I TOOK THEM BOTH INTO my office and told them what had just happened. I said, ‘This means Stice must be dealt with tomorrow.’
‘What grounds are there to lift him?’ Barak asked. ‘He hasn’t done anything illegal, and Rich won’t be pleased.’
‘That’s a matter for Lord Parr. I will look for him at this great banquet at Hampton Court tomorrow afternoon. My last assignment for Treasurer Rowland. From what I gleaned from the instructions, it will be just a matter of standing round with hundreds of others,’ I said bitterly, ‘showing d’Annebault how many prosperous Englishmen with gold chains there are. Though most are struggling with the taxes to pay for the war, while many thousands more that he will not see struggle simply to exist.’
Barak raised his eyebrows. ‘You sound like one of the extreme radicals.’
I shrugged. ‘Anyway, I should be able to find Lord Parr then.’
‘What if you don’t? Among all that throng?’
‘I will.’ Then all the anger that had been building in me in these last few days burst out and I banged a fist on my desk, making the glass inkpot jump and spill ink. ‘I’ll find what Rich and Stice have been up to. Damn them, spying on me for months, kidnapping Nicholas, cozening me into working for them. I’ll have no more of it! I’m tired to death of being used, used, used!’
It was seldom I lost my temper, and Barak and Nicholas looked at each other. Nicholas said tentatively, ‘Might it not be better to leave the matter where it is, sir? Your faithless steward is gone. Anne Askew’s book is taken abroad, the Queen’s book vanished. And it was taken by different men, not Stice. There is now no trace of the men who killed Greening and those others in his group.’
‘And no evidence at all they are connected to Rich,’ Barak agreed. ‘Quite the opposite.’
‘There has always been some – some third force out there, someone who employed those two murderers,’ I said. ‘But we have never been able to find out who. Whatever Rich and Stice’s reason for spying on me – as they have been since well before the book was stolen – it may be nothing to do with the Lamentation; but it is to do with the Queen. Brocket said he was told particularly to watch for any contact between us. For her sake I have to resolve this. And, yes, for mine!’
Nicholas looked at me seriously. ‘Do you want me to come to the house tomorrow?’
Barak nodded at him. ‘There is no guarantee Stice will be alone tomorrow.’
‘Lord Parr has sent a man to watch the house, he’ll know who’s coming and going.’
‘You should still have somebody with you, sir,’ Nicholas persisted. I looked at him; the expression on his freckled face was sincere, though I did not doubt that his youthful taste for adventure had been stirred again.
Barak said, ‘Well, if he goes, I’d better go too, to keep an eye on you both.’
I hesitated. ‘No, you have both done enough. I’m sure I can persuade Lord Parr to send some men.’
‘But if you can’t – ’ Barak raised his eyebrows.
I looked at them. I realized that from the moment I had sent Brocket with the message I had wanted them to offer to come. And both of them had made their offer mainly from loyalty to me. My throat felt suddenly tight. ‘We will see,’ I said.
Nicholas shook his head. ‘I wish we could have discovered who was behind those men who stole the Queen’s book.’
Barak laughed. ‘You’re doing a lot of wishing, long lad. It doesn’t look like Rich but it’s not impossible. Or it could be Wriothesley, or either of them acting on Bishop Gardiner’s orders.’
‘Yes,’ I agreed. ‘But I don’t know. The Lady Mary could even be involved, with that so-called fool Jane; though I doubt that now. Or even the Seymours, working against the Parrs.’
Barak raised an imaginary glass. ‘Here’s to the King and all his family, and all his grand councillors, and the great Admiral d’Annebault. To the whole bloody lot of them.’
I RETURNED HOME TIRED, and with a guilty conscience. It was my feeling of being used that had caused me to lose my temper, but what was I myself doing if not using Barak and Nicholas?
The house was quiet, the late afternoon sun glinting on the window panes. A rich man’s house; in many ways I was lucky. I thought of Martin Brocket and poor Agnes, now no doubt riding hard northwards, kerchiefs round their mouths against the dust. At least the money I had given Agnes should ensure them decent mounts. I would have to rely on Josephine and Timothy until I could find a new steward.