you,” Mary told her, and turned away.
That disappointment soon showed itself in public. There was no more standing at the Queen’s side on ceremonial occasions, no holding of hands, no affectionate embraces. And those like Renard, who loved Mary and distrusted Elizabeth, made sure that the reason for the rift was soon openly known.
Alone in her chamber with Kat, Elizabeth wept.
“I was so happy,” she sobbed. “Happy to be back at court at last, and to have the Queen’s favor and the people’s love. And now she has placed me in this intolerable position and I am made to seem her enemy, who wished her nothing but good.” She blew hard into her kerchief.
“Why not just go to Mass?” Kat suggested. “Go through the motions. The Queen will be delighted, and will receive you back into favor.”
“And be a hypocrite?” Elizabeth asked, stung. “Once the pretense is adopted, I shall have to keep it up. And what of those who will not compromise their faith? What will they think of me? Did you hear they were demonstrating in London, and someone threw a dagger at a priest who had been sent to celebrate Mass in Saint Paul’s? Many people bitterly resent the changes that are being made. I am their only hope for the future, and if I am seen to be attending Mass, they will be bereft.”
There was a tap on the door, and Blanche Parry entered.
“My lady, the French ambassador is without and asks to see you,” she said.
Lifting her eyebrows, Elizabeth rose, dabbed at her eyes, and hastened to her mirror. No, he would not see that she had been crying. She straightened her French hood, pinched her cheeks, smoothed her black skirts, and stood back to admire herself. “This is going to be interesting,” she murmured, opening the door to the outer chamber.
When she appeared, tall and dignified in her black damask gown, the ambassador, Antoine de Noailles, bowed flamboyantly. Elizabeth had observed him about the court over the past weeks, and had concluded that he was clever, wily, and no friend to her sister. Indeed, he had supported Northumberland’s bid to make Lady Jane Grey queen.
“Ambassador, welcome,” she said, extending her hand. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
“Madame, it is so gracious of such an excellent and beautiful young lady as yourself to receive me,” de Noailles declared. His teeth gleamed whitely through his neat beard as his dark, saturnine face creased into a smile. Elizabeth knew flattery for what it was, yet she still thrilled to it, and acknowledged it graciously with a slight upturning of the lips.
“It has come to my knowledge that the question of religion has become a sword between Her Majesty and yourself,” the envoy continued smoothly. “That is most regrettable. The problem is that the Queen, while inclined by nature to be tolerant, is under the influence of the Spaniards, and you know how zealous the Spaniards can be when it comes to matters of faith. I need not mention the Inquisition…”
Elizabeth hid another smile. It was no secret that the French and the Spanish, those two great European rivals for power, cordially hated each other, and were at pains to play each other off in a bid to secure the friendship of England. Indeed, for decades, for this very reason, the kings of England had played a clever game, one small David between the two great Goliaths of France and Spain, forging alliances and breaking them in order to rein in the power of these mighty Catholic kingdoms. De Noailles’s blatant maneuvering was hardly unexpected.
She waited for him to continue.
“My King wishes me to assure you of his friendship,” he went on. “There are those in France who would prefer not to see the English throne occupied by a queen whose family connections understandably led her to look kindly upon Spain and all its doings, however repugnant they may be to the rest of us. And I am sure you yourself, madame, find your position very difficult. With France behind you, you will be stronger.”
What was the man proposing? That with French backing, she set herself up as a rival to her sister? She would not be such a fool.
“Thank your master for his kindness,” Elizabeth said aloud. “If I ever need it, rest assured I shall call on him.”
“You may need it sooner than you think, with Monsieur Renard dripping poison into the Queen’s ear,” de Noailles said. “Madame, you are young and