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anniversaire,
Madame Marie,” she said. Then she added in a whisper, “You did beautifully, Marie. Have no worries about the dauphin.”
    But, of course, I did.

II. As Though We Had Known Each Other All Our Lives

    L IFE IN THE F RENCH COURT was unlike anything I had known in Scotland. Though I was schooled in the language and manners of my new country, the most important lessons were not taught but learned by observing. I saw that one might have a great title and still have very little power, and that the reverse was also true. Young as I was, I discovered that power was important to me, and I felt sure that someday I would know how to use it. I did not consider that I might also lose it.

Chapter 6
King Henri II

    T HE KING’S PORTRAIT hung in the great hall at Saint-Germain, brought from Carriéres-sur-Seine when the court moved, and so I already knew what he looked like. King Henri II was tall and slender and had a long, narrow face with a neatly trimmed brown beard and sad eyes. The king knew what I looked like too: soon after my arrival in France he had ordered drawings to be made of his children, including me, and he had had them sent to him while he was traveling in Italy.
    We awaited his arrival with growing excitement.
    Late one afternoon the king and his gentlemen, all mounted on handsome horses in rich trappings of bright silk and gold, rode into the courtyard heralded by trumpeters. We hurried out to welcome him.
    King Henri dismounted and strode toward the great hall, looking exactly like his portrait. He first greeted his son, the dauphin, and then turned to me. “Ah,
ma petite reine,
Marie!” he cried, holding out his arms to me, just as my dear grandfather had done, and I eagerly accepted his warm embrace.
    Minutes later, in the great hall, the dauphin and his two sisters and I crowded around the king, the two girls on his lap and François at his feet, all of them chattering at once. Claude reached up to stroke her father’s silky beard. I stood near his shoulder, speaking only when he spoke to me. Queen Catherine looked on fondly, but I noticed that the king had offered the queen only the most casual greeting. Later, when his children had climbed down from his knees, he made a courtly bow to Lady Fleming, who blushed rosily, and then left the hall in the company of Diane de Poitiers. We did not see the king or the duchess again until dinner the next day
    ***
    Not long after the king returned from his journey, my uncle François, my mother’s brother, married Anne d’Este, the daughter of an Italian duke and the granddaughter of Louis XII, an earlier king of France. I had attended weddings before, but Lady Fleming assured me this one would be different from any other.
    â€œIt will be the grandest affair you have ever seen!” she said. “I hear that King Henri has spared no expense for this wedding. Diplomats from all over the Continent will be among the guests. And you will have an important part in it, Marie.”
    â€œDancing with the dauphin?” I asked, dreading the answer.
    â€œAye, Marie. Remember, the whole world will be watching.”
    I had not forgotten.
    Since my birthday celebration, Madame de Poitiers had insisted that the dauphin and I practice every morning and again in the afternoon. My grandmother had ordered me a new gown with embroidered sleeves and rows of glittering gems stitched to the hem. I was given several more gowns to wear at other events before and after the wedding. I loved the gowns and tried to put the dancing test out of my mind.
    I took an immediate liking to my uncle’s seventeen-year-old bride, but my grandmother was somewhat critical of her. “I would have hoped for someone more beautiful. Have you noticed her chin?” said Grand-Mère. “She
does
look healthy enough, and her dowry
is
quite large. She will no doubt provide us with the necessary sons.” My grandmother added, sighing,