‘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.’