‘The alliance with Denmark.’
‘Signed four months later,’ he said. ‘Now we hear the Dutch may be talking to the French, but the King will not hear of it. He will not hear of it because Arlington persuades him it is not true. Arlington has given up on the whole idea of making peace with the Dutch. He wants full-scale war, nothing else. Now he has nailed his flag to the mast, any suggestion that his policy is flawed would be a humiliation.’
‘You knew all this?’
‘No,’ said the tall man, lips tight. ‘Not until all this happened. I don’t know what Josselin and Berkshire knew. They were the ones working for Arlington.’
How curious he must be, I thought. How angry must have been the Earl of Clarendon. No wonder they sent their own man into Shyam to find out what transpired.
‘May I go?’ I asked.
‘To do what?’ he asked.
‘To find James Josselin, and make him tell me what happened.’
The dark man rubbed his middle finger across his brow, stroking it while he watched me. ‘Josselin will tell you nothing and Arlington will kill you.’
I stared back at him and said nothing.
‘I shall tell you something, Harry Lytle,’ he decided. ‘James Josselin has returned to London, for our spies have seen him in the City. He won’t come here, for he will not be allowed.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Withypoll returned from Colchester last night and Arlington posted sentries on every gate. If Josselin attempts to leave the City he will be arrested. Soldiers are scouring the streets now. They will seize him soon, and there is nothing to be done.’ His green eyes narrowed. ‘You didn’t know?’
‘No.’ I replied. What were we doing here if Arlington already knew where Josselin was? ‘It was a test, then,’ I realised, stomach sinking to my feet. ‘Arlington told us to wait outside to see if we would obey. He suspects we are in league with Clarendon. He wanted to know if we would do as he ordered.’
The dark man gazed upon me sorrowfully. If he wouldn’t help Josselin, he certainly wouldn’t help us. Now I understood why he was so puzzled at our arrival.
‘Smuggle us into the City,’ I demanded. ‘That is all I ask.’
‘Why?’ he asked.
Because I had to get to Jane before Arlington. Because the City was my home, the place I felt safest, and because Arlington’s men would be waiting for us outside. I prayed they did not already have Dowling. ‘I will find Josselin and I will find out who killed Berkshire,’ I replied. ‘Just get us into the City.’
He shrugged. ‘Very well. Little good it will do you. Once you are in, you will never get out.’
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Yet we fear some further continuance of the impending Calamities.
We clung to the tarpaulin to stop it from blowing away; the wind gusted so strong. I lay still, afraid Clarendon might betray us and send us straight to Arlington.
‘What did you discover?’ Dowling breathed into my ear.
‘It was complicated,’ I replied. ‘The essence of it being that Josselin deliberately handed a letter to the Dutch government intended for the House of Orange. By handing over the letter he betrayed Arlington’s treachery and revealed the identity of Arlington’s spy to the Dutch.’
‘Did you find out why?’ Dowling asked.
‘Clarendon doesn’t know why,’ I replied. ‘I think that’s why he won’t help. They’re afraid Josselin may have betrayed England of his own accord.’
‘They think he killed Berkshire?’
‘They’re certain he didn’t,’ I said. ‘Though they have no intention
of pursuing the issue. Josselin is on his own.’
The canvas stank of potatoes and rotten vegetables. Something cold and sticky attached itself to my cheek. I gritted my teeth and tensed my face.
We dawdled at Ludgate for what seemed an age, the noise of chattering so loud it felt like we were stuck in the middle of a great sprawling crowd. I held my breath, waiting for the cover to be torn asunder, leaving us naked and exposed.
‘Clear the way!’ the driver demanded, three or four times, voice gruff and impatient. He was a big man without much hair, surly and strong. I couldn’t hear any reply; there was too much noise to distinguish voice from voice. Someone tugged at the tarpaulin, but then a loud crack made me jump, as of a whip, and then a scream, and the tugging ceased.
‘Touch my load again and I’ll slice open your belly,’ the driver shouted, his voice closer. ‘I’m carrying goods to the Exchange on behalf of the Earl of Clarendon. Woe to any man that gets in my way.’
The din subsided a moment, and the cart jerked forwards. Another man shouted, angry, though I couldn’t make out the words. A fight broke out close to my ear. Someone screeched and something heavy landed against the side of the cart, but we kept moving, trundling forwards, leaving the worst of the bedlam behind.
‘Out now,’ the driver demanded, yanking the tarpaulin away.
I sat up and looked around, wary he delivered us into a trap. But no. He pulled up outside the main gate to St Paul’s churchyard, the wind howling about our ears, no one paying us any attention.
The driver showed us a mouth full of yellow stumps. ‘Jump out before I break your legs.’
We did as we were told and then looked back to Ludgate. Soldiers stood against apprentices, squaring their shoulders and trying to look calm, poking at the apprentices with swords, or waving muskets, unconvincing. The apprentices danced upon their toes, taunting the older men, daring them to attack, some swinging their blue aprons about their heads, trying to flick the soldiers upon the nose or ear.
‘What’s new?’ I asked the driver, jumping to the ground.
‘Apprentices don’t like being told what to do,’ he replied. ‘Soldiers won’t let them through.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because if James Josselin escapes the City, the man who lets him pass will be strung from a gibbet by the balls,’ the driver replied. ‘They’re not letting anyone out.’ He clambered back onto the cart, jerked the reins and headed north up Ave Maria Lane.
‘Where did this wind come from?’ I complained, clutching my jacket about my chest. It wasn’t supposed to blow a gale when the sky was blue.
‘The wind hath bound him up in her wings,’ Dowling replied, thoughtful, still staring at the growing crowd. ‘If Josselin wanted to get to Whitehall, this is the way he would come.’
‘Or else he would take a boat,’ I said. Did soldiers guard the docks too?
The square broken tower of St Paul’s soared high above us, the west-side portico just to our right, tall columns standing like prison bars. A steady stream of folk flowed in and out its mouth, oblivious. Two men leant against the Bishop’s Palace, watching us intent, long brown coats hiding what they wore beneath. Lazy men with nothing better to do? If Arlington was after Josselin, there would be more than soldiers at the gates; the City would be swarming with spies.
I slapped Dowling on the back. ‘I will see you at my house.’
‘With horse and wagon,’ Dowling nodded, heading north.
I headed east, girding my loins for a mighty battle.
I stood in the middle of the road again.
‘Cocksmouth!’ Jane exclaimed, arms across her belly, face reddening. ‘We have only just come back from Cocksmouth. What makes you think I would consider returning to that stinking sty?’
‘It’s safe,’ I whispered. ‘No one knows I have relatives at Cocksmouth.’ Save those neighbours now listening at their windows.
‘Safe from what?’ Jane clenched her fists in front of her cheeks like she planned to punch me. ‘Safe from you, that’s true, and you from me.’ The yellow flecks in her eyes sparked like gold.
‘Lord Arlington has set his men upon us,’ I replied, glum. ‘I’m not sure what we’re going to do about it, but we must make sure you and the baby are safe, else Arlington will come after you as well as I.’