Threads of Silk by Linda Lee Chaikin

pronounced lines of concern around her eyes. Andelot felt a flash of anger. The cardinal and Queen Mother had upset and wearied her with their badgering questions about Sebastien’s escape.
    “I have unsettling news, Andelot.”
    “Yes, Madame. Cardinal de Lorraine has already spoken to me about Comte Sebastien.”
    There was a flicker of sympathy in her eyes. “I am aware that Sebastien’s departure must sadden you.”
    “Indeed, Madame. Even so, I am not altogether disappointed after his suffering in the Bastille.”
    She nodded understanding. “And as a member of the Queen Mother’s inner council, Sebastien was subject to her daily scrutiny. Now I am con cerned because the roads are under watch, and traveling with two young women and a bébé makes him vulnerable.”
    “Unless they are in disguise.”
    “Even so, Andelot, if they went to Calais to catch a ship, spies will be abundant.” She looked at him with thoughtful concern and lifted a lettre. “Marquis Fabien has returned to France and docked his ship in Calais.”
    Andelot felt a surge of enthusiasm. “Marquis Fabien in France?”
    “He is. At Vendôme. And Mademoiselle Rachelle is with him.”
    Confused, he glanced at the lettre. “But I had been told, Madame, that from England he’d voyage on to Fort Caroline in Florida. He was most adamant in pursuing his plans to strike a blow to Spain.”
    “I had more in mind than Sebastien when I mentioned unsettling news. I am concerned about Marquis Fabien. The Duc of Alva is soon to arrive. It was his galleon, I believe, that the marquis sank. My own spies at court report that the Queen Mother has lured the marquis back to France with a plan involving Rachelle.”
    Andelot’s dismay grew as the duchesse explained the Queen Mother’s threat to marry Rachelle to Comte Maurice.
    So that was why Fabien had not sailed to Florida. “But surely it will do the Queen Mother little good to turn the marquis over to Spain.”
    “She has another plan in mind. But while the Queen Mother may have had no wish in the beginning to relinquish him to Spain, the Duc of Alva will have other ideas. The marquis must be warned of this new danger.”
    “By all means, Madame! And the marquis and the mademoiselle are even now at his estate in Vendôme?”
    “Yes. I received this a short time ago.”
    He took the lettre she handed to him and read.
Madame, with the Queen Mother’s threat to marry Rachelle to my cousin Comte Maurice, it is wise that Rachelle find refuge in England. I have made plans to take her there, but the roads to Calais will be watched because of Sebastien’s escape. Also, by now I have no doubt Catherine knows I am here at Vendôme with Rachelle. Our time is limited and any delays place Rachelle’s future, and mine, in danger of ruin. Therefore, Madame, we have decided our love for one another is great enough to risk all in marriage. This is an urgent necessity to safeguard her from royal plots and to foil the comte in his selfish endeavors. Can you agree to this, and will you send your permission by lettre tout de suite?
    Au revoir,
    Marquis Jean-Louis Fabien
    de Vendôme of the house of
    Bourbon
    It took Andelot a minute to look up from the correspondence to meet her gaze.
    “It was always the marquis,” he said. “I knew that. Mademoiselle Rachelle looked upon me as an ami, a cousin, Madame.”
    She nodded in silence.
    “I have naught but respect for Marquis Fabien,” she said. “But I should have more peace in this matter of marriage if Pasteur Bertrand were here. He knows the marquis, as you do, Andelot. What is your opinion of his faith in the crucial doctrines of Christianity?”
    Andelot hesitated, realizing his answer could influence the outcome of Fabien’s marriage.
    “Madame, I met Marquis Fabien for the first time at the Louvre when he was sixteen. He came to my aid then and always has. As you know, it is he who privately arranged for my schooling with Scholar Thauvet. I owe him my