Patrick Leslie, the first Earl of Glenkirk asked his friend Lord Grey. “Who is who?” “The woman who sits on the footstool at the queen’s right side,” the earl answered his friend. “Ahh,” Lord Grey said, understanding at last. “The lady with the auburn hair in the green gown. She is the queen’s childhood friend, the lady of Friarsgate, come from England at the queen’s invitation. She is lovely, isn’t she? She spent a night at my home on her way to court, but I was not there, of course.” “I would meet her,” the earl said. “What?” Lord Grey chuckled. “You have shown no interest in a respectable woman in over twenty years, Patrick. And you could be her father,” he teased. “Fortunately I am not her father,” the earl replied, a faint smile touching his lips. “Can you introduce us, Andrew?” “I have not yet myself been introduced,”
