I am adding the next part of the story which is Elizabeth again. That is how it goes all the way through, her reading Henry’s words then her thoughts as she sits in Hatfield 1558 so this follows on from Henry stopping to sort out a nib for himself

Hatfield 1558

Elizabeth stretched her knotted shoulders as she placed the sheet face down atop the others she had so far read. She was blushing a little at her father’s crude talk of Jane but her heart fluttered in an echo of joy at his description of his feelings for her mother. It felt almost wrong to her to be seeing so far inside the emotions of a man, any man but most especially her father. This was a side she had not known. The despair he described so openly, his talk of sobbing and a breaking heart it brought to her many questions but as she stood and stretched more fully with her arms raised above her head she acknowledged that only by reading on would she get the answers though perhaps not all that she needed.

She found it quite easy to picture the scene her father had described with her mother in his arms. It was a scene she had often imagined as a frozen moment, her parents in a loving embrace but his words added to it, made it live. Now she pictured it as though it were a true memory; her mother moving towards him, his arms wide to take her to his breast. She could almost hear the swish of skirts, their breath, and their laughter. It brought tears but no pain, these being the tears of misty pleasure. Hugging herself she moved around the room to loosen her stiff limbs.

Finding her wine jug empty she carried it across to the door and passed through to the top of the staircase, “Kat, Kat” she called down into the empty hall below “anyone … is there anyone down there to hear me?” Within a short time a small maid of work appeared and bobbed a quick curtsy. “Yes, m’m I be here, the rest are in the gardens a’cuttin some flowers,”

“Damn” said Elizabeth as she set off down the stairway. “I want more wine but will find it for meself then.” She waved the jug at the young girl who stepped aside to let her pass. “C’mon little one let us to the kitchens and see what’s to be had while there are none here to catch us.”

With eyes large in her pinched face the girl hurried along in the wake of her mistress. In the kitchen Elizabeth found the cook sweating over a large lump of pastry. Ever the friendly, no nonsense type Elizabeth threw an arm across the large woman’s shoulders planting a great noisy kiss on her cheek. “I have come on a raid for any sweetmeats and cakes you have hidden away here, even stale cheese from the mousetrap will suffice I am so hungry and another jug of wine too if it please you.” The jug was dumped noisily on the wooden table causing flour to rise in a cloud. Elizabeth turned and winked at the small girl beside her. “This small wren is to assist me in carrying the booty back to my chamber.”

With a self-conscious blush the older woman wiped her sticky hands on the vast and none to clean apron tied about her ample middle and set about filling the jug from a large cask set upon a trestle then placing cold cuts of meat, some cheese, bread, cake, sweet pears and other tasty morsels on a large platter, muttering all the while, “Where you put all this food I cannot see. We could be feeding all the village on what you take from this kitchen atop the meals I prepare all day. You will be as big as I in a few more years.”

Elizabeth stood with her head cocked to the side and mouthed each word as it was uttered having had the same response to her request for snatched platters of food every day for as long as she cared to think back. “Add an apple or two” she commanded when the cook stood back from the piled dish, “and I shall feel myself well served.” She smiled the smile that was all hers as two shiny apples were added to her complete satisfaction. The cook put her hands to hips saying with a cheerful smile of her own, “Now my Lady that you have robbed my kitchen of every tasty morsel to hand may I get back to the making of my rabbit pie afore my pastry dries?”

Elizabeth laughed, blew her a kiss from the tips of her fingers and picked up the jug to carry it away. She hesitated looking from the waiting maid to the large platter and with a great sigh of the hard done by handed the jug to the girl and hefted the platter herself. “Spill not a drop mind” she grinned.

She put her shoulder to the kitchen door pushing it wide then strode off down the corridor to the main hall to make her way to her chamber.
“Tell Kat I want to be left alone, I will see myself to bed when I am ready. Alone mind until tomorrow. I want no meal nor company nor any interruption” she called over her shoulder to the cook who stood shaking her head but with real affection for her young mistress glowing on her face.

Back in her room Elizabeth placed the food on her side table and turned to retrieve the jug from the tight, two handed grasp of the child behind her. “What is your name then,” she enquired.
“I be Lizzie m’m”
“Hah another one, I too am er.. Lizzie though I prefer Elizabeth.”
“Yes m’m” came the reply as the maid backed to the door eager to escape to her place below stairs and very worried that she would be in trouble for having ventured into the upper reaches.

“Hold” said Elizabeth as she turned to picked up a sweet pastry and an apple, “here as a thank you for your help and a special treat for you, one Elizabeth to another.” She grinned and bumped her hip gently against the child’s shoulder. “We have to stick together Lizzie, go on take them.” She leant down and whispered “If I were you I’d eat them quickly so take your time returning and if anyone asks I will say I kept you here awhile.”

Making another hasty bob and with a huge smile the girl left, the sugary treat being savaged by her tiny teeth with crumbs and flakes of pastry flying about before she even reached the door. Apples after all were all around but such a pastry did not come her way often.

Nodding her head in contentment Elizabeth poured wine and nibbled on some food before returning to her place at the desk. She felt surprisingly happy the trepidation of earlier having left her to be replaced by a desire to discover more and so she was keen to continue reading her father’s words.

As she sat looking at the papers on her desk and those still within the chest it struck her that she was now as he had been on that day many years ago, alone in a chamber with no one to annoy or interrupt, she was enjoying the seclusion and as eager to know the truth as he appeared to be to furnish it. She looked about the room wondering if he could be watching over her now. If his heart was lighter knowing that she had at last begun to consider his defence and most of all if he truly had her mother by his side, both at peace with each other. She prayed it were so.

The day was fading so rising she put a taper to the fire and lit some candles. Then after divesting herself of her outer clothing, until she stood only in her white shift, she padded about contentedly in her bare feet placing the platter on her bed, dragging the side table nearer bearing its jug of wine. Elizabeth was ever one who liked all to be close at hand with no thought for scratched floors or crumbs in her bed. Content with her preparations she gathered a few more sheets of the crackling paper and made a leap onto the great bed. With some punching and much huffing she formed a comfortable nest for her back within the feather pillows; her feet were tucked into a fur coverlet and with a happy sigh as she popped a small tart into her mouth she settled to continue reading her father’s words.