CHAPTER 22I rose before dawn — which was easy because I had not slept all night — dressed myself and crept across to the kitchens, where I stepped over the recumbent bodies until I found Lise wrapped in the arms of the muscular servitor who was her latest conquest. Very rarely did she sleep in my quarters.
I shook her urgently. The servitor groaned. Lise sat up with a jolt.
“Hush,” I said as her mouth opened. Taking her hand, I put the letter into it. “You will tell my mother, should she ask, that I have gone out for the day and that I shall return for supper. You don’t know where I have gone. You will give them this in the evening — not before. Do you understand?”
She gave several nods, talking urgently at the same time. “But lady, where are you going? May I not come with you?”
I smil
