‘You do that,’ cackled Mister Switt. ‘But I warn you, your master surely won’t be pleased. What – call the constable, when his lordship’s in there selling poisons to my master right now! Can just imagine his face, I can.’
‘Selling poison?’ Bodge repeated faintly.
‘Have a look,’ suggested widower Switt.
Throckmorton stood in the small chilly antechamber and regarded his visitor with some suspicion. ‘Sir Ralph Tame? I don’t believe I have the pleasure of your acquaintance, sir.’
‘You don’t,’ Ralph said, removing his gloves and slapping them impatiently from one hand to the other. ‘But I come from Lord Feayton. You won’t deny knowing him, I hope?’
Harold Throckmorton winced. ‘I know his lordship well, sir. He is a – particular – friend of mine.’
‘Hardly the way he puts it,’ smiled Ralph. ‘Calls you a miserly liar and a murderer. But then, perhaps he knows you better than you think.’
‘You are insulting, sir,’ said Throckmorton, going red. ‘Please state your business at once, or I must ask you to leave.’
‘Ask away,’ grinned Ralph. ‘Won’t do no good. And just to let you know, if I’m not seen by my men in half an hour, they’ll call alarm. But I’m not here for trouble. Come on behalf of another of Lord Feayton’s friends, a most important nobleman, him not wishing to be seen here himself. Perhaps you guess who I mean.’
The baron had several ideas. ‘How could I, sir? Explain yourself.’
‘A certain young lord, friend of a certain marquess, let’s say,’ smiled Ralph Tame. ‘Growing impatient, too, waiting on a certain batch of merchandise, and knowing just what you picked up from St Katherine’s Docks a few days past. Been expecting delivery for nearly a week now, and don’t like being kept waiting.’
‘I was not told – no one has informed me,’ quavered the baron. ‘If his lordship will send a personal messenger – an order carrying his seal? You understand I have to be extremely careful, sir. The dangers of my business –’
Ralph chuckled. ‘Lest, having such a low opinion of you, my friend Feayton decided not to deliver Marrott’s message.’ He paused, winking. ‘There now, I’ve gone and said the name I swore not to. But no doubt you guessed already, seeing as how you’ve done business with him before.’
Throckmorton nodded dumbly. ‘I’ve certainly no wish to antagonise his lordship,’ he mumbled. ‘But I have received no request, no order. And considering the nature of the merchandise you’ll understand, sir I cannot entrust such a package to anyone but the servants I already recognise.’
‘Oh, fair enough,’ said Ralph cheerfully. ‘I don’t want your nasty little parcels in my hands, that’s for sure. I’m just doing a favour. The order was supposed to be passed through Feayton, you know, though not risking his own seal to the wax, of course. But now Marrott’s angry. If you care about losing business and making enemies – well, perhaps you’d best get off to court and deliver the stuff yourself.’
Throckmorton looked even glummer. ‘I doubt I would be accepted at court, sir. And to think of the danger while carrying such a package.’
‘A coward as well as a villain, eh?’ Ralph nodded happily. ‘But, I doubt the risk’s as bad as you think. Tell me the day and time, and I’ll warn Marrott you’re coming with his secret supplies. He’ll have someone ready and waiting. ’Tis in his own interests, and he won’t want you falling into the wrong hands, that’s for sure.’
‘I suppose,’ supposed the baron.
Ralph Tame collected his servant from the main doors, and left just as Borin Blessop, huge, ungainly and unmistakably himself, arrived, chugging through the growing blizzard. He was clutching a sealed message.
Chapter Twenty-Six
‘That pompous fool will spread the news through the entire household within the hour,’ said George Switt, sitting down heavily. ‘And from there it will be all over the city by tomorrow morning. Baron Throckmorton will be famed as a murderous poisoner throughout all England by the end of the week. Excellent. Went as well as could be expected, I believe. Though I really see no reason for you to have walked quite so fast, Ralph. My venerable age, you know.’
‘Sorry,’ muttered Ralph. ‘Too much enthusiasm.’
‘Or simple terror,’ muttered his brother.
‘Well,’ smiled Felicia, ‘our plans are well nigh complete, as long as Throckmorton takes the bait, of course. Dear Luke’s beautiful scribing will convince him, I’m sure.’
‘But since none of us can read, we can’t check, can we?’ Davey said, stabbing the air with sudden belligerence. ‘Supposed to be an order from this Marrott fellow for the special powders as usual. So, what if the mad monk upstairs wrote something quite different – like what we’re really planning?’
‘Luke Parris is an educated man,’ said Felicia firmly. ‘You’re a quarrelsome fool, Davey Lyttle. Luke is entirely trustworthy. He has as much to thank Drew for as the rest of us, and is surely just as determined to keep him safe.’
‘And you definitely saw Borin arrive there with the message?’ Tyballis demanded.
Ralph nodded. ‘Had to be him. Big as a tree, proper daft-looking and dressed like a country yokel with too much hair to keep his hat on straight. Not the sort of man I’d expect as your husband, Tybbs.’
Davey, overcome with success, once again twirled his sword. ‘Tybbs, my love,’ he said, dancing forwards, feinting and turning swiftly to pierce his invisible adversary, ‘why did you marry such a clod? And you the prettiest girl I’ve seen since my mother dumped me at the church door. Besides, you’re bare old enough to take a man of any sort.’
Tyballis blushed and shook her head. ‘Don’t be silly, Davey. I’m nineteen and not pretty at all. As for Borin, well, he wanted the house after my parents died. The Blessops were due to be evicted because they didn’t pay their rent next door. So, Borin dragged me up to the bedchamber while his mother stood at the bottom of the stairs with a poker in case I tried to get away. Then they said I was married, so that was that.’
Elizabeth scowled. ‘Should have cut his knackers off soon as the bugger slept.’
‘I was only fourteen,’ Tyballis said. ‘Anyway he would have killed me, or his mother would have.’
Ralph was still dressed in Andrew’s silks, being loath to return to serge and buckram. He stretched an elegant ankle. ‘Now we know when Throckmorton reckons on turning up at court,’ he pointed out. ‘And we need to get there first. No time to waste.’
‘Got to warn the king,’ nodded Nat.
‘My dear boy,’ sniffed George Switt, ‘commoners do not trot unobstructed into court, nor directly warn his grace of anything. This part of the plan will be our moment of greatest risk. The king can only be approached through Baron Hastings. Finding that mighty gentleman and then convincing him without getting ourselves arrested will be the hardest challenge.’
‘Women,’ suggested Davey, nearly stabbing his own toes.
‘Indeed,’ agreed Mister Switt, looking with fond concern at Tyballis. ‘Lord Hastings is particularly well known for his – predilection – for the female sex.’
Tyballis realised rather uncomfortably that everyone was looking at her. ‘I ought – I suppose – I know it’s for me to take the biggest risks,’ she mumbled, ‘but if you expect me to be blatantly seductive – well, I haven’t the faintest idea how to do it.’
Mister Switt shook his head. ‘I suggest something a little more – subtle,’ he said. ‘And now for the tools of our trade, courtesy of my good friend Mister Allard. I led a minstrel troop in my youth, but then, that was before I met my dearest Edalina. Now – this is what I suggest.’