, my lady.”

Elizabeth took Kat’s ear and pinched it hard. “You gossip too much with Master Parry.”

“Oh, my ear! It hurts. Stop, you wild cat. Stop…Your…Your Majesty!”

They began to laugh, and the bracelet fell to the floor.

“A bad sign!” said Elizabeth, growing pale.

“Nonsense!” cried Kat, sprawling on the floor to recover the bracelet. “Here, let me put it on your wrist… where it belongs. Bless you, my love. God preserve you.”

“Kat, you foolish woman! You’re crying.”

“I love you, darling, and that’s the truth. So much that I am sometimes afraid.”

“I know what you’re afraid of. You think of her of whom we never speak. Kat…I want to talk of her now … and then, afterward … never again. Am I like her?”

“No.”

“She was beautiful, was she not?”

“She had more than beauty.”

“That did not save her. All that charm and all that beauty…it did not save her from the sword.”

“She was wild and full of levity,” said Kat, “and many men loved her. The King was among them. They say he never loved any as he loved her. But that did not save her.”

“She was raised to be a Queen… raised quickly, and quickly put down. But I would be Queen in my own right. I am a King’s daughter. Remember that.”

“I remember it, my lady.”

“And if I will wear a black velvet dress, then I will wear a black velvet dress.”

“Yes, my lady, but that does not mean I shall say I like it.”

“Why do you not like it, Kat?” Her tone was wheedling.

“It makes you look too old.”

“Too old for what?”

Kat Ashley shook a finger at the Princess. “Take care, my lady. You know what I mean. When I see the glances he gives you, I tremble.”

“Oh, Kat…so do I! But have no fear. I am not so charming as she was… and although I have some levity, it is not as great as hers. Many men will love me, Kat, but none shall ever betray me.”

And with that she went sedately out of the room and down into the gardens.

There she found the Admiral and her stepmother walking under the trees.

The Admiral bowed ironically as he watched her approach. Katharine smiled, giving no sign that Elizabeth, as far as she was concerned, made an unwelcome third.

How can she remain in ignorance of those glances? wondered Elizabeth. She looked haughtily at the man, to show him that she did not approve of such looks… when his wife was present.

“Why,” said Thomas, with mock dignity, “it is the Lady Elizabeth. And how think you she looks this day, Kate?”

“Very well and very charming,” said Katharine.

“I think not,” said Thomas. “I like not her gown.”

Elizabeth answered pertly: “Indeed, and do you not? I did not know it was the duty of a stepfather to approve his daughter’s gowns.”

Thomas raised his eyebrows. “The responsibility of a father toward his daughter through marriage is great; and the more so when she is a Princess, and a Princess who dares parade her charms in a black velvet gown.”

“I care not that you do not like my gown,” said Elizabeth, turning away. “My mother does, and that is enough for me.”

But as she turned, Thomas had caught her. He seized her by the shoulders and pulled her roughly round to face him.

“How dare you?” cried Elizabeth, flushing hotly. “How dare you treat me thus!”

Katharine’s innocent laughter rang out.

“He teases you, my dear. Thomas, you should not tease her so. It is too much teasing, now that she grows up.”

“But, my love, she needs to be teased out of her haughtiness. What do you think of this black gown, Kate? ’T were as though she mourns someone. Does she mourn someone? Do you know, Kate?”

“Nay, she wears black because it becomes her. And it does, Thomas. You must admit it does.”

“I admit nothing. She mourns someone. Some secret lover, is it? Why, the girl blushes.”

“I do not! I do not!” cried Elizabeth.

“Let her go, dearest,” said Katharine. “I believe she is really angry.”

“Then she must learn that she must not be angry with her step-father, who is a very loving stepfather. The wicked child hides secrets from us. Who is this lover whom you mourn? Come, Princess. Confess.”

Elizabeth twisted from his grasp, but, as she did so, her gown was torn, exposing her shoulders. She knew that he had deliberately torn it.

“She hath a tolerably white skin,” said Thomas. “Hath she not? Methinks it is a pity to hide such sweetness under this ugly black cloth.”

“You have torn it,” cried Elizabeth, “and you will have to pay the cost of a new one.”

“You see how avaricious she is!” He caught her skirt as she would have run away.

Katharine began to laugh. “Oh, Thomas, you must not be so childish. You play such games. Are you really a man or just a boy?”

“Do not heed him,” said Elizabeth. “He must amuse himself. It is naught to me that he doth not like my gown. It is naught to me that he hath torn it, since he must provide me with a new one.”

“Undutiful!” cried Thomas, lifting her skirts. “Oh, most undutiful!”

They were both tugging at her skirt, and the stitches gave way.

“Would you then tear the clothes from my back?” she demanded. “Here…in the gardens?”

“I would,” he said.

Her eyes were shining; her mouth was laughing. She could not help it if she loved to play thus with him. It was so safe, with Katharine standing by; it was safe and yet so dangerous. This was the part of courtship which was most enjoyable.

Katharine was quick to see her amusement. Is she completely blind? wondered Elizabeth. Did she not know this man she had married?

He had turned to her now. “Kate,” he said, “help me… help me tame this wild cat. We’ll teach her to parade our gardens in black cloth.”

“Thomas… Thomas…have a care,” laughed Katharine.

“Whose side are you on?” demanded Elizabeth. “His or mine?”

“On mine, of course!” cried Thomas. “Hold her, Kate. Hold her, I say. Take her arms and stop her fighting, and I will show you what we will do with her.”

Katharine obediently ran behind Elizabeth and put her arms about her.

“No,” said Elizabeth.

And “Yes,” said the Admiral.

He had taken the jeweled dagger from his belt and, his eyes gleaming with desire for her, he slashed at her skirt with the dagger; he put his hand in the neck of her bodice and ripped it down the front, so that she stood there in her silken petticoats, flushed and laughing, and loving him, exulting in the feelings she could arouse in him.

“Thomas!” cried the Queen. “What have you done?”

He had his hand on Elizabeth’s bare shoulder.

“I have taught our daughter a lesson, I hope.”

“She should not stand here thus. It is most improper.”

“Aye!” he said. “Most improper. But she must not come parading herself in her black gown, looking like a grownup Princess. She must not blush when we question her as to her secret lover.”

“Elizabeth, run in quickly,” laughed the Queen. “I pray none sees you.”

Elizabeth wrenched herself free. She heard their laughter behind her.

The Admiral put his arm about his wife.

“Dearest,” said Katharine, “how I long for a child! And if I am an even more fortunate woman than I count myself already, how that child will love you! Why is it that you, who are so bold, so much a master of men, a great sailor and statesman, know so well how to amuse children?”

“And is the Princess such a child?”

“Indeed yes. Did you not see how she enjoyed your game?”

“She did, did she not,” said the Admiral somberly; and he tried to forget the passion Elizabeth aroused in him, in his tenderness for Katharine.

KAT ASHLEY ASKED if she might have a word in private with the Admiral.

“My lord,” she said, when they were alone, “I trust you will forgive my impertinence, if impertinence it is.”

“I would hear it first,” said Thomas.

“The Lady Elizabeth came in from the gardens this day—her dress cut away from her, her skin bruised by rough handling.”

“And you, Mistress Ashley, witnessed our play from one of the windows?”

“You know that?”

“I know Mistress Ashley,” he said wryly.

“It is my duty to look after my young lady.”

“That is so.”

“My lord, I beg of you to forgive me, but if any but myself had seen what happened in the gardens this day…”

“Well, Mistress Ashley, what then?”

“They… they might think it unseemly for a Princess so to behave and… and for a gentleman such as yourself….”

“Bah, Mistress Ashley, there was nothing in it. It was but play.”