Chapter Seven: Smiling Back

"It was you, Sir Thomas More! You ordered the monks to dig into the marsh by St. Dunstan's Well. You found the ancient bones, and unearthed the furry ice-age beasts from before time. You brought the curse of the giant ice elephants upon England!"

"No! No!" The hawk-faced clergyman with the gold chain around his neck reeled back, surrounded on all sides by accusing faces. "I know nothing of ancient beasts . . . I never read the parchments that were buried in the marsh! Your Majesty, I beg you, silence the golden-haired girl who cannot keep away from boys!"

BRRRAAAAUUUGGH!

The trumpeting of the beasts as they trampled the false chancellor filled the air. The big, furry ice elephants came thundering from all sides, crushing the enemies of the Boleyn family. Suddenly Mary Boleyn was riding on top of one of the elephants, and everyone was cheering . . .

"Wake up, my child. Wake up!"

"Huh?" Mary Boleyn opened her eyes, looking up into the stern and frowning face of the Queen of England. Unexpectedly, Katherine of Aragon kissed her forehead and smiled.

"I would gladly let you sleep, my child. You have pleased me very much and truly earned a good rest in my bed. But as queen I must go and hear the complaints of the local nobility."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Mary sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. She blushed to remember how the queen had worn her out the night before, pretending that Mary was a boy and even encouraging her to put on a page's borrowed breeches and boots. The games they played were exciting, but exhausting too.

Queen Katherine gazed at the girl in her bed, a soft look on her worn and kindly features. "Better you should be with me, Mary Boleyn, than getting into mischief with the local boys! How will you make an aristocratic marriage if you have the reputation of a girl who sleeps with any boy who looks her way?"

"I'm not like that, not really," Mary said, looking down at the bed sheets. "I've changed, Your Majesty, really I have."

"I know," Queen Katherine said quietly. "I've changed too."

As she sat in the stuffy council chamber with the queen, listening to the droning voices of the nobility and trying to look very serious and solemn, Mary found herself thinking back on the dream she'd had that morning. What on earth did it mean? What sort of elephants had thick fur all over, and how on earth did they come to be trampling down Sir Thomas More?

Most of the nobles in the chamber were old men, wrinkled and gray. They all seemed to want something from Queen Katherine, more money or more land or whatever. They paid no attention to Mary sitting quietly by the queen's side. But there was one young man with fresh, rosy cheeks and merry brown eyes who kept looking her way and smiling. Mary tried to ignore him at first, but as the afternoon dragged on and on it was hard to keep her mind on the procedures. The most attractive man in the room was looking at her every time she looked his way. Every time she turned around he was smiling at her.

Mary felt like a fool, looking back at him. It was only that she couldn't help it. And when he smiled, she couldn't help smiling back.