rose to his feet as Thomas went to greet him.
‘Sir Thomas.’ George waited for them to feel the impact of his words. ‘I cannot call you Papa – in truth, I never should have, should I?’
‘George, I—’ Thomas began, but the young man raised a hand to silence him.
‘I will hear no more of your lies – or yours, madam,’ he snapped. ‘I wish that I no longer had to call you Mother either.’
‘You will not speak to your mother like that,’ Thomas reprimanded him. ‘Whatever has caused this ill humour, we will overlook it as being out of character – the result, perhaps, of too much waywardness in Cambridge.’
‘On the contrary, Sir Thomas,’ George said, ‘I have been a most diligent student and my thoughts have never been so ordered . . . thanks to the duke.’
Buckingham. Frances had known it as soon as she had laid eyes upon her son.
‘I received his letter yesterday,’ her son continued. ‘He was most insistent that I visit him here. My master objected, of course, but I could hardly refuse the duke after his many kindnesses to me. Besides, I was eager to renew our acquaintance. How glad I am that I did, else I would have lived the rest of my life in ignorance.’
‘George, listen—’
‘No, Mother, you listen!’ Frances was taken aback by the hatred that flashed in his eyes. ‘My father is not this fine gentleman here, but a notorious traitor. Were you ever going to tell me that my name should be Wintour, not Tyringham?’
Frances opened her mouth to speak, but her throat tightened over the words.
‘You pretend to such virtue, yet you are no better than a whore of Satan.’
Thomas stepped forward then and slapped him across the face before Frances could stop him. Her son put his hand to his reddening cheek, his eyes blazing with fury.
‘You have ruined my life,’ George spat, his voice rising. ‘How will I ever thrive, knowing what I am? If you had not succumbed to your wicked, selfish lust, I would never have come into existence – I pray God that I had not!’
He turned from them then, and Frances could see his shoulders heave. She reached out a tentative hand to comfort him, but he shook her off.
‘Goodbye, Mother – Sir Thomas,’ he said, still staring at the door. ‘You will not lay eyes upon me again.’
Frances stood frozen in horror and watched as her son swept from the apartment. As his rapid footsteps echoed into silence, her legs buckled underneath her and she fell to the floor.
EPILOGUE
23 August 1628
Frances pressed her forehead to the glass, relishing the momentary coolness. The sultry heat from the late-afternoon sun hung over Whitehall like a shroud, sapping her of energy. In the courtyard below, she could see one of the palace dogs slumped in the shade of a wall. It seemed many hours since she and Kate had been obliged to retreat to Buckingham’s apartment, abandoning their walk in the privy garden.
‘Perhaps we might play a round of Primero,’ Kate suggested, her voice flat and listless.
Frances looked at her. Her face was flushed and a fan lay discarded on her lap. With a smile, Frances set down the book she had been holding. A History of Life and Death had been Bacon’s last gift to her. It was not his finest work, but she treasured it nonetheless. More than two years had passed since his death, but she still missed him sorely.
‘I wonder if the fleet is assembled yet,’ Kate murmured, as she pretended to focus on the cards she had been dealt.
Frances kept her expression neutral. The duke had travelled to Portsmouth three weeks earlier on the premise of planning another expedition against the French – as if the voyage to Île de Ré had not been disastrous enough. His vainglorious enterprise had brought him and his wife to the brink of bankruptcy and left England at war with the Queen’s native land. Charles had banished him from court, and had petitioned his brother-in-law for forgiveness. But King Louis had not been minded to accede, despite his sister’s pleading.
‘I do not imagine many men will rally to his cause,’ she replied.
Kate nodded. Although she rarely spoke of her husband, Frances knew that she was not in ignorance of how deeply he was despised throughout the kingdom for his overweening arrogance and lust for power, which had become ever more frenzied as he had felt it slipping from his grasp. Rumours that he