Spy Games

by Jillian Boyd

  She didst appear flustered but was obviously aroused at out our encounter. I didst apologise most graciously and she didst smile coyly back at me, but beneath her feigning of modesty I couldst sense her ardent desire for me. With our bodies pressed against one another’s, I didst reach out and touch her beautiful auburn hair and didst mutter endearments, proclaiming that the fates must have brought us together. Bending over her, I took her face in my hands and planted a kiss on those most wondrous ruby lips. We kissed long and lustily and when our lips parted she didst pant and her breasts did swell with desire. She didst complain meekly at the intrusion on her modesty, but I couldst see her protestations were half-hearted and, when I told her how much I didst desire her, she succumbed again to my lusty courting of her and we didst kiss most passionately again.

  I pressed her to arrange a further meeting and didst persuade her to leave the door to her bedchamber open this night so I couldst sneak through the corridors of the castle and, most privily, join her there. She was hesitant at first, but after a little amorous persuasion with my silken words she gave way and furthermore said that, in troth, she didst earnestly desire me and would await my arrival. I waited in delighted anticipation the whole day - for indeed, your Honour, this girl is the loveliest woman I have ever set eyes on. To seduce her and wile out her mistress’s secrets from her in the privacy of her own bedchamber wouldst be a challenge to anticipate and doubtless derive considerable pleasure from.

  That same night I didst creep unto Anne Bennett’s bedchamber and enter it without knocking for fear of drawing attention to our liaison. She was already in her bed-gown, sat at her toilette, brushing her most luxuriant hair. I didst sneak quietly up behind her and kissed the delightful curve of her neck. She didst not resist, merely uttering a little moan. I couldst see her smile of pleasure reflected in the mirror as I planted kisses on her back. She didst lean back in her chair and seek mine lips out with hers and I duly obliged her with a passionate kiss.

  She rose from her chair and I didst take her in my arms muttering sweet endearments in her ear. Then I took up her bed gown and didst lift it over her head. She didst succumb willingly, lifting her arms up to allow the garment to slide up her body and over her head to reveal her nakedness. Your Honour, what sight befell me - for this woman is the most beautiful I have set eyes on and to see the gentle curves of her hips and to feast on her naked flesh was, indeed, a delight.

  My ardour was aroused and required satisfaction. I scooped her up in my arms and carried her unto the bed where I gently placed her. She didst lay there in her soft nakedness, her eyes betraying her lust for me. I didst tenderly touch her breasts and run my fingers along her milk-white flesh and she didst moan sorely with need. I kissed her nipples and she didst gasp. I didst plant my lips on hers and she didst moan with pleasure and urge me to enter her. With such encouragements, I didst hastily strip my clothes from my body to lie naked alongside her. And my member was most hard. It didst need release so I pressed myself onto her, taking her face in my hands and muttering most urgently how much I desired her. And she didst respond by saying how much she wanted me in her and didst urge me to put my lance into her hole.

  It was most wondrous to make love to this beautiful girl. I didst thrust myself inside her and she didst embrace my member in the folds of her crack, pulling me into her as deeply as it wouldst penetrate. Her body didst move with mine and we didst make energetic love like two wild animals. We didst kiss and nip and bite as I moved inside her; her hips didst buck and twist in tune with mine until I couldst hold back no longer and didst burst forth inside her.

  Your Honour, I trust you will forgive me for dwelling on these details, but I do thus to demonstrate the depth of her ardour for me and, therefore, to persuade you of her willingness to do anything for me, so that what follows will appear credible.

  Once we had finished our lusty tupping and whilst she was nestled comfortably in mine warm and loving arms, having taken her unto a state of blissful fulfilment with my love making, I thought it timely to question her further concerning Mary’s letters written in cypher which Anne doth secretly smuggle out of the castle. She confessed it was thus and that she didst follow her mistress’s orders in acting in this manner.

  I made clear my interest in these letters, and admitted to working for your Honour on behalf her Majestie, no less. She expressed shock at first - but then excitement that I, and indeed her, were at the centre of such dangerous intrigues as affected the very security of the realm. I suggested these letters may contain conspiracies against Elizabeth’s very life and she professed her ignorance of this and her alarm that it might be so.

  My Honour, I used such subtle persuasions on her, using a combination of my love for her and the threat to her own life. I hinted that, if when the plots were unveiled, she was known to have played a role in the delivery of such letters then she would be implicated in the conspiracies and, therefore, the accusation of treason. She didst burst into tears when I told her this and didst protest that she had no idea of the content of the letters and wouldst never willingly be a party to such conspiracies.

  I proclaimed that I loved her dearly and that we couldst find a new life together away from the intrigues and dangers of her mistress’s court, but that she wouldst have to privily pass Mary’s letters unto me so I couldst translate the cypher and inform your Honour of her innocence and her part in uncovering the plots. By now she was most sorely upset and sobbed with tears against my shoulder. I didst hold her tenderly in my arms proclaiming my love for her and saying it was in the power of her lover to extricate her from involvement in these plots, and offering my undying passion for her. She succumbed to my ministrations and agreed forthwith to pass her mistress’s secret letters unto me.

  Your Honour, I doth truly believe the trap has now been laid and, with the help of Anne, the pernicious plots of Mary and her conspirators will be exposed. I wouldst urge your Honour that in all this Anne is innocent and wouldst seek your promise of pardon for her for any improprieties she may have, unwittingly, allowed herself to be drawn into. I am confident that Mary can be exposed and that, with Anne’s help, I can extract the evidences that will be her undoing.

  Your Lordship’s bounden, Gilbert Gifford.

  Anne Bennett to John Ballard

  At Chartley Castle, 2nd May in the yeare of our Lord 1586

  My dear Padre, greetings in the name of Our Holy Father and the Blessed Virgin. I bring you report on the urgent matter for which you hath recruited my assistance in support of our common cause. As you proposed, I hath befriended the valet, known to you I believe by the name Gilbert Gifford, recently appointed to the castle’s household. It hath been most difficult for me, and I hath been subjected to the most extreme hardships. I fear for my soul for the indiscretions I hath committed in support of our beloved Queen Mary and our faith. I wish you were present so I couldst kneel before you to confess my sins and seek absolution for surrendering my body to this man. I pray God will forgive me this sin, committed in support of a nobler and greater cause, namely the restoration of the Catholic Church to England. For yes, my Lord, I admit to the sin of fornication with this Gifford.

  Let me confess to the circumstances in which I felt obliged to accede to his advances to maintain the credibility of my false seeming. We didst meet at the dance in the great hall and, forewarned of your Lordship’s suspicions, I didst catch his eye and forthwith couldst see the sinful lust that glinted therein. He is most vain and he didst immediately succumb to my attentions. The next day he clumsily arranged a meeting with me and didst force himself upon me, saying he wouldst enter my bedchamber that night. He didst burst in and start kissing me in most intimate places and then didst strip me and did most lustily enter me. Oh, Padre, as you canst imagine, I was most sorely distressed and fought back my tears to keep up mine pretence. I am most sorely ashamed and must confess to my sins and trust that God, in his infinite mercy, would
st forgive them.

  The outcome of this liaison is confirmation that, far from being a supporter of Mary and our cause, this Gilbert Gifford is false and now acts as an agent for Sir Francis Walsingham. He speaks openly of his communication with Elizabeth’s spymaster. He hath sought information from me touching on my relationship with Queen Mary. I hath supplied him with such information as I dare give without implicating my mistress in order to convey the impression that he has won me over.

  It is clear from my conversations that Walsingham has knowledge of your rôle in the conspiracy, and also of Sir Anthony Bebington’s and Savage’s. In the light of this information, my clear advice to your Honour, insofar as you would accept such guidance, is that you must now act quickly and strike whilst Walsingham is not expecting it. To this end I wouldst urge you seek the Queen Mary’s authority to enact the plot to assassinate Elizabeth at the earliest opportunity and that Bebington do all in his power to rally the gentry of the North to our cause. I hope you will accept these humble words of advice, for I fear that Walsingham has the evidences at hand at this moment that wouldst enable him to prosecute you, and if you delay any further then the opportunity will be gone and all will be lost. I have every faith, my Padre, that you wouldst act in the best interest of our Holy Church.

  Yours, in the name of the Blessed Virgin, Anne Bennett

  Sir Francis Walsingham to Gilbert Gifford

  At Hampton Court, 10th May in the yeare of our Lord 1586

  Sir, I am in receipt of your recent letter and the reports contained therein. Your account is both amusing and arousing but I doth hope, both for your own sake and for the security of the realm, that your instincts concerning this girl canst be trusted. If so, then you must work her, my friend. Impress upon her the urgency of this matter and the need to obtain such letters as would incriminate the Queen of the Scots. My carefully-laid plans are building to a climax and I wouldst not be undone so close to securing my goal, so you must impose on this girl to do my bidding and do not permit thine own lusts to distract yourself from that end. Yours, most assuredly, Sir Francis Walsingham

  Gilbert Gifford to Sir Francis Walsingham

  At Chartley Castle, 18th June in the yeare of our Lord 1586

  Your Honour, I am most surely convinced that the girl, Anne Bennett, has been won over to our side. We are lovers and, most secretly, I doth attend her bedchamber as frequently as it is safe to do so. She doth profess her undying love for me.

  Forgive me your Honour, but, as an example to vouchsafe the unbounded lust the girl possesses for me, I wouldst describe our lovemaking from a few evenings ago. For on that night she didst play with my member. She didst start by handling it gently, stroking it with her fingers and planting kisses on it. I hath never met a member of the fairer sex to possess such lusty imaginings. For then she didst take my prick in her mouth most fully, drawing it down into her throat and sucking and licking it most lustily. I hath never experienced anything like it. And then she didst pull my member from her mouth and let me come onto her fulsome breasts. Apologies, your Honour, for I digress, but I wouldst demonstrate the most ardent desire she has for me, and my faith that she wouldst take the utmost risks on my behalf.

  Your Honour, I have impressed upon her the urgency of the matter and what is at stake. She hath already passed on those letters of Mary written in cypher, which I have been able to decode, but none that as yet doth incriminate her fully in the plots. Anne doth insist she wouldst do her utmost to support our cause, and I hath encouraged her to use whatever influences she can exert on her mistress to write to Babington or Ballard to encourage and support their plots.

  I will write forthwith, as soon as I can bring further report.

  Your Honour’s bounden, Gilbert Gifford.

  Anne Bennett to John Ballard

  At Chartley Castle, 5th July in the yeare of our Lord 1586

  My dear Padre, greetings in the name of Our Holy Father and the Blessed Virgin. I write these letters in urgency. Walsingham’s spy is pressing me hard, both for the names of the conspirators in the plots and for evidences of my mistress’s support for them. He is most insistent and doth urge that, out of my professed love for him, I supply him with the aforesaid details, and I feel it impossible to withstand his pressure without compromising my position. Walsingham’s man still forces himself upon me and doth make me carry out the most depraved acts, for which I am most sorely shameful and wouldst seek absolution for.

  I need to provide him with some information and wouldst feed him with falsehoods to delay his enquiries, but need to know the names of all those implicated in the plot, so I do not accidently name them and thus draw Walsingham’s attention to them. Nonetheless, Walsingham already knows the names of the principal conspirators. I doth strongly urge you to do all in your power to persuade my mistress to write to Sir Anthony Babington to set the plot in motion before Walsingham’s net is drawn too tightly around you, in which case you will all be undone. I have spoken to my mistress and advised her of this. I fear that decisive action is needed forthwith before Walsingham acts against you. I remain your most humble servant.

  Yours, in the name of the Blessed Virgin, Anne Bennett

  Gilbert Gifford to Anne Bennett

  11th August in the yeare of our Lord 1586

  My dearest Anne, the trap is sprung. This very morn, Walsingham’s men will arrest Mary whilst she is out riding. I wouldst warn you to flee Chartley forthwith without any delay. Go in disguise and retire to the inn at the sign of the Golden Cockerel in Uttoxeter and I will seek you out there. I must make mine own escape to London to make reports to my master, Walsingham. In the meantime, I hath enclosed some sovereigns for your expenses. My love, I so long to be with you again and every minute that passes away from you is an agony. Rest assured I will join you as soon as it is politic to. I love you with all my heart, my dearest Anne. Now this dangerous business is drawing to a close, my only desire is to share my bedchamber with you so I might feel the warmth of your body against mine and make ardent love to you. Your dearest love, Gilbert Gifford.

  Anne Bennett to Gilbert Gifford

  At the sign of the Golden Cock, Uttoxeter, 12th August in the yeare of our Lord 1586

  My dearest love, do not tarry long for I desire so much to lie with you. I canst not wait to have you inside me and to make love to you openly, without fear of discovery or recrimination. My passion for you knows no bounds. I want your member in my hands and in my mouth. I want your kisses on my breasts and your tongue in my crack.

  My love, following your most urgent warning I didst escape from Chartley Castle and hath taken rooms at the sign of the Golden Cock as you advised. I will keep myself hidden in my rooms until you arrive.

  From the actions that hath been taken, it wouldst seem that the final letter I intercepted and passed to you was sufficient to incriminate my late mistress in the treasonable plots to overthrow our sovereign Queen, Elizabeth. The castle was thrown into chaos as the rumours of Mary’s capture by Walsingham’s men spread. Her secretaries were most fearful, for they wouldst know the part they hath played in this rebellion. Because of my love’s warnings, I was prepared and didst privily escape from the castle in the midst of all this uproar.

  I wouldst urge my love to speak to Sir Francis Walsingham and plead on my behalf for there are such letters of mine as wouldst incriminate me in the plots, but which were written only at my love’s urging to force the hand of the conspirators and implicate my treasonable mistress. For I doth fear for my life if such letters are revealed and taken at their face.

  Oh, my love, but the minutes seem like hours as I wait for you. I beg you to come as soon as you can as I doth desire to have you inside me so much.

  From your dearest love, Anne.

  Gilbert Gifford to Anne Bennett

  At Calais 20th August in the yeare of our Lord 1586

  My d
earest love, it was such sweet meeting at Uttoxeter. Oh, what joy to spend the day, just the two of us, in your bedchamber and how lucky is your love to hath such a lusty, energetic lover!

  Now, my love, I have laid the preparations for our new life together. Walsingham was most pleased with my work and hath rewarded me most generously, both with sovereigns and, as you doth know, with a new position. He hath given me a pseudonym and found a position for me in the employ of the Spanish Ambassador in Paris as, with my knowledge of French, I wouldst be in an ideal position to spy on those relations between the foreign princes of France and Spain and such threats as they pose to our nation. You will be the toast of the salons of Paris, my love, and with your beauty and skills, will be able to entice such secrets from those diplomatic and military envoys that doth frequent them.

  And Walsingham is most grateful to you, my love, for your part in Mary’s downfall for he hath told me that, together, we doth make a great conspiracy of spies!

  My love, I am so much looking forward to our new life together. I will meet you at Calais when your ship docks and from whence we ride to my rooms in Paris where we can finally be together and make love for as often and for as long as we doth desire! Adieu, my love, until that most happy moment. Your dearest love, Gilbert Gifford.

  Harper

  F. Leonora Solomon

  Glenne only hoped she’d been successful in escaping Russell. She’d told him she needed a smoke - which was partially true, actually. Stood outside the retro bar, in her tight latex dress, she wondered why his seemingly innocent line of questioning had turned a bit too personal for comfort...

  “Need a light?”

  He’d found her. Damn. She rolled her eyes up at him, lighting up.

  “I have my own, thank you.”

  She leaned against the wall outside, and he stood closer to her. Glenne blew smoke in his face. “Look, I left because I wanted to be alone. Okay?”