“Yes or no, Your Majesty. You understand this is imperative.”

“Oh, come,” said Elizabeth, “I could not give a direct answer until I see him. I might hate him, and how could I marry a man whom I hated!”

“But Your Majesty has already expressed your deep interest in this match.”

Elizabeth looked haughtily at her chief ministers. “How can you know my feelings?” she demanded. “Have I told you I am ready to marry Charles?”

“Your Majesty, Lord Dudley and his sister Lady Mary Sidney have made it quite clear what is in Your Majesty’s mind.”

“How should they know what is in my mind?”

“Madam,” said Cecil, “it is believed that they, more than any in your realm, have your confidence.”

“They have misunderstood me this time,” said Elizabeth.

“Then are we to understand that Your Majesty has come to no decision with regard to the Archduke?”

“Your understanding is not at fault. I am no more inclined to Charles than to any other.”

Cecil and Bacon were annoyed by this, but Norfolk was furious.

The Duke angrily sought out Robert and demanded to know what right he had to spread rumors which were without truth.

“I! Spread rumors?” cried Robert.

“You and your sister! Did you not imply that the Queen had chosen her husband?”

“I am sorry you are disappointed,” said Dudley.

“Have a care, my lord!” cried Norfolk. “You go too far. Much is spoken against you.”

Robert’s hand went to his sword hilt. “You place yourself in danger, my lord Duke,” he said. “The Queen would not consider you a good Englishman and a loyal subject since you wish her to marry outside the realm. You would bring foreigners among us. Her Majesty would not like that … she would not like that at all.”

Norfolk stared at Robert. How would he represent this encounter to the Queen? Was it not a fact that she would be inclined to believe anything that Robert told her, since she was as infatuated with him as ever? Norfolk retired, seeing his mistake.

The victory was Robert’s. But he had not added to the number of his friends.

The news came to England that Philip of Spain was to marry Elisabeth de Valois, daughter of Henri Deux. A blow to England this, for it meant the union of her two enemies against her. Queen Elizabeth seemed unperturbed. She refused to look at the marriage politically. She merely pouted on hearing of the withdrawal of so powerful a suitor.

“What inconstancy!” she cried to Philip’s ambassador. “Could he not wait a few short months? Who knows, I might have changed my mind. And there he will be … married to a French Princess when he might have married the Queen of England.”

But no one took her seriously. They knew that she was waiting and hoping for something, and that Robert Dudley was concerned in those hopes.

The French King had died unexpectedly during a joust, when a splinter from a lance had entered his eye. His young son, François, was now King of France, and Mary Stuart the Queen. She styled herself Queen of France and England—an insult Elizabeth determined to hold against her.

But she was not seriously annoyed, it seemed to those about her. She would smile to herself and continue in great good humor while Lord Robert was beside her.

The Spanish ambassador, furious at the trick which had been played on him by the Dudleys (for he had written to his master and told him that it was certain the Queen would take Archduke Charles), now wrote bluntly to Philip telling him of the rumors which were circulating throughout England, and which, he assured Philip, seemed to have a firm foundation.

“The Queen,” he wrote, “gives much time and attention to Robert Dudley still; and it is the opinion of many who are close to her that she hesitates to marry only to gain time. She is waiting for Lord Robert to dispose of his wife, which many think he will attempt to do by means of poison. He has circulated rumors that she is slowly dying of a fatal disease, and this has proved to be untrue. He wishes, of course, that when she dies, there will be little surprise, and it will be believed that her death was the natural outcome of her malady. The Queen’s plan is to engage us with words until the wicked deed is done. Then it is thought she will marry Lord Robert.”

And all through the spring and summer the rumors multiplied.

Amy so enjoyed her stay with the Hydes at Denchworth that she prolonged her visit; and the Hydes were pleased to have her company. Amy quickly formed a friendship with Mistress Odingsells, Mr. Hyde’s widowed sister, and this lady became her constant companion.

They all petted Amy. It was the delight of the cook to make her favorite sweetmeats. Nothing could please Amy more for she had a fondness for all sweet things; while she was at Denchworth, bowls of sweetmeats were kept in her room; and the kitchen maids took pleasure in making new flavors for her delight. They could not do enough for Amy. Although she was the wife of the most talked-of man in the country, they were sorry for her. The Hydes urged her to stay on; and Amy, feeling that the atmosphere of the house was rather as her own had been in the days when her mother was alive and her half-brothers and half-sisters had made a pet of her, could not resist the invitation.

Pinto was glad that they stayed at Denchworth. She too liked the atmosphere of the house. Here, reflected Pinto, she felt safe.

Often she thought of Lord Robert and wondered of what he talked with the Queen. Did they discuss marriage? What a King he would make! There was that about him which must conquer all—even one as proudly royal as the Queen of England, even one as determined to hate him as humble Pinto.

As long as she lived she would remember the moment when he had come upon her as she bent over the press. What had made him kiss her? What had made him notice her for the first time? Had she betrayed her feelings for him? He would have forgotten the kisses, for he would have given so many. Often she thought how different life would have been if Lord Robert had never come to Norfolk, if little Amy had married a pleasant gentleman like Mr. Hyde.

“Oh God, let us stay at Denchworth where it is quiet and safe!” she prayed.

At Denchworth all wondered what was happening in the gay world of London and the Queen’s Court. It was being said now that the Queen would marry the Archduke Charles and that he was coming to London for the betrothal.

“Even so,” said Amy to Pinto, “we shall see little of Robert. I doubt not that he will continue to be occupied at Court.”

“It may be that the Queen’s husband will not wish to have him there.”

Amy agreed that might be so. “Then perhaps he will be banished to me as he was before. Do you remember, Pinto, how happy I was during those two years when he could not go to Court? That was before this Queen was Queen and when there were so many rumors that she would lose her head. How did she feel, I wonder, to be so near death as she must have been?” Amy’s eyes had grown wild.

Then she has heard the rumors! thought Pinto. Oh, my poor little mistress. God preserve her!

“Do you know, Pinto,” went on Amy, “I believe that to be near death would make a woman feel that she must live every minute of her life to the full because life is, after all, so precious. Bring me my new purple velvet gown. I will put it on. I think it needs a little alteration. I should like to know that it was ready …”

Ready? thought Pinto. Ready to wear for the husband who so rarely comes?

But at least, here at Denchworth, they must be safe.

They did not stay at Denchworth. It was while Amy was trying on the velvet dress that Anthony Forster and his wife arrived.

Amy, hearing their arrival and hoping it might be Robert, went down clad in her velvet. It hurt Pinto, who followed her, to see her disappointment.

Anthony Forster, whom Lord Robert had made his treasurer, had come for a purpose, Pinto surmised.

“My lord thinks,” he told Amy, “that you should not stay so long the guest of Mr. and Mistress Hyde. He would like you to remove to your own house; and as you so like this district he says you may go to Cumnor Place which, as you know, is not such a great distance from here. There you can live in state and entertain Lord Robert and his friends when they come to you.”

Amy, always eager for excitement, accepted the plan with enthusiasm. The idea of Robert’s bringing his friends for her to entertain had always attracted her. There would be something to do besides lie on her bed, eating sweetmeats, chattering to Pinto, and trying on her dresses.

Cumnor Place! Why, of course. It was a lovely old house, and Robert had leased it a few years ago from the Owens. It had been a monastery at one time, and had been given to the present Mr. Owen’s father by King Henry the Eighth for good services as the King’s physician. It was only a few miles from Denchworth, and about three or four from Abingdon.

She would prepare to go there at once; and when there she could entertain the Hydes as they had entertained her; then she would prepare for grander company—all the ladies and gentlemen whom Robert would bring from the Court.

Pinto seemed disturbed when she told her of the plans.

“Cumnor Place. You remember it, Pinto?”

Pinto did remember it. A lonely house, surrounded by trees, a tall house with views of the downs from the top windows. Pinto did not let her mistress see the shiver which ran through her.

“I remember it,” said Pinto.

“You do not seem to be eager to leave here. Have you become attached to Denchworth?”

“Mayhap I have. Who will go with us to Cumnor Place?”

“Mr. Anthony Forster and his wife will be there for a while to prepare for my husband. And I think that Mistress Owen will be there. She is much attached to the place, and Robert allowed her to stay. We shall not be lonely, you see.”

“And my lord … suggested this move?”

Why did suspicions leap to her mind? wondered Pinto. Cumnor Place was so lonely. His servants would be there—men and women who would not hesitate to do anything the future King of England demanded of them.

“Yes. It is my belief that he wishes to entertain his friends there. Oh, Pinto, the lonely days will be over. We shall have many guests to fill the house. I must have some new dresses.”

Pinto said on impulse: “Mistress Odingsells is very fond of you. Why not take her with us? She would be a pleasant companion for you, and you know how you hate to be alone. When you have not me to talk to, you will have her. And it will be doing her a good turn. Take her as your companion.”

“Why, I like that idea, Pinto. Yes. I shall take her as a companion.”

Pinto was glad. She could not get out of her mind the thought that it would be good for Amy to have as many friends as possible in lonely Cumnor Place.

The Queen was worried. She was wondering how much longer she could stave off a decision. It seemed that unless she acted quickly she would be forced into a position which she was determined not to accept.

There was war in Scotland. The Scottish Protestants were in revolt against the French, who, under the Dowager Queen of Scotland, Mary of Guise—mother of Mary Queen of Scots, who was now Queen of France—were taking too prominent a part in Scottish affairs. They determined to rid themselves of their Gallic masters, and in this Elizabeth must help them, for if the French gained possession of Scotland she would have a very powerful enemy on her borders.

Her ministers advised war, and she saw the wisdom of this. Philip of Spain was watching and hesitating according to his custom, not caring to throw in his lot with the French, yet, stern Catholic as he was, finding it impossible to aid the Protestants.

But when he saw how well the war was going for the Protestants, he ordered his ambassador to deliver an ultimatum. Unless the peace was made and kept, he declared, he must send aid to the Catholics. The Queen was in a panic. Philip must be held off at all costs, so she placated him by the only means at her disposal: she promised she would marry the man he wished her to—Archduke Charles.

Philip was well pleased, for if Charles should be King of England he foresaw the return of England to the Catholic fold; but he was beginning to know Elizabeth, and he would not be put off as he had previously been.

Plans, he commanded, should be made at once for the coming of the Archduke to England.

Robert and Elizabeth met secretly and alone.

“I am afraid of what may happen,” she told him. “With Charles here my hand may be forced.”