I studied her carefully. Two nights ago she had tried to charm me into believing her, today she was hostile and angry at my questions. Was that because she had truly told me all?
‘Lady Honor,’ I said, choosing my words carefully, ‘I have to make a report to Lord Cromwell this afternoon. I have not got as far as I would like in my enquiries, not least because the founder who aided the Gristwoods in their work has disappeared and has probably been killed. Attempts have also been made on my life.’
She took a deep breath. ‘Then all who were involved in the matter are in danger?’
‘Those who helped the Gristwoods in their work.’
‘Am I in danger?’ She tried to keep her composure, but a nerve flickered under her eye.
‘I do not believe so. So long as you have truly told nobody but me that you looked in those papers.’
‘Nobody.’ She took a deep breath. ‘And the earl? If you tell him I looked in those papers, he may seek to try my testimony with rougher methods than yours.’
‘That is partly why I came this morning so I can make the fullest report to him. Lady Honor, the night I came upon you at that bench at Lincoln’s Inn I saw you talking to Serjeant Marchamount. You both looked as though you were discussing something serious.’
‘Are you spying on me, then?’ she asked angrily.
‘I came on you accidentally but yes, I paused and hid to find out what I could hear. I confess it. I caught no words though, I only saw your faces. You both looked worried. As you did when you talked together after the banquet. And the serjeant too had custody of those papers.’
I braced myself for anger, but she only sighed and lowered her head, screening it with an upraised hand. ‘Jesu,’ she said quietly, ‘where have I brought myself with my foolish curiosity?’
‘Only tell me everything,’ I said. ‘I would help you with the earl if I could.’
She looked up then, and smiled sadly. ‘Yes, I believe so, for all that you are sent after me like a hunter. I see it in your face. You do not like this work, do you?’
‘What I like is neither here nor there, Lady Honor. I must ask what you and the serjeant were talking about.’
She got up and went to the buffet, where a fine gold cup was prominent. ‘Gabriel Marchamount gave me this, it is a gift. He advises the Mercers’ Company, you know; he used to advise my husband and now he is gone Gabriel advises me on the many legal matters I have to deal with.’ She took another deep breath. ‘He has been, shall we say, attentive.’
‘Ah.’ I felt myself redden.
‘He has indicated more than once that he would like to take my husband’s place.’
‘I see. He loves you.’
She surprised me with a sudden mocking laugh. ‘Loves me? Master Shardlake, surely you have heard of Gabriel’s attempts to persuade the College of Heralds to provide him with a coat of arms, though his father was a fishmonger? He can bring no proof of noble birth and is not sufficiently elevated to get the king to intervene with them. His attempts have failed. But he wants more than anything to have a son who one day can say he is of noble birth. He lusts after nobility as a pig lusts after truffles. So now he is looking for another way to get it. He would like to marry into a noble family.’
‘I see.’
Her face was red now too, with embarrassment and anger. I felt ashamed.
‘But truly, Master Shardlake, there are some who are not fit to rise above their station and Marchamount is one.’ Her voice trembled. ‘He is an ambitious boor under all his smoothness. I have refused him, but he will not give up his designs. Oh, he is full of plans.’ She lowered her head a moment, then returned her gaze to me, her eyes bright. ‘But I have never mentioned looking at the Greek Fire papers to him. I would not be such a fool. And he has never mentioned them to me.’ The nerve in her face trembled again and she turned to the window, looking across the courtyard to the banqueting hall. I half-rose, then sat down again. I was ashamed of humiliating her, but there remained another question I must ask.
‘I overheard something else at the banquet, Lady Honor. The Duke of Norfolk muttered to Marchamount that there was something he would have you do, but that you would not.’
She did not turn round. ‘The Duke of Norfolk covets land, Master Shardlake. He would be the greatest landowner in the realm. My family still has some left and the duke would have part of it in return for advancing my cousin at court. But I have advised Henry’s father not to give away what little we have left, whatever advance Norfolk might seem to promise. Henry is not cut out for the role of saviour of our family.’
I stared at her rigid back. ‘I am truly sorry to expose these private sorrows,’ I said.