The Bloodless Boy (41 page)

Observation LXIV
Of Conclusion

The snow fell thickly, covering the quadrangle, the wind blowing it against the walls of Gresham’s College, flakes sticking to the windows, working their way in between the bricks.

Harry stood with Grace, her fingers squeezing his hand rhythmically, as if sending him a message, and to the other side of him was Robert Hooke, a drop of liquid gathering at the tip of his long nose.

They huddled around a brazier, set up in the quadrangle; the papers curled, and scorched, and burned.

Harry committed to his memory the smell of the burning paper and ink.

Colonel Fields, in his tattered buff coat, patched where it had grown thin, also watched with them, witnessing the burning of the
Observations
, thinking of his friend Reuben Creed, of whom he could never think without the picture of him swinging slowly from a rope coming into his mind, and Thomas Whitcombe, of whom he could not remember without bringing his hand up to his scar, where Whitcombe had sewn his flesh together over his skull.

Behind them waited a black coach, its driver in a woollen coat holding the reins of four black horses, shiny from the moisture in the air.

Lord Shaftesbury stood by it, looking pale, his face wet with tears. With him was Frances Teresa Stewart, wearing black, whose image was known throughout the nation as Britannia.

Hortense Mancini, Duchesse de Mazarin, who many believed to be the most beautiful woman in the land, and Anne Lennard, Countess of Sussex, the King’s daughter, conceived upon the night of his Coronation, also watched there, standing hand in hand. They were dressed in their sea-green coats, a colour striking against the whiteness of the new snow.

They had sought the body of the boy for Frances, and reclaimed it from the men of the New Philosophy.

Long after Harry had put the last of the
Observations
into the brazier, and gone into the warmth of Gresham College, with Robert and Grace Hooke, and his new friend the Colonel, the remaining quartet continued to watch the flames. As the flames at last began to die down, they turned and stepped up into the Earl’s carriage.

On Bishopsgate Street, a man sheltered in a doorway. He was wrapped warmly against the bitter chill. His face was hidden; his hat and scarf left only his eyes showing. His trembling hands betrayed his age, as he watched the carriage go by him.

The horses slowly moved off, the sound of their hooves muffled, out into London.

END

Author’s Note

I have attempted to bring characters back to life. I have also created characters.

Events of 1677 and 1678 have been compressed into a busy January.

I have used events recorded in Robert Hooke’s diary, such as the death of Tom Gyles from smallpox (at first thought to be measles), the fall of a pickpocket from the ‘fish street pillar’, Grace Hooke’s engagements, Hooke’s campaign to replace Henry Oldenburg as the Secretary of the Royal Society, and Harry Hunt’s cataloguing of Oldenburg’s correspondences after the Secretary’s death.

Henry Oldenburg’s suicide, and the disguising of it, are my invention.

The Earl of Shaftesbury’s influence in the Popish Plot, and therefore of his Secretary, John Locke, I have placed more centrally than history usually allows.

There is some debate concerning an illegitimate child of Frances Stewart’s. This is usually thought to be a girl, rather than a boy. Her relationship with the Earl of Shaftesbury is fictitious.

Thomas Whitcombe’s
Observations
are organised in a very similar way to John Locke’s
Animadversions
.

William Walwyn’s words are his, but edited.

Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey’s body was found on Primrose Hill, rather than on the Morice waterwheel.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgements and thanks are very due to those who read versions of the manuscript, reacted, advised, and encouraged: Caroline Davidson, Sharon Gregory, Grace Hancock, Victoria Kwee, Rob Little, Sonia Little, Geoff Lloyd, John Lloyd (my father – I miss him), Mark Skinner, Richard Torr, and Jenny Verney.

They are also due to Sonia Land and Gaia Banks at Sheil Land Associates. Gaia spotted the original submission, requested the rest, suggested many changes, and she has championed the book with astonishing energy and attention. I am extremely grateful to her, and rather in awe of her professionalism.

To all at Peach Publishing.

Finally, thank you Kate, my wife, who has tolerated much, encouraged always, researched unpaid, and always with more sense than I have. I am a lucky, lucky man.