The Dark Lady's Mask Read Online Free PDF Page A

flesh.
    â€œMarry, I like her very much,” Angela said faintly.
    â€œShe is yours,” Lord Hunsdon said. “She even has an Italian name—Mirabella.”
    Angela appeared utterly baffled and looked to Papa, who stepped forward, placing himself between his step daughter and the Master of Hawks.
    â€œMy Lord Hunsdon, you honor us with your largess,” he said. “But I’m afraid Angela cannot accept such a gift. First, I would know what position she is to have in court that requires her to own such a bird. Has the Queen requested Angela’s service?”
    Lord Hunsdon spoke plainly. “Her Majesty has not. But under my patronage, Angela could rise far and so catch the Queen’s eye, insuring her position in the court.”
    Papa’s face hardened. “And what would my daughter do under your patronage?”
    Lord Hunsdon smiled. “I think you know exactly what I offer, Master Bassano. I’m quite infatuated with the girl and wish to share her company as long as it should be mutually pleasing to us both. Surely this would be advantageous to all parties. You and the girl shall both be richer for it. Your family shall gain influence at court.”
    Angela turned into a statue, her mouth a frozen O. Papa’s face went icy white as he clamped his lips together. Aemilia had never seen him more furious. She knew he was wrestling down his temper lest he unleash his fury and utter the words that would have him cast from his position and left without livelihood.
    â€œMy Lord Hunsdon,” he said at last. “No daughter of mine shall be a courtesan. With your gracious leave, we shall now depart.”
    Â 
    Shunning Lord Hunsdon’s coach, they boarded a wherry to Billingsgate then trudged all the way across London toward Norton Folgate. Aemilia’s head ached from trying to understand what she had witnessed. She had no clue what the word
courtesan
even meant.
    â€œHe was too old to marry Angela,” she said, unable to keep her mouth shut, but that only made her sister cry.
    â€œ
Silenzio,
” Papa said. “That man has a wife and twelve children already. It wasn’t
marriage
he proposed.” Then he spoke earnestly to Angela. “Henry Carey’s a Boleyn through and through. I should have expected no better. Those are the games the Boleyns have always played, whoring out their daughters to pave their way to glory. But those are not our ways.”
    Papa sighed and wrapped his arms around Aemilia and her sister as though he could shelter them forever. Cast his magical circle to keep them safe.

3

    EMILIA SOON CAME TO learn that Angela was terrified of becoming a fallen woman. As Aemilia struggled to decipher what that meant, she imagined her sister plummeting down from the sky like a hailstone.
If ever I fall, I pray Papa will catch me. Fly to me on his angel wings and raise me up again.
    A girl’s reputation was like a white linen sheet that must be kept immaculate, Angela informed her. If even the slightest smudge besmirched it, the best laundress in the world wouldn’t be able to get it completely clean again.
    Her sister’s dread of falling—falling all the way into hell—made her even more desperate for Francis Holland. She longed to become his wife as speedily as possible. Only then could she rest easy, she said, and be safe within her husband’s protection. Though Papa warned her to keep her head and not rush, Mother took her side and hastened things along by dropping bolder and bolder hints to Master Holland until, as if in answer to Mother’s and Angela’s prayers, he presented Aemilia’s sister with a golden ring.
    Mother rejoiced to see Angela so respectably matched. Master Holland had read law at Balliol in Oxford and bore the title Esquire. As a youngest son, he had received only a modest bequest from his family, yet he claimed great prospects. Many an enterprising man made his fortune buying and