Summary

Ned walks one hundred miles to Hatfield, collecting as much information as he can from the groups he travels with. He stays in cramped lodgings on the way there, but enjoys the conversation of the students. However, Ned is worried that Cecil may reject him at the palace and he would have nowhere to go. At Oxford, he stays at Kingsbridge College, and he struggles to find companions from Oxford to Hatfield as many were going to London. He enjoys his time at the university, and wonders if he would have learned important skills had he attended. Four days later, he joins a group of pilgrims to St. Albans. Once there, he walks alone the last seven miles to Hatfield. Hatfield Palace was seized by King Henry VIII years before, and Elizabeth had lived there for most of her childhood. Queen Mary Tudor...