Lamentation

Leeman looked at him defiantly. ‘And we found them. Even Myldmore, whom we had rejected because he had not reached true faith, came back to us when Anne Askew entrusted him with her writings. We knew that if her story of illegal torture by two councillors of state were published abroad and smuggled back into England it would rouse the populace. English printers are too closely watched for it to be done safely here. And it will be published,’ he said defiantly. ‘The government has agents in Flanders, but Master Vandersteyn’s people are adept at avoiding them.’

‘I see.’ I took a long breath. ‘Well, I told you, I do not care about Anne Askew’s book. Others did, and it was necessary for me to work with them for a while.’

‘Richard Rich?’ Leeman asked. ‘There is a villain.’

I inclined my head. ‘As for you, you overheard the Queen and Archbishop Cranmer disputing loudly one night when you were on duty, and learned of the existence of the Lamentation.’

He groaned, wincing at a spasm of pain. ‘By my faith, sir, you are a clever man.’

I took another deep breath. ‘And I guess you told your group about the Queen’s book, and it was decided you would steal the Lamentation, even though publication could seal the Queen’s fate. Because you believed her fate was already sealed and publication would at least show that she held radical beliefs before she was toppled. And you knew her fate was sealed because of Bertano?’

‘Yes. I argued within the group that it was better to expose Bertano publicly, that knowledge of his coming would truly rouse the populace. But others argued against, saying we would not be believed and it was too late to prevent his coming.’

‘Who argued that position?’

‘Master Curdy and Captain McKendrick both.’

‘And how did you find out about Bertano?’

‘I told you, Vandersteyn has informants on the Continent. Including a junior official at the French court. Suffice to say that his responsibilities involved accommodation for foreign visitors, which gave him the opportunity, like me, to overhear conversations. Such as the arrival in France of Gurone Bertano, a papal ambassador who once lived in England and was being sent to seek an agreement between the Pope and King Henry. At the King’s invitation.’

Barak shook his head firmly. ‘The King would never surrender his authority back to Rome.’

‘Yes,’ Leeman agreed. ‘Master Vandersteyn was mightily shocked when his emissary from Flanders brought him the news.’ He looked at me, his dark eyes hard. ‘But his people can always be trusted. Bertano is now at the French court, and he will arrive here within a few days. It has been done secretly, only a few men at court know, and nobody with any sympathy for reform. Certainly not the Queen.’

I glanced at Barak, who sat stroking his beard, frowning hard. It was an outlandish, extraordinary story, yet it fitted what Lord Parr had told me — that despite their failure to destroy the Queen and those around her, the conservative faction were not downcast, were rather comporting themselves as though they had something else up their sleeves. If this was their trump card, the stakes could not be higher.

‘When did the news about Bertano come?’ I asked.

‘Just after I told our group about overhearing the Queen’s argument with Cranmer over the Lamentation. And we all agreed: if the King decides to go back to Rome, it surely follows that the Queen must be replaced. The Pope would insist on it. But if the Lamentation were published, the populace would see the King had executed a good and true woman.’

I got up and walked to the window. I was horrified. If what Leeman said about Bertano was true, the Queen was in deadly danger from another source, too, and was a dispensable pawn in a far bigger game. It was hard to take in. But at least it seemed Greening’s group had made a majority decision not to publish the Lamentation before the Queen fell, but only to keep it in Greening’s shop. Safe, they supposed.

Barak spoke bluntly to Leeman. ‘Making public that the King was about to receive a secret emissary from the Pope would surely have roused popular anger, perhaps prevented the visit taking place at all.’

‘Ay,’ Nicholas nodded agreement. ‘The outrage among reformers would be tremendous.’

Leeman replied, ‘That is what I said when we discussed Bertano in the group. We argued over it for days.’

I came back to him and sat down again. ‘But Curdy and McKendrick opposed it? I ask, Master Leeman, because I think one of your group might have been a spy in the pay of a third party, I know not who. I am fairly certain, by the way, that we were followed to the docks tonight, and that events there were watched.’