My father had been silent ever since we got in the wherry. The dejection and the resentment with which he had set out from Arwenack had stayed with him scarcely broken for eleven days. Only twice had it lifted temporarily: once when he had found Someone to play Gleek with him at the inn at Shaftesbury, and once when a chambermaid with a large ripe bust and a low cut frock had leaned over him at Hartley.
Now he cleared his throat and said: “I don’t know what’s afoot this morning, Maugan. I don’t know what I shall be accused of, what praise or blame will be meted out. All I’ve wind of from the tone of the summons is that my enemies have gathered to do me what hurt they can.”
“I trust it will be small.”
He grunted and coughed and spat over the side. “God’s life rumour is a dangerous thing; it can magnify and distort the most innocent action. That’s what we have to beware of, boy.”
“We? You think I’ll be permitted entry?”
“As a witness, yes. A material witness. For if some talk of my having truck with Spain should come up, you can testify on my behalf.”
Now we were passing between green banks on either hand, but whereas that on our left was dotted with grazing sheep, to our right the grass appeared to be part of the gardens of the great houses looking on the river from a distance.
“Indeed, I think, Maugan, if it comes to this worst danger of my being so accused, you could very greatly help me.”
“How? “
He shifted and glanced around to observe Thomas Rosewarne and Stephen Wilkey following in our wake. “I have done much for you, boy, you know that. But for me you would not have lived at all. Instead you have been treated as my own son, with all the privileges and honour. Through me everything has come to you, learning, the life of a gentleman, service with Ralegh. But for me “
“Yes. I understand all that and am grateful.”
“Well I have been thinking in the night I was thinking it over. If this charge this worst charge against me should by mischance happen to be made, it could well be argued or you could argue that you alone, in error, were responsible for it. That being captured and in Spain you were forced in order to survive to treat with them, and this you did in my name and without my knowledge. Elliot and Burley, you could say, were your friends, and they so advised you. You might even say that some large sum of money was offered you to land with the Spanish advance forces, and that you accepted it “
“In short that I alone played traitor?”
“There is no need to use that word in the case of a boy such as yourself. No need at all. You were misguided, frightened and carried away. That’s all. We’re of the same name Killigrew, and so it was thought I might be involved. You being so young, have little to fear …”
“Except hanging may be.”
“Oh, no, no, no. I would not permit it. They would treat a boy very lightly. The error in you would be so much less than if they thought it mine…”
By now we must have passed Durham House where I had stayed with Sir Walter, for we were turning in towards Whitehall Stairs.
I said slowly: “Father, I admit my debt to you. Indeed I acknowledge it gladly. But there are some sacrifices, some payments, which outweigh the debt. You’re asking me too much. Besides, the target is out of range: I could not convince them even if I would.”
“If you said “
“But I would not try. Be content that I’ll try all else. You know I will support you in any other way you want.”
We came into the steps and willing hands caught the wherry, offered help in alighting, brushed off imaginary spray from our cloaks, all hoping for the tossed coin. Mr KiHigrew paid the boatman and slowly we began to mount the broad flight of steps. The second wherry was grounding behind us.
“Take heart,” I said, “I don’t see how the Privy Council may know anything of this matter.”
“The Privy Council has many ears and eyes, spies abroad in all countries. You never know what they may know or what they may invent if they are determined on a man’s ruin.”
We reached the top of the stairs and waited for Rosewarne and Wilkey. It was blowing and my father drew his cloak around him. The brassy daylight showed up the coarseness of his skin, where a once high clear complexion had become pitted and rusty. His eyelids dipped a little at each side like tiny pouting lips. He had wool in one ear against the cold. He looked an old man.
CHAPTER FOUR
We waited in a large room adjoining the Queen’s Presence chamber. It was an ornate room, with a gallery at one end and crystal candelabra like inverted pyramids hanging from the ceiling. Pages and men in varied livery came through from bme to time, but no others waited. We had not been searched, though our swords were left at the door. Wilkey and Rosewarne had remained outside. At the entrance door to the Presence chamber were four enormous men in red, with roses embroidered in gold on back and breast. The floor of this impressive ante-room was strewn with some sort of sweet herb that emitted a pungent smell.
I was vividly reminded of waiting with Burley and Alazar in the palace in Madrid. Only here were no crowds; those who crossed the room did so with a leisurely thoughtful air. It would all have been reassuring if we had been in the mood to feel reassured.
When men left the Presence chamber they did so backwards bowing low. I did not know if Her Majesty attended all or many of her Council meetings, but it seemed she was here today.
Nine became ten and ten eleven. Ever and again a strange and unnerving sound could be heard from the garden outside like a devil in shrill torment. Peacocks screeching on the lawns.
There was a bustle and two men exited bowing. Following them came a chamberlain, who beckoned to my father. I rose to accompany him, and after a brief hesitation the chamberlain let me pass.
The room we came into was smaller than the ante-room. Light fell from the three tall windows upon a narrow table down the centre of the room. A big fireplace with a fire glowing; tapestries depicting battle scenes on the wall; six of the red-clad guard; at the table were about a dozen men in robes of office; at the head a woman.
Near the foot of the table was a bench, with a lower padded bench before it. On this we knelt. While we took up our positions there was complete silence at the table. So we knelt there watched by the twelve greatest men in the land. But not by the greatest woman. She was examining the diamond bracelet on her wrist.
Beside her, on her left, was a small man in black with a humped back: I took him to be Sir Robert Cecil. In the shadows behind his chair were four clerks at a desk writing. It was impossible to know all the other men, but the Archbishop of Canterbury was on the Queen’s right, and I recognised the Earl of Nottingham, who had been Lord Admiral Howard. Among the others were the Lord Chamberlain, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, the Earl Marshal, the Lord Treasurer, the Lord Chief Justice and the Controller of the Queen’s Household.
So we remained while Her Majesty attended to her bracelet. Silence was not broken until she looked up and nodded.
The Lord Archbishop said: “Mr Killigrew, we have many times in the past had bad reports of you. It would seem that the position of honour entrusted to you by Her Gracious Majesty has not unseldom been used for your private profit. Not two years ago a Commission was appointed to inquire into these abuses. Their report was far from favourable, but Her Majesty saw fit to overlook these lapses, preferring to believe your constant assurances that in all matters touching the safety of the Realm you had no other thought but to serve her…”