Unaware of my presence, they talk privily, those two, and she giggles, then Ned bows and goes on his way, leaving her flushed and smiling to herself. How could he? It is not to be borne! Have I waited these long years for Ned, only—with marriage at last in our sights—for him to forsake me for that trollop Mewtas? Grief and rage burning within me, I race back into the palace, forgetting all decorum and not caring who sees me looking flustered and dismayed, and hasten in search of Jane Seymour. She will know how to deal with her faithless brother! She wants this marriage as much as I do. I find her in her closet off the maidens’ dorter, and Ned with her. They both stare at me, so wild I appear. “How dare you?” I rail at him. “I saw you making advances to Mistress Mewtas just now. Don’t try to deny it! I suppose this is why you will not commit to marrying me.” Ned looks horrified. Covering the distance between us in two paces, he grasps my shoulders and looks fiercely into my eyes.
