I had been in the convent for a few years when one morning, just after Prime, the abbess summoned me to her rooms. Part of me did not want to go, for I suspected the news she had to tell me was not good, but I forced one foot in front of the other until I finally stood before her. I knew that how I presented myself was very important; I could not show any emotion.

“Please, take a seat,” she told me. She seemed unable to meet my eye for a short period of time, then her instincts as a member of the de Guise family took over, and she raised her head to meet my gaze. “I have had news from England,” she said. A shiver ran down my spine at this; we had been waiting for news from England for some months, ever since the last plot had been uncovered.

“I a...

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