Timothy Plummer turned again to me and refilled my beaker. ‘One final draught, chapman. You’ll sleep the better for it and you’ll need all your wits about you tomorrow.’
Timothy Plummer jerked his head towards the door and said, ‘You can enter now, chapman. His Grace will see you in a moment.’
He pulled down the corners of his mouth as he spoke, indicating that his own interview with Duke Richard, some half an hour before, had not been an easy one. Lionel Arrowsmith, it seemed, had decided to make his confession even earlier and had now been dismissed once again to his bed in order to rest his ankle until it should be mended, so I had no means of knowing how he had fared.
I had to stoop to enter the little antechamber. Through the half-open door I could see the Duke, seated at a table, dictating letters to his chief clerk, and also attended by his secretary, John Kendall. I sat down on a bench running the length of one wall and occupied my eyes with staring at the tapestries illustrating the story of Dido and Aeneas, but keeping my ears pricked for anything Duke Richard might let drop in the course of his dictation. Any morsel of information would have been welcome at that juncture.
To my astonishment, however, His Grace, in the midst of all his preparations for the invasion of France and the undoubted additional aggravation caused by this threat to his life, seemed to be equally concerned with the affairs of his Yorkshire tenants. He was sending a strongly worded letter to the Bishop of Durham regarding illegal fishgarths in the waters of the Ouse and the Humber which, the Duke claimed, were not only impeding the navigation of these two rivers, but also diminishing the number of fish able to be caught by rod and line.
‘The bishop knows very well,’ the Duke remarked in an acid aside to John Kendall, ‘that Parliament has strengthened the magistrates’ hands in this matter, yet still his bailiffs persist in flouting the law, trusting in the fact that people will be afraid to oppose him.’ The royal jawline tightened. ‘Well, now His Grace will discover that he has me to contend with.’
I knew a fleeting compassion for the errant cleric who was to be the recipient of so much unbending displeasure and hoped that I would fare better at Duke Richard’s hands. So, when the clerk and John Kendall were finally dismissed, I approached the table where he was sitting with what I trusted was a suitably ingratiating expression. To my great relief the Duke regarded me with a glimmering smile.
‘There’s no need to look so hangdog, chapman,’ he said. ‘I’m not about to order your arrest.’ The smile deepened. ‘Sit down.’ And he indicated the stool vacated by his clerk. ‘So,’ he went on, resting his chin on his clasped hands, ‘here you are again, mixed up in my affairs.’
‘As it pleases your lordship.’
‘Oh, it does please me, Roger, it does, the reason being that you are one of just a handful of people I can really trust. Twice in the past you have proved yourself to be an honest and devoted servant, with no thought of gain or personal self-advancement. Don’t look so uncomfortable. I’m only stating the truth. I would to God that there were more like you.’
He sounded bitter, and for the first time since entering the room I looked closely at him. He was my own age exactly, still some four months short of his twenty-third birthday. But during the two years since our last meeting he had aged faster than I had. There were fine lines around the eyes and mouth which I could not recall seeing before and the thin lips were more compressed, emphasizing the heaviness of jaw and chin. I noticed, too, the nervous way in which he twisted the rings which adorned his fingers, or fiddled with the jewelled chain slung about his shoulders. The long, slender fingers with their beautiful, almond-shaped nails were never quiet, reflecting, or so I suspected, an inner perturbation of the mind.
My heart went out to him, for I guessed that in spite of his supreme happiness with his wife and little son, maintaining the peace between his brothers must be a perpetual source of misery to him. Common gossip held him to be equally fond of both the King and George of Clarence, but with the latter constantly hell-bent on stirring up trouble, it could be no easy task to keep them friends.
‘And how has the world turned with you,’ he went on, ‘since our last meeting?’
I told him as briefly as I could, not wishing to burden him, amongst all his weightier affairs, with my paltry concerns. But he listened intently and questioned me more closely when I would have skimped the narrative. The brown eyes lit with pleasure and tenderness when I mentioned my baby daughter and I knew he must be thinking of his own love-child, the Lady Katherine Plantagenet.
‘Girls are a great joy,’ he said softly. ‘They wheedle, they cajole, they throw tantrums, but they have a deep and abiding loyalty towards those to whom they give their hearts. Guard your little Elizabeth well, Roger. Cherish her as you would your most prized possession.’ He was silent a moment longer, staring unseeingly before him, then he sighed and addressed himself to the matter in hand. ‘Timothy Plummer informs me that you have stumbled by chance upon our secret and that, in view of your past success at solving mysteries, he has sought my permission to recruit you. Before I give it, however, what are your wishes? You have already risked your life twice in my service. I will not imperil it a third time unless I have your consent.’
‘My lord,’ I answered, ‘if your life is threatened then I should most sincerely wish to discover the source of the danger. His Highness, King Edward, cannot afford to lose the chief prop and stay of his throne.’
The Duke pulled down the corners of his mouth. ‘I doubt if the Queen’s family would relish that description of me, chapman. However,’ he acknowledged, but simply, without arrogance, ‘no doubt you’re right. Very well, if you are prepared to serve me yet again, so be it. And thank you. But I must enjoin strict secrecy upon you. What we know, or think we know, must remain a confidence between the four of us. You, me, Timothy Plummer and Lal Arrowsmith.’
‘And young Matthew Wardroper,’ I amended.
The frown reappeared. ‘Ah, yes! I had forgotten. A foolish move, that, to involve the lad. He’s too young to be mixed up in such conspiracies. Why could Tim not have kept the tryst with Morgan, instead of Lionel? He thinks a little too well of himself, does Master Plummer. But the damage is done. Keep an eye on young Wardroper, chapman. I would not have him suffer injury in so miserable a cause.’ He held out his hand for me to kiss, indicating that the audience was at an end. ‘Timothy Plummer will keep me informed as to what is happening, should any progress be made. And once more, accept my deepest gratitude.’
I was plainly being dismissed, but there were still things, I felt, left unresolved. When I hesitated, however, the Duke merely smiled briefly and said, ‘Timothy Plummer will tell you all you wish to know. Go and see him now. You’ll doubtless find him hovering somewhere not too far distant.’
He was right.
As I stepped across the threshold of the antechamber, Timothy was waiting and pounced on me eagerly. ‘Well? Did His Grace agree? Did you agree?’ And when I nodded in answer to both questions he bore me off triumphantly to the same tower room where we had sat and talked the previous evening. ‘Sit down! Sit down,’ he urged, ‘and I’ll tell you what, with His Grace’s consent, I’ve decided for you.’
I seated myself in the window embrasure. ‘I assume I’m to enter the Duke’s household. But how will you explain?’