The Earl of Clarendon: while not a member of the Brotherhood – or at least, not on Downing’s list – the Lord Chancellor had links to several members of the group. There was Evett, his aide, who was to help Chaloner find Barkstead’s missing treasure. Another member of the digging party was Wade, while Robinson was Lieutenant of the Tower, where the treasure was alleged to be buried. Clarke had died in Clarendon’s service, and Clarendon would also know Downing and Ingoldsby from Court.
Downing, who casually betrayed the Brotherhood to a man he detested. Through Downing, Chaloner had met Barkstead, along with the two other regicides who were later executed with him. Why would Downing do such a thing to a member of his own secret fraternity? And why had he arrested Barkstead, but not Hewson and Livesay, who had also been deemed guilty of king-killing by the courts? Had Livesay gone into hiding, because he was afraid of Downing, or was he dead, as North claimed? And what did Ingoldsby think of Downing’s ambiguous attitude to the men who had signed the King’s death warrant?
‘You are snoring,’ murmured Metje, her voice thick and drowsy. She spoke English, which was rare, particularly when she was not properly awake.
‘I am not asleep,’ he replied in Dutch, wondering whether his agitation had somehow transferred itself to her.
She opened her eyes. ‘Lord! I thought I was in bed with a German!’
He smiled and extended his arm. She snuggled into it, sighing her contentment, while he turned his thoughts to William Leybourn, trying to decide whether the encounter in the grocer’s shop had been contrived – that Leybourn had deliberately prevented him from eavesdropping on Kelyng. But a good many people had been out that morning, because of the King’s paintings, so a chance meeting was not impossible. And what about Kelyng? He had made an enigmatic reference about ‘six to go’. Was he referring to the Brotherhood, but did not know there were thirteen members? Or was it something to do with seven, minus one – Thurloe’s ‘brothers’?
‘Only five days to Christmas,’ murmured Metje. ‘The Court plans another masque. Did you know there was one last night? Everyone went as a wild animal, and when I was shopping yesterday, I heard there were so many lion costumes in the offing that White Hall was predicted to look like a Roman circus. I miss parties and balls, Tom. Mr North’s idea of a wild evening is Milton’s poetry and a cup of hot milk. I would love to attend a masque, like we did in Holland.’
‘I saw a baboon when I was with the Earl, and he seemed rather debauched to me. I do not think you would approve of the Court’s revelries.’
‘You have been awake most of the night,’ she said, propping herself up on her elbows. He could just make out her face in the fading firelight. ‘I could tell by the way you were breathing. What is worrying you? The work the Earl offered? You should not take it – accept Dalton instead.’
Chaloner was not so sure, given that the vintner belonged to a secret organisation that included regicides and was busily passing secrets to Kelyng about Thurloe.
‘What exactly did the Earl offer?’ she asked when he made no reply. ‘You did not say.’
Chaloner disliked lying to her, but could hardly tell her the truth. ‘Supplies clerk.’
‘But you seem apprehensive. Why? You have a good head for figures. You found hundreds of mistakes in Downing’s accounts, and you are not afraid of hard work.’
‘You said yesterday that I was lazy.’
She slapped his arm, to make him see she was entitled to say something unkind and then change her mind. ‘I do not want you to work for that Earl, Tom. He is sly – he ordered his own daughter to sleep with the Duke of York and get his child, so the man would be forced to marry her. And, until the King produces a son of his own, the Duke is heir to the throne. Clarendon will be father to a queen!’
Chaloner disagreed with her interpretation of events. ‘Clarendon was furious about the pregnancy, because he had a political marriage in mind for the Duke – one that would strengthen England’s ties with Spain or France. He was ready to have her beheaded for treason.’
‘What kind of man threatens to execute his own daughter? I repeat: I do not like him. There are other things you could do – teach, for example, or go back to your family in Buckingham. I know you have brothers and sisters, but you never talk about them. Have they banished you? Are you in disgrace for some childish misdeed that means you can never return?’
‘Of course not!’ There were times when he found Metje irritating, and one of them was when she drew bizarre conclusions from half-understood facts. When she did, he was grateful she knew nothing about his work for Thurloe. ‘I spent several months at my family’s estate after you and I returned from Holland. We are very fond of each other.’
She pulled away from him. ‘You did not ask me to go with you.’
Chaloner sensed they were about to launch into one of their periodic arguments, in which she would accuse him of not caring about her feelings, and he would struggle to understand what he had done wrong. ‘You said you could not ask for time away so soon after securing your new post.’
She regarded him rather coldly. ‘Did you know Preacher Hill comes from Buckingham? He dined with the Norths last night, and when I mentioned in passing that you and he came from the same county – just to make conversation – he said he had never heard of a family called Heyden.’
Chaloner’s heart sank when he heard the catch in her voice. He had hurt her and was sorry. However, she had never shown any interest in his family before – she had parted on bad terms with her own, and tended to shy away from discussions about anyone else’s.
‘It is a big shire, Meg,’ he said gently. ‘And my family’s farm is very small. Hill cannot possibly know everyone in the region.’
‘He comes from Buckingham,’ she said unhappily. ‘You said you hail from a village close to Buckingham. He knows all the local gentry, and it was vile to be told your family does not exist.’
He wondered what Hill would have to say about a clan of dedicated Parliamentarians called Chaloner, one of whom had been a regicide. If Hill came from Buckingham, he would certainly have heard of them. ‘I am sure he and I will unearth some mutual acquaintance if we chat for a while. I do not think this is anything to become upset about.’
She glared at him. ‘I have shared your bed these last three years – abandoned my own country to be with you – but you reward me with lies.’
‘If you gave up your country for me, then why will you not become my wife?’
She began to cry. ‘Marriage is not as important as trust and love, and I have neither from you.’
Chaloner was astonished by the route the discussion had taken. ‘That is simply not true.’
‘I do not know what to believe about you.’ She shoved him away with considerable force. ‘I do not want to talk any more. Time is passing, and if I am not kneeling in the chapel before Mr North arrives, I might be without a master, as well as without a lover I can trust.’
Long before the first glimmer of dawn touched the grey city, Chaloner had washed, shaved, dressed and was ready to begin his investigation for Clarendon. Metje readied herself for chapel in silence, repelling his attempts to pacify her, and ignoring him even when he lit the lamp – a vast piece of equipment that would not have looked out of place in St Paul’s Cathedral. A nagging guilt made him defensive, and he began to feel annoyed with her for doubting him, although the rational part of his mind told him that she had a perfectly good reason for doing so.