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week had gone by, and much had been done to make ready.
Trunks had been packed; carts, wagons, and horses procured; and additional men
and women hired, to do all manner of work relating to the removal. Some goods
and furnishings had been sent ahead, so that the Manor might be prepared in
advance for the arrival of the King.
    Hadley’s
last trunk stood open on the floor of her bedchamber, and she stood beside it,
in her night clothes, gazing at a small key that rested in the palm of her
hand.
    As
Steward, Robin had always carried a large ring of keys, attached to the leather
belt around his waist. This ring had been taken from him by the King’s men ere
he was brought to the Tower. But, it appeared, there were several keys
concealed about his person as well. She and Tom Browne had been greatly
surprised when Robin doffed his left boot and shook out a thin silver wedge
that he said would open not only the gate to the kitchen garden, but the door
to his Majesty’s privy. It was ornately carved, this key. One could see at a
glance that it pertained to Court.
    The key
that Hadley held now was of plain iron. It came into her possession when she
was at the Tower. She had mounted her mule and was preparing to ride back to
Court, when Robin called her name. He crossed the distance between them in two
long strides, and grasped her small hand, cradling it for a moment within his
large one, before closing her fingers over a piece of hard metal.
     “Prithee
keep this to remember me by,” he said. “It was wont to ope the door to my
father’s shop.”
    Hadley
looked closely at the key. Two letters were faintly inscribed on its
kidney-shaped bow. “J…B,” she murmured.
    “My
father was called ‘John,’” said Robin.
    “And
his surname?”
    “If we
live to meet again, I shall tell thee…I would that thou had gone to
Wilgefortis.”
    He had bade her
farewell then, and turned away, his broad shoulders bent, and Hadley had heard
nothing of him since. Now, she doffed the light, climbed into bed, and placed
the key under her pillow, that her head might rest upon it. “I love thee well,
dear Robin,” she murmured, and then she slept.
    ~~~~
    She
awoke, with a start, at dawn, to shrieks and shouts and thundering footfalls.
She sat up quickly, but ere she could rise from her bed, the chamber door was
flung open, and Susannah burst in, cap askew. “His lordship’s knights!” gasped
the maid, running to the casement and throwing open the shutters.
    Hadley
arose and stumbled to the window. Mayhap Susannah had mistaken the matter.
Mayhap the King’s soldiers had returned.
    One
glance convinced her otherwise. The palace was rimmed by armored riders in
crimson-crested helmets, holding shields marked with his lordship’s
coat-of-arms. And behind the tier of mounted men was a vast horde of foot
soldiers that seemed to extend beyond the palace gates. How Lord Vardis had
come to command such a monstrous army, she could not know.
    She
clasped Susannah’s hand, and they stood together like sisters for a moment, ere
Hadley recollected that she must dress.
    “’Tis
strange,” she remarked, while the maid helped her into her gown, “That they do
not come within. Have they made no attempt to force the doors?”
    “Belike they wait
for his lordship,” said Susannah.
    ~~~~
    When
Hadley entered the Great Hall, she found it full of persons, yet strangely
quiet. As if by common consent, no one stood by a casement. The King sat, like
a statue, at the head of the long, empty table, and waved away his ministers
when they tried to speak to him. The courtiers clustered in corners, talking
quietly or not at all, their faces pale and frightened. The servants hovered
near the door and made no attempt to do their daily tasks. ‘Twas odd, Hadley
thought, to see Cook without a ladle.
    Hadley
went to her mother, and grasped her hands. “We are lost,” whispered the Queen.
    There
was a slight noise, and the Queen gasped. “’Tis naught,” Hadley