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One morning—surely as crisp and heartening a day as could be desired for such a purpose—the Queen’s Majesty went to Eltham in Kent to hunt. My Lady Jane and my Lady Catherine stayed behind. When all was quiet they left the Palace (Westminster) “by the stairs at the orchard” and strolled quietly “along the sands.” Those sands led to the Earl of Hertford’s house in “Chanon Row.” He was waiting for his lady; he did not even leave her to call the priest. That was the Lady Jane’s errand. There is something very delightful about this incident, and the steady chaperon’s part undertaken by the Earl’s sister. The priest came, the wedding took place. After the brief ceremony there could not be much dalliance or entertainment. It was not yet the time to give the secret to the world. The ladies must reach the Palace again before hue and cry could be raised. They did not go back by “the sands,” probably because the tide had risen. They went back by boat. The Earl did not accompany them. But he led his bride and his sister to the boat which waited for them at the foot of the water-stairs of his house. He assisted them in—it must have been very hard to let go the hand of the woman so newly pledged to him—and the shallop went quietly on its way and delivered its fair passengers at the Palace stairs without exciting comment. A little later the two ladies were demurely seated at dinner “in Master Comptroller’s chamber.” Probably neither of them played that evening much of a table part.