Queen of Ambition Read Free Page B

wrinkled with surprise. “I have asked her to wait in the main hall.”
    I went downstairs and there, indeed, she was, thin, vinegary Aunt Tabitha, neat and prim in a stiff, narrow ruff, her housewifely dress of dark blue tidily draped over a modest farthingale. Aunt Tabitha did not care for showy garments.
    “So there you are, Ursula. I won’t ask you why you haven’t called on us. Tact, no doubt, and in fact, you were right. Your uncle does not wish to see you and of course I respect his views. All the same, families should maintain the proprieties. I hear you are bound for the court again and I felt it was only proper that I should speak with you before you left. If you wish to visit your mother’s grave in Faldene churchyard, you may do so.”
    “Thank you, Aunt Tabitha,” I said in astonishment. Tabitha was a stickler for the proprieties she had mentioned, but I hadn’t expected her to maintain them after what I had done to Uncle Herbert. I did indeed want to visit my mother’s grave, and had been planning to go there very early one morning and do so before people were about. I didn’t bother to ask how my aunt knew I was going to Richmond. Half the Withysham villagers at least had relatives in the village at Faldene.
    I called for refreshments and asked after my uncle and cousins. My uncle’s gout had been better of late; my cousins, all now married, were apparently thriving. My cousin Edward was actually married to a distant relative of Gerald’s and now had a baby daughter.
    “We were pleased,” Aunt Tabitha said, “when weheard that you had settled in France with Matthew de la Roche. We hoped you had seen sense at last and perhaps your husband would save your soul for you. We were also pleased, though surprised, to hear that Withysham had been restored to the two of you. But are you going back to France?”
    “Yes, in the autumn. I shall take Meg with me.”
    “And in between, you are returning to court and the service of that red-haired heretic of a queen. It seems that you can hardly keep away from her.” Aunt Tabitha and Uncle Herbert adhered to the old religion, which was how they had got entangled in treason.
    I looked at her coldly. There had been an occasion, long ago now, in the days of the passionately Catholic Queen Mary, when she and Uncle Herbert had returned from witnessing a burning, and by way of warning me against heresy, had forced me to listen while they described it. I still had occasional nightmares about that. I would never either forget it or forgive it. “The days of the heresy hunts are over,” I told her. “And people are grateful to Elizabeth for it.”
    “They may think differently when they reach the hereafter.”
    “I was sorry for Uncle Herbert, believe it or not,” I said. “And I do have a sense of family loyalty. But—I have other loyalties, too.”
    “That is obvious,” said Aunt Tabitha, and unexpectedly sighed. “Ah, well, I suppose we must be glad that at least you mean to return to your husband. Your first loyalty should be with him, after all.”
    We exchanged a few more desultory words and then she took her leave, repeating that I was welcome tovisit my mother’s grave though I should not come to the house. The whole visit had a very odd atmosphere. My aunt’s attitude had been—well, not quite conciliatory but close to it—and she had been strangely lukewarm about the news that I was going back to France in the autumn. It was almost as though she didn’t want me to go. I felt as if she had come for some purpose that she had not declared.
    But I had no chance to pursue the matter. I did visit my mother’s grave, very quietly, early the next day. And then it was time to load the pack ponies, mount our horses, and go. The court was beckoning.
    And it really was beckoning. It was always the way. Once I had done with saying good-bye to Withysham and dried my tears on parting from Meg, my resentment and surprise at this early summons faded away. The