The King's Spy (Thomas Hill Trilogy 1) (27 page)

‘Ah. Of course.’ Simon nodded to his companion, whose hood came off to reveal a serenely smiling Jane Romilly.

‘Good morning, Thomas. We thought to surprise you, although the disguise was necessary to gain access to the abbey. The abbot would not approve of a lady visitor.’

Torn between Jane, the letter and the decrypted message, Thomas blathered. ‘Lady Romilly. Jane. An unexpected pleasure. How are you? Well, I trust. And the queen? Is she well?’

Jane raised an eyebrow. ‘The queen’s spirits are low, but she is well, thank you. As am I.’

‘Good, good. Excellent. That is a comfort. You must have been here when the search was on.’

‘I was. Disguised as a Benedictine and making an excellent mutton stew in the abbey kitchens. Our friends will have a good dinner tonight.’

‘You weren’t searched?’

‘Thankfully not,’ laughed Jane. ‘The poor man might have died of shock.’

Or delight, thought Thomas. ‘It’s well that you’ve come. I have news. The message is decrypted. Here it is.’ Thomas passed his decryption to Simon, who read it twice and handed it to Jane.

‘The brackets, Thomas? Guesses?’ asked Simon.

‘Guesses, yes, from the context. 182 and 264 could be any of their commanders, and 421 may be Parliament. They matter little. It’s 775 we need to know.’

‘It’s Rush, isn’t it?’

‘We know it is, but this is not proof. Rush would just laugh at it.’

‘Are you quite certain of the decryption, Thomas?’ asked Simon.

‘Quite certain. The idea I mentioned worked.’

‘Then, proof or no proof, the queen is in grave danger of being abducted. We’re lucky they haven’t already tried, if this is their plan. The king must be told at once. Jane and I will leave immediately.’

‘Why me?’ asked Jane. ‘You’ll travel faster without me, and I can add nothing to the task. Go alone, Simon, and I will wait here until you return.’

‘Leave you here? The abbot would never speak to me again if he found out. A woman alone in the abbey. My soul would be in mortal danger. Yours too, I daresay.’

‘Nonsense, Simon. Your soul is quite safe, as mine shall be. Thomas will make sure of it, won’t you, Thomas?’

‘Certainly I will. Go, Simon, and return as soon as you’ve warned the king. I’ll show Jane how a Vigenère cipher works.’

‘Very well,’ replied Simon with a nod to Jane. He handed her a key. ‘Lock the door after me. And be here when I return.’

‘Read your letter, Thomas,’ said Jane when Simon had gone, ‘and then we’ll eat.’

Thomas broke the seal and read the letter. It was
short and direct. Margaret thanked him for writing, albeit belatedly, and was glad to learn that he was in good health. She and the girls were also well, but missed him greatly. Lucy asked if he would be home for her birthday at the end of October. The town had been quiet since he left. News of the war arrived daily, occasionally something about the king and queen in Oxford. And, finally, she had received two unsigned letters advising her to take great care of herself and her daughters in these troubled times. The hand was untutored and the grammar poor, and she had dismissed them as the work of some mischief-maker. Still, she hoped they would see Thomas soon. They all sent fondest love.

Uncertain quite what to make of this, Thomas read it out to Jane.

‘I’m sure it’s no more than a local man with his eye on a handsome widow. While you’re away, perhaps he’s hoping to persuade Margaret that she should take a husband. Can you think of anyone who might do that?’ she asked.

‘Several, but I’m not so sure. Margaret wouldn’t have mentioned it unless she had some concern.’

Jane rose and took his hands in hers. ‘Be calm, Thomas. Margaret and your nieces merely want to see you safely home. We must deliver you to them
just as soon as we can. Now let us eat our breakfast.’

‘Why are the queen’s spirits low, Jane?’ asked Thomas, as they ate.

‘Her majesty’s mood is a mirror of the king’s. When he laughs, so does she. When he is despondent, so is she. When he is anxious, his stammer gets worse, and that makes him angry. Then the queen is angry, and the mood at court is black.’

‘Was it Newbury that so affected him?’

‘Partly, yes. The carnage, they say, was fearful, and he lost many friends. Falkland especially he mourns. And Essex has reached London with most of his army intact. Newbury was a disaster. Three thousand men lost, and for nothing. But there has also been news from the north. The Scots have signed Pym’s Solemn League and Covenant. They have promised military support against the king in return for a guarantee of no interference in the Scottish Church, and reforms to the Church of England. Her majesty is particularly vexed, and the king now expects the Scottish Covenanters to march south in the new year. For a Scot, it is doubly hard to bear.’

‘And it could alter the course of the war. If the king has to strengthen his defences in the north, his forces will be greatly stretched. Parliament will seek to take advantage. I fear we’ll see a good deal more bloodshed next year.’

‘If only a peace could be negotiated. Talks have been going on for months, yet that is all they are. Talks. And, by all accounts, ill-tempered talks. Ill-tempered talks, and no listens. Talks without listens achieve very little, Thomas, don’t you think?’

‘I do. And I think you should be a writer, Lady Romilly. You have a way with words.’

‘And what should I write? Plays, essays, philosophy?’

‘You should write poetry. Lady Wroth’s poems have become quite popular, and I’ll wager this war will find more ladies putting quill to paper. Love, war, death, misery – the very stuff of poetry. Why not try your hand?’

‘Would you be my tutor, Thomas? I should need guidance.’

‘Naturally. That is exactly why I suggested it. Shall we begin at once?’

‘We shall.’

Three hours later, tutor and pupil, arms and legs entwined, awoke in the narrow bed. ‘You’re an excellent pupil, Lady Romilly. Alas, however, I have neither wine nor sweetmeats to offer you. Instead, would you care for instruction in the matter of the Vigenère cipher?’

‘I think not, Thomas, thank you. I have enough to
remember for one day. And I have something important to tell you.’

‘Then perhaps we should clothe ourselves. Simon has seen my naked form before but not, I trust, yours. He might be laid low with guilt.’

‘Simon is not alone in bearing the burden of guilt. Sit down beside me, please, Thomas,’ replied Jane, clothed again. ‘This is not going to be easy, and whatever your reaction to what I am going to tell you, I shall understand. If you wish it, I shall leave and you will never see me again.’

‘Good God, Jane, after what we’ve just shared?’

‘Especially after what we’ve just shared. Had I told you earlier, it might never have happened.’

‘I’m listening, Jane.’

Jane reached into her habit and produced a key. She held it up. ‘The key to your room, Thomas.’

‘Where in the name of God did you get it?’

‘Tobias Rush gave it to me.’

Thomas stared at the key, then at Jane. Her face was expression less. He pushed himself off the bed and went to the far corner of the room. He stood with his back to the wall and looked at her. His voice was icy. ‘You had best explain.’

‘Very well. As you know, I left my parents in York to accompany the queen to Oxford. My loyalties were
divided, but I decided that service to her majesty must come first.’ She laughed lightly. ‘Now I’m not so sure.’ Thomas said nothing; he was watching her eyes. ‘Tobias Rush first approached me in the summer. He said that he knew about my parents and would ensure that they were safe as long as I carried out some simple tasks for him.’

‘Simple tasks?’

‘That was what he said. And remember, the king trusted him, so I had no reason not to. I was to keep him informed of the queen’s plans and of anything she said about the king. It seemed a small price to pay for my parents’ safety. I told him whenever the queen was planning to leave Oxford and what she said about the king’s mood and his intentions. He knows she is expecting a child.’

‘So you knew that Rush was a traitor.’

‘At first, I persuaded myself that he just gathered information because it increased his power. It was only when he gave me the key and told me to look for a coded message hidden in your room that I could deceive myself no longer.’

Thomas recalled seeing Rush at Merton the day he had walked in the meadow with Jane. ‘Yet you still did as you were told.’

‘Yes. I was frightened.’

‘Why did you leave the room in such a state?’

‘He told me to.’

A thought occurred. ‘Were you wearing a new perfume that day?’

‘I was. The queen gave it to me. Sandalwood.’

Thomas nodded. ‘And how did you know that my room would be empty that morning?’

‘I didn’t. But the gatehouse was deserted when I arrived, so I took a chance. When you didn’t answer my knock, I let myself in.’

‘And looked for the message.’

‘Not very hard, and I didn’t find it. I wanted to get away. Luckily, the gatehouse was still deserted when I left. Rush was furious.’

‘You told me that you had no knowledge of a particular message, yet you had.’

Jane nodded. ‘I lied because I feared losing you.’

‘Did you lie about Abraham?’

‘Thomas, I swear I did not. I had no idea that Rush intended to murder Master Fletcher, or that that was where you were when I came to Pembroke.’

‘And he took the old man’s eyes first. Eyes that could not see.’

Jane looked away. ‘The man’s a monster. When I heard about it, I confronted him. He laughed and told me that in time of war such things are necessary, and
worse happens on the battlefield. He told me to keep quiet or it would go badly for me and my family.’

‘And did he tell you to befriend me and to keep him informed of anything I said?’

‘After he saw us at the masque, yes. You had been watched from the moment you rode into the city with Simon. Rush saw me as a way of getting even closer to you. He told me that you were not to be trusted. It did not take me long to realize that it was he who could not be trusted.’

Thomas thought about it. Tobias Rush had kept a close watch on him, had him knocked over in the street, had stolen his key, had tortured and murdered poor Abraham, and had him thrown into the gaol. Jane Romilly had deceived him, searched his room and played him for a fool. But she had visited him in the gaol and persuaded the queen to authorize his release. Why?

‘And what, may I ask, has prompted you to tell me this now?’

‘Thomas, please believe me. I was horrified at Abraham’s death, and could not bear the thought of your dying in that awful place. I daren’t tell the queen about Rush for fear of his influence with the king, but with Simon’s help I was able to persuade her of your innocence.’

‘Does Simon know everything?’

‘He does. He heard my confession and told me to come here and to tell you the truth.’

‘And did he tell you to seduce me first?’ Thomas’s voice was bitter.

‘Oh Thomas, of course not.’

‘Rush told me he had his suspicions about you. Why would he do that?’

‘To divert attention from himself, and perhaps to find out if I had kept anything from him. Deceit and subterfuge are as natural to that man as breathing. He told me to keep your key. He didn’t want to be found with it himself, and would cheerfully have sacrificed me if necessary.’

‘I don’t doubt it.’

There was a knock on the door. Thomas unlocked it and Simon entered. He looked quizzically at Jane, who nodded.

‘The king wishes to see Thomas immediately,’ he said. ‘We must leave at once. There are horses waiting.’

‘What does he make of the decryption?’ asked Thomas.

‘He fears for the queen. Other than that, he said little.’

‘What about Rush?’

‘I did not see Rush.’

‘Shall we tell the king what we know about Rush?’

‘No. We still do not have proof. It would be too dangerous.’

Thomas gathered up his papers, carefully rolling up the original message, his copy of it and his copy of the decryption, and tucked them inside his shirt. Within two minutes they had left the abbey and were on their way.

They rode in silence to Merton, where Simon escorted Jane, still in her friar’s habit, to her rooms, and returned at once to take Thomas to Christ Church, where the king awaited them. They were shown into a receiving room in the Deanery, where they waited for the king to appear from his private apartments. ‘I take it Jane has told you everything, Thomas?’ enquired Simon quietly.

‘She says that she has.’

‘Then she has.’

When the king entered, they bowed their heads. Thomas looked up and flinched. An unmistakable figure, all in black – his face hidden in shadow – stood behind the king.

‘So, Master Hill,’ his majesty said quietly. Thomas had noticed that the king’s voice was never raised. Perhaps it had to do with his stammer. ‘And where have you been hiding, since I returned from seeing loyal friends die in a just cause? We have been most exercised by your
disappearance, and the good Master Rush has had to make other arrangements for the security of our messages.’

Thomas glanced at Simon. ‘I have been at the abbey near Botley, your majesty. Father de Pointz ensured that neither the abbot nor the monks knew who I am or why I was there.’

‘And why, pray, did you choose to hide in an abbey?’

Before Thomas could reply, Simon spoke for him. ‘If I may, your majesty, Master Hill was near death when he left the gaol, and had to be nursed back to health. The monks have a number of excellent remedies, which proved efficacious. He also needed solitude in order to work on the intercepted message. Happily, in that, too, he was successful.’

‘So it seems,’ said the king, stretching out his hand to take a paper handed to him by Rush. ‘And a most alarming message it is. If true, my dear queen is in grave danger. I have already ordered that her guard be doubled, and that she stay within the walls of Merton at all times. If false, it must have been designed to cover up some devious plot. Be sure that, if that is the case, we shall uncover its nature, and punish the traitors behind it.’