While in London she had purchased several bolts of fabric to have garments made for her, and Cecily cooed over them with delight. Mirabella went through the motions of helping her plan the baby’s new wardrobe, and as time placed itself between her and the life she had once known she found herself falling into a sort of routine. Mornings were spent with the children; the afternoons she passed sewing with Cecily. The evenings were hers, devoted to prayer and contemplation. When the weather was pleasant, Mirabella went riding with her father or called on his tenants, that she might see to their needs. In this she felt she was at least fulfilling her charitable obligation, and she took to mending clothes for them and caring for their sick, finding the much-needed solace of a purpose. Of the rebellion, not a word was said, not even when Robert Aske was hung outside of York Castle in chains, a grisly illustration of what became of “traitors.” This and any other horrors remained unspoken.
