How It All Goes Down
Summer 1532
- Mary returns to Hever, but she declines William Stafford's offer to escort her.
- Mary is upset with William Stafford for "treating [her] like a fool while all along he was planning to marry someone else" (33.4).
- Mary has a nice summer in Hever and is startled when William Stafford is the escort sent to bring her back to court. He has no idea why she's mad at him.
- Mary says it's because William was off buying a house so that he could marry some girl.
- William says, "You're the girl" (33.48), dummy.
- William and Mary smooch, and Mary fantasizes about living her dream as a nobody on a farm. Ah, the simple life.
- Nothing is simple with Anne Boleyn as a sister, though.
- Back at court, Anne wants Mary to purchase some fancy new gowns.
- The court will be traveling to Calais, and Anne wants to impress the French.
- Anne is confident that Henry will soon make her his wife. It's sure taking him long enough.
- The next morning, in the stable yard, William Stafford tells Mary that he must marry her.
- Mary worries about the repercussions she'll face from her family, though, and she rides away without answering yes. That's humiliating.