Page 42 of Love, Remember Me

"This will be the last time he does so," the earl replied quietly. He loved his grandfather, but this was really too much. Sweet Nyssa knew not that much of the blame for his alleged rape of her would fall on her slender shoulders despite her reputation for virtue.

"I hate him!" she declared vehemently. "He is a wicked man!"

"But what other explanation could have been given for our sudden marriage, Nyssa?" he asked her. "We have hardly spoken to each other until last night. There was, I fear, no other way. I apologize for the pain and embarrassment it will cause you."

"Could he not have said seduced? I should rather be thought a foolish maid than you be called a villain.Why rape? It is disgusting, my lord! It makes you out to be an evil man, and I think you may not be one!" she cried. She was so confused! "Could we not have kept the marriage a secret from everyone for now? Would that not have been better? It was, after all, important only to the king," Nyssa said.

"What if our coming together last night produces a child? How would you explain your condition, Nyssa? It is better that our marriage be known. I will have no stain of bastardy on our firstborn." He tipped her face to his and kissed her lightly. "Now get up, madame."

"I have no clothing, my lord. I will need Tillie," she said.

"Tillie?"

"My tiring woman. You must send for her to bring me clothes," Nyssa told him.

"Wrap yourself in the coverlet for now," he said. "I need the bottom sheet from our bed for the king."

"Why?" she demanded of him, but she arose from the bed and carefully wrapped herself in the coverlet as he had advised her.

The earl pulled the top sheet away and pointed. "There, Nyssa, is the king's proof. The blood of your maidenhead staining the sheet." He yanked it off the bed. Going to the chamber door, he opened it and handed the bedcloth to his grandfather without a single word. Then he shut the door firmly and turned to his wife. "I will send my man Toby for your servant. Will she be in that small room the servants for the queen's ladies inhabit? What does she look like?"

"She is brown-eyed with a single flaxen plait, small of stature, and just my age," Nyssa told him. "Oh, please be certain that your Toby is discreet! There will be scandal enough, I fear."

The earl called for his own servant and instructed him most carefully. "I married this lady last night," he explained to the surprised Toby. "Do not believe the gossip you will hear as to why. Now go, and fetch my lady's tiring woman. Her name is Tillie." He described her.

"Tell her to bring me my clothes for today," Nyssa said to Toby. "I must attend the queen, and I can go nowhere until I have clothing."

"Yes, m'lady," Toby said, keeping his eyes well-averted from the beautiful girl wrapped in the coverlet. It was just all too much for him. He hurried off to find the woman called Tillie.

She, at first, did not believe the young man's story. "My mistress is in the Maidens' Chamber where she belongs," she said firmly.

"No, she ain't," Toby said low, struggling to keep his voice down. "She is in my master's bedchamber wrapped in a coverlet. She can't come out without her clothes, and says you are to fetch them to her. If you don't believe me, go and see for yourself, miss. I ain't much for jesting, as anyone who knows Toby Smythe will tell you. Look in the Maidens' Chamber if you will. Your lady ain't there."

Tillie did just that, and not seeing Nyssa about anywhere, ran to the little storage room where the maids of honor were allowed to keep their clothing. Quickly she gathered the garments needed, and also snatched up a hairbrush and shoes. "All right," she said to Toby. "Where do we go? And if I find you've made a fool of me, laddie, I'll see your master punishes you, and I'll get in a few smacks myself."

"You're a feisty one," he replied with a grin. "Follow me."

Tillie's eyes widened as they entered the Duke of Norfolk's apartments, but she said nothing. Toby knocked at a paneled door, and when it was opened, he waved Tillie through. She hurried past him, relief suffusing her features as she saw Nyssa. "Oh, m'lady! What has happened? Why are you here instead of in the Maidens' Chamber?"

"I am a married woman, Tillie," Nyssa said quietly. "Put down my clothing and send Toby to fetch some water for my bath. I will tell you everything, but I must reach the queen before the gossip does, if possible."

When Tillie had sent Toby off to do her bidding, she sat, at her mistress's insistence, upon the bed, listening while Nyssa told her the truth of what had transpired. A simple country woman, Tillie was shocked by the scheme fostered by the Duke of Norfolk, but she was relieved that Nyssa had told her of it. It would be easier to deal with the gossip knowing the real facts of the matter. She agreed to keep secret what Nyssa had said, fully understanding the necessity of it, for she was not a stupid girl.

"Yer mama and papa are going to be very angry," she noted when her mistress had finally concluded her tale. "They won't like it one bit that you've been forced into this marriage. I know they always promised you that you could make your own choice of a husband. I don't see how you can get out of it, though, the archbishop himself having performed the ceremony." She sighed, but then asked, "What is yer bridegroom like, m'lady? Is he handsome? They say he's a real devil with the ladies. At least," she amended, "that's the talk amongst the upper servants, but most of what they say is so much tittle-tattle, I find."

Nyssa thought a moment, and then said, "I do not know. Much about him is wrapped in gossip and dark innuendo. He has been kind to me, but I am not certain yet that I can trust him. Time will tell us that."

"Where are we going to live?" the practical servant asked.

"We will remain at court for the present," her lady said, "but you will be happy to learn that the earl's home is just across the river from my house at Riverside. We'll still be near our families and friends, Tillie. I think we will depart court in just a few more weeks. Lord de Winter prefers the country, he tells me."

"Well," Tillie pronounced, "he can't be too bad then, no matter what the others say about him."

Toby entered, struggling beneath the weight of a wooden tub. "Where do you want it, then?" he demanded of Tillie.

"By the fire, you dolt," she snapped at him. "Where else would I want it? Is my lady to catch her death of cold?"

"Yer pretty as a summer's day, miss," he told her, "but yer as mean as they come, I'm thinking." He plunked the tub down with a thump. "I'll be fetching the water now."

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