The Lady Elizabeth [antikvár]

chapter 1 1536 C3n a hot, still morning in July, the Lady Mary, daughter to King Henry the Eighth, arrived at the great country palace of Hatfield, trotting into the courtyard on a white palfrey followed by four gentlemen, two ladies-in-waiting, and a female fool. As soon as she had dismounted, she stooped to kiss the small girl who was waiting to greet her, whose nurse had just reminded her to sketch a wobbly curtsy to the older sister she had not seen for many months. The child was solemn-faced, fair-skinned, and freckled, with long tendrils of burnished red hair escaping from the embroidered white coif that was tied beneath her chin. "My, you have grown, sweeting!" Mary exclaimed in her gruff voice, stroking EUzabeth's hair and straightening her silver pendant. "You're nearly three now, aren't you?" Elizabeth stared back, unsure of this richly dressed lady with the sad face and skinny body. Mary was not beautiful like EUzabeth's mother: Mary had a snub nose and a downturned mouth, and although her hair was red like Ehzabeth's and their father's, it was thin