A Quiet Contemplation | Early Afternoon, Saturday 24th September 1678

[Sobriety]

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St. George’s Chapel

Part of Windsor Castle, this chapel was designed for the Most Noble Order of the Garter and was begun by Edward IV. It is one of the finest examples of the Perpendicular style of Gothic architecture in England. The chapel was built in two stages, the choir and its aisles being completed and roofed by 1483 and the nave by 1496, but the stone vaulting was not finished until 1528. Above the choir stalls hang the insignia of the Knights of the Garter, their swords, helmets, and banners; to the backs of the stalls are affixed their heraldic stall plates, forming a notable assemblage of heraldry from medieval times. The large west window with its late 15th-century stained glass and the painted roof bosses are among other remarkable features of the chapel.

Among the royalty buried within the chapel are Edward IV, Henry VI, Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, and Charles I.

There would be a great deal of activity on the morrow, when court witnessed the Christening of the Kingdom's new Prince, but for how St George's Chapel was quiet and contemplative, whether one wished to consider the intricately wrought furnishings or the grace of God. 

A gentleman in a fine black woolen justacorps was seated in one of the pews, blonde head bowed in silent prayer as the faintest of sounds echoed around the chapel. After a long moment of communing with the divine he sat back and opened hazel eyes to ponder the magnificence of the tall, stained glass windows as coloured light streamed through them and into the holy space. 

[Henry Grey]

As he opened his eyes, the gentleman would see that there was someone else in the chapel. A man of some fourty years, dressed in a fine navy blue and gray outfit. He seemed absorbed in the reading of a book, the Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church, authored by historian John Foxe. If anyone looked over the man's shoulder, they would see Henry was reading the chapter on Lady Jane Dudley, née Grey.

Any sound would make Lord Grey pause his reading and look up, trying to find the source.

[Sobriety]

As the gentleman in black regarded the fragile beauty of the stained glass meditatively, he heard the faint scrape of the turning of a page and automatically glanced in the sound's direction. It was hardly unusual to find others in the Chapel who wished to commune with the divine, or simply for a little peace and quiet, and the blonde gentleman certainly didn't expect to have it all to himself.

Still, it was courteous to respect the peace of others in the sanctity of the church and he rose as quietly as he might once his own observances were complete. Yet he was unable to prevent the slight scrape of the wooden pew on the fine, tiled floor as the heel of his boot pushed against it. He threw an apologetic glance at the other fellow, in case he had disturbed him.