I began to sing. I was playing a tune which I loved: and I was playing for myself.
When I stopped I was aware of a silence around the table. I looked in the direction of my uncle, and I saw that the King was gazing straight at me. There was a glazed look in his eyes.
He spoke then. “’Twas well sung,” he said. “Who is the lady?”
My uncle replied: “She is Katherine Howard, Your Majesty.”
“Ha!” said the King with a laugh. “One of your brood, Norfolk, with such a name.”
“My niece, Sire.”
“Is she of the Court?”
“Lady-in-waiting to the Queen, Your Majesty.”
At the mention of the Queen’s name, the King’s expression darkened. Then he glanced at me and looked pleased again.
“Niece, eh?” he said.
“My brother Edmund’s daughter,” the Duke told him.
“Very pretty,” said the King, smiling directly at me.
“Your Majesty is gracious,” replied my uncle.
“’Tis but the truth, Norfolk. Methinks I should speak to her, compliment her on her singing.”
My uncle came round the table to where I was sitting.
“The King wishes to speak to you,” he said quietly. “Come.”
I followed him and, as I stood before the King, I felt my uncle’s hand on my shoulder, reminding me that I must make the most humble obeisance that I had ever made in my life.
I went down to the floor and was afraid I was going to lose my balance in doing so. I almost did, and was aware of my uncle’s annoyance.
But the King was smiling.
“Come, come,” he said. “Rise, my dear young lady.”
A hand shining with jewels took mine. I was drawn close to him and I was looking straight into that fleshy face; the little eyes were glinting.
“You are very young, Mistress Howard. Tell me, how many years have you graced this earth?”
“I am eighteen years old, Your Majesty.”
“Eighteen?” he said rather wistfully. “’Tis a goodly age, eh, Norfolk? You and I left it behind some time since.”
“Your Majesty is right.”
“I liked your song,” he said to me. “It is one of my favorites.”
Everyone applauded and there was laughter, in which the King joined.
“You sang it with feeling. Did she not?” He looked round the table.
“She sang it as it deserved to be sung, Your Majesty,” said someone.
“ ’Twas so indeed. You will sing for us again, Mistress Howard, and you shall sing that song. It would please me much to hear you.”
I was not quite sure what was expected of me, and I was blushing. My uncle was frowning, and I guessed he was urging me to say something.
I stammered: “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
My uncle’s obvious exasperation told me that I had failed to come up to his expectations.
“My niece has but recently come to Court,” he said. “She is nervous and overwhelmed by Your Majesty’s kindness. Your Majesty must forgive her lack …”
“Lack, Norfolk? I see no lack.” The King was glaring at my uncle and I could not suppress my pleasure at seeing him disconcerted. “I like well her manners,” went on the King, patting my hand and looking affable again.
He bent closer to me. “Heed him not.” Then he said loudly: “I would have Mistress Howard sit beside me. I would speak with her.”
The chair next to the King was immediately vacated and I began to feel a little less nervous. He was the King, and it was clear that they were all in great awe of him, even my formidable uncle, but he was very pleasant to me.
“Now,” he said. “You and I will talk. We will pay no attention to Norfolk’s carping. You and I understand each other, do we not, Mistress Howard?”
I giggled, lost for words, and again he did not object. In fact, he laughed with me.
“And you have recently come to my Court. I guessed that, for I have not seen you before, and if I had, I should have remembered you. Perhaps you would have remembered me?”
I knew that was a joke, because everyone would remember him and count it an experience to have seen him. So we laughed together over that.
There appeared to be no need to worry about making the courtly remark. The King did not seem to mind if I just acted naturally.
“Your singing pleased me greatly,” he went on. “You have a pretty voice, but methinks, Mistress Howard, that everything about you is enchanting.”
I did manage to murmur: “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Oh,” he said jocularly, “that is one blessing for which you do not have to thank your King. But let me tell you this, it pleases me. It pleases me indeed. I like to see freshly innocent young ladies about my Court, and you are that, Mistress Howard.”
I was very pleased to discover that I was not expected to say much. I merely had to listen to him, and laugh when he laughed and put in the occasional “Yes, Your Majesty,” to be varied with “Your Majesty is gracious.”
He talked a little about my family and how the Howards and the Tudors had been friends.
“For the most part,” he added. He remembered my father, who had done well at Flodden. He asked questions about me, which did not strike me as unusual.
I found myself talking naturally to him, and if I forgot to say “Your Majesty” or “Your Grace” all the time, that did not seem to matter. I told him that I had been brought up in my grandmother’s establishment and how poor we had been when I was very young. He listened and nodded sympathetically.
He kept me beside him for the rest of the evening and together we watched some dancers whom the Bishop had engaged for his entertainment.
As we took the barge back to Greenwich, I realized that people’s attitudes toward me had changed. They no longer regarded me as the insignificant newcomer, ignorant of the ways of the Court.
I had been favored by the King in an unmistakable manner.
The next day my uncle came to see me. That in itself was significant. Before I had always been summoned to see him.
“Your singing was a success,” he said almost grudgingly.
“The King liked it, did he not?” I replied.
“I fancy he liked more than your singing.”
I laughed. I had changed. I would not have dared laugh like that before in the Duke’s presence.
“You must not be foolish. You must act warily. You will be advised.”
I wondered what about.
“You are very ignorant of Court ways,” went on the Duke.
“The King liked that.”
“H’m.” He was thoughtful. “You must not be too … free with the King.” He looked at me with some exasperation. “You must not act in an unseemly fashion.”
I did not understand what he meant. I wondered how anyone would presume to act in an unseemly fashion toward that great and glittering creature.
“You are such a child,” he said quite irritably. “You are young, even for your years.”
I was silent, not knowing how to apologize for that.
“I shall speak to your grandmother. You may need new dresses … some jewelry.” He lifted his shoulders and frowned, as though he were puzzled. I think he found it difficult to understand not just why the King could have liked my playing so much, but more, that he had talked to me during the evening. “But it may come to naught,” he went on, as though to himself. “Just a whim of the moment. Bored with Gardiner’s efforts to entertain him. Perhaps wait awhile … and see.”