Elizabeth and Robin entered her private sitting room where Rodney and Steppingstone sat at her conference table. They immediately jumped to their feet.
“Good. Both of you are here,” Elizabeth announced with satisfaction. Lord Boniface will join us shortly.” Elizabeth sat at the head of the table and turned her attention to Rodney. “Now, young Broadshoulders, what is this news of a Spanish threat?”
Steppingstone stood between Rodney and the Queen. “Spanish threat?”
“Ssh,” she shushed him. “Go on, young man.”
Rodney tapped Steppingstone on the shoulder. “If you don’t mind.”
The lord begrudgingly gave ground. “How rude!”
“Upon his deathbed, my father gave me this letter.” He pulled it out of his doublet. “It tells of high treason in your court, your Majesty!”
“I find that hard to believe,” Steppingstone interrupted disdainfully, trying to grab the letter out of Rodney’s beefy hand.
Elizabeth plucks it away. “When it comes to treason I’m willing to believe the worst.”
“My father writes in that letter that he found another letter on the grounds outside the palace,” Rodney explained. “It’s to King Phillip and speaks of plans to kidnap your Highness on the eve of a massive sea invasion.”
Steppingstone tried again to snatch the letter. “Ridiculous!”
“Where is the letter your father, Sir Boris, found on the ground?” she asked.
“Unfortunately, he became so enraged he tore it into pieces before he realized he needed it for proof.” Rodney blushed. “He immediately wrote this letter to me so he would not forget any of the details, including the name of the traitor.”
The Queen examined the ragged bottom of the letter. “And what happened here?”
“Being my father’s son and therefore a man of high passion and rash action, I tore the letter apart before reading who the traitor was.”
“And what, pray tell, happened to the bottom of the letter?” Elizabeth closed her eyes in an attempt to maintain her Royal composure.
“A pigeon swooped down and flew away with it before I could retrieve it,” Rodney reluctantly explained. “But the pigeon had already pooped on it, rendering it impossible to read.”
“And your father did not disclose the contents of the letter to you before he died?” Robin asked.
“He could not speak. It was with a trembling hand he handed the letter to me before his last breath.”
“A likely story!” Steppingstone eyed Rodney with suspicion.
“What do you mean?” Robin retorted in defense of the young soldier.
“It’s obvious young Broadshoulders found a letter among his father’s effects after the funeral. Upon reading the letter from his own father to King Phillip, he tore it up, wrote another letter copying his father’s handwriting and tore off the bottom.”
“That’s a lie!”
“I think this whole affair requires an official investigation before any more wild allegations are flung at the character of Sir Boris Broadshoulders,” Robin insisted.
“I agree,” Steppingstone said, “and the investigation should begin with the house of Broadshoulders!”
“It will not!” Elizabeth boomed imperiously. Sir Boris Broadshoulders was a loyal soldier. I will not see his memory besmirched by an uncalled-for investigation.”
“Thank you, your Majesty.” Rodney bowed deeply.
“This rush to protect the name of Broadshoulders is highly suspicious,” Steppingstone continued his attack.
“I’ll knock your block off.” Rodney glared menacingly.
Robin grabbed him by his broad shoulders and pulled him back. “Whoa, boy, calm down.”
“Rodney Broadshoulders! Cease and desist this very moment!” the Queen ordered.
Rodney wriggled loose from Robin’s clutches. “But your Majesty—“
“Enough!” This was loud enough to ring through the entire palace. “Leave my presence!”
“I’m sorry, your Majesty.” He hung his head in shame.
Elizabeth could not stay angry long with a young man so handsome. “You are young, and sometimes youth fatigues the old.” She smiled wearily. “Leave.”
As Rodney left her chambers, Steppingstone remonstrated, “Surely you don’t believe this fantastical story, your Majesty!”
“You do not know the Broadshoulders clan as I do, Lord Steppingstone,” she intoned. “Unfortunately, it all makes perfect sense.”
“It’s perfect nonsense.” The Lord High Chamberlain did not retreat from his righteous indignation. “You actually believe him?”
“I believe no one,” she replied with a raised eyebrow, leaving open a wide-ranging interpretation of her comments. “I only believe facts, and at this time I have no facts.”
Steppingstone raised his chin. “The facts speak for themselves.”
“It seems to me you are speaking for the facts.” The Earl of Leicester raised one of his own bushy eyebrows.
“Well said, Robin,” Elizabeth sweetly observed.
Before Steppingstone could protest any further, Lord Boniface entered the Queen’s chamber.
“Ah, Lord Boniface, you have finally arrived. We have received shocking news.” She handed the letter to him. “Look at this.”
Boniface held the letter as far away as his arm would allow and read it. He then looked directly into Elizabeth’s eyes. “Obviously a fake.”
“Why?” the Queen asked.
“You are too brilliant to allow a spy in your court.” Boniface returned the letter to her.
“Pretty words, but are they wise?” she questioned.
“As wise as you are beautiful,” he announced with charm.
Steppingstone, given time to recover his senses, re-entered the fray. “I say the boy tore the signature off the letter to protect his father Sir Boris.”
“Boris Broadshoulders was too dumb to be a traitor,” Boniface replied with a smirk.
“And that goes double for the son,” Robin said in agreement.
“Robin?”
“Yes, your Majesty?”
“Bend down.”
“Yes, your Majesty.”
Robin followed her orders and lowered his smiling face, and she promptly slapped that silly grin right off his lips.