To Ruin A Queen: An Ursula Blanchard Mystery at Queen Elizabeth I's Court Read Online Free PDF

frantic.”
    “I feared you would be. I’m sorry. Yes, there’s news.” Rob smiled and I saw that his expression was both cheerful and tranquil. “Put your mind at rest and come indoors.”
    “She’s safe?” Relief weakened my knees, so muchso that for a moment the whole courtyard spun. I must have gone white because Rob looked at me in concern and took hold of my arm.
    “Steady, now. Meg is all right. I promise. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”
    “But where is she? Is she here? What happened?”
    “She’s not here but she’s perfectly safe and you can go to her soon. Have you dined? No?” Dale was shaking her head. “Brockley, leave the horses to my grooms, take Dale to the kitchens, and ask for some food for the two of you. Come inside, Ursula. A meal will be brought to you and you shall eat while I talk.”
    “But where is Meg?” I let Rob lead me up the porch steps and steer me into a parlor, but I would not stop asking questions. “If you’ve found her, why isn’t she here? What is all this? And where’s Mattie?”
    “My wife is with Meg.” A maid appeared to take my cloak, and someone else arrived with a tray of wine. Rob barked some orders to a hovering butler, concerning food. Then he steered me to a settle, poured a glass of wine, and offered it to me. Impatiently, I put it aside. “Rob,” I said, “I mean, Master Henderson …”
    “We know each other well enough to be Rob and Ursula, even if we haven’t met these two years past. Meg is with Mattie and with her nurse, Bridget. She is safe and well. She’s growing into as bonny a wench as I ever saw and when you see her, you’ll think so too. But she’s not at Thamesbank,” said Rob. “She’s in Herefordshire. To be precise, she’s near the Welsh border, at a place called Vetch Castle, a few miles west of the Malvern Hills.”
    “Rob, I’ve never heard of the Malvern Hills or ofVetch Castle. What is Meg doing there? How did she get there? Who took her and why?”
    “Drink some wine, Ursula. … On the day they vanished, Meg and her nurse were taken quietly from Thamesbank before dawn. They stayed for a few days in a comfortable household until Brockley and Dale gave up hope of finding them, and set out for France to fetch you.”
    “What?”
    Rob picked up my right hand and my wineglass and firmly wrapped my fingers around the stem. “Take a good long draft of that, and don’t agitate yourself so. … As soon as Brockley and Dale had gone, Mattie set out with Lady Mortimer, who was our guest at the time, and who also happens to be the chatelaine of Vetch Castle, until such time as her son marries. They joined Bridget and Meg and then they all went, well escorted, to Herefordshire. Meg supposes herself to be on a visit. Mattie and Bridget are with her; she hasn’t been frightened or upset in any way. She …”
    “But why? What’s it all about … ?” I saw him looking at me quizzically. “It was to get me back to England, wasn’t it? Rob, how could you? How could Mattie? Brockley told me that when Meg vanished, Mattie was so distraught she shut herself in her room. Was all that a mere performance? In God’s name, why? No, don’t tell me. This is some scheme of Cecil’s, isn’t it? Bloody Cecil—I might have known!”
    “He is a good man, Ursula. No queen ever had a more trustworthy Secretary of State. Which means, of course, that at times he puts his loyalty to her first—aheadof other things and other people. Are you not wise enough to understand that?”
    “Yes, I am. I understood it some time ago,” I said grimly. I gulped some of the wine as bidden, feeling the need of it. “But this!” I said. “Am I wanted back in England for some particular purpose? Does the queen want me, or is it just Cecil?”
    “This request didn’t come originally from either of them,” Rob said. “As a matter of fact, it came from Lady Mortimer. But it concerns the queen; most certainly it does. And for the moment,