Bartholomew Fair

by Ann Swinfen

  ‘Ah, Kit,’ said Phelippes, ‘so you could not prevent Sir Francis from returning to London.’

  I did not know how to answer this, but Sir Francis laughed.

  ‘Do not tease the boy, Thomas. He would have had me stay at Barn Elms, like everyone else, but I can rest as well here as there.’

  He turned to me. ‘Thomas has been bringing me up to date on what has happened today, but perhaps Nick can tell you.’

  I turned to Berden, raising my eyebrows in query.

  ‘We found Borecroft,’ he said. ‘Or we nearly did. He has been back to his shop in Cheapside, and one of my lads came running to tell me, but he was gone out the back way by the time I got there.’

  ‘Unfortunate,’ I said.

  ‘Aye. Unfortunate.’ He smiled grimly. ‘It seems he has a reason to make himself scarce. Just minutes after I got there, court officers acting for his creditors arrived. It seems he is considerably in debt.’

  ‘Oh?’ I was surprised. ‘He seemed very prosperous, for a toy seller. He had a massive stock in his stall at the Fair.’

  ‘That’s why he’s in debt. Overstretched himself. I had a word with another neighbour I hadn’t spoken to before, who knows him quite well. Says he’s a cheery fellow, always believes everything will turn out all right. A fine musician. A grand fellow with the children. Bit of a child himself. Can’t manage money. That shop of his, the rent is much too high for the amount of business he does. Toys, you see, they’re cheap. Even if you sell a lot, you’re not going to make a fortune.’

  ‘I suppose not,’ I said, beginning to see where this was leading.

  ‘So this Borecroft, he has grand ideas. He’s going to be the greatest toy man in London. He’s going to be the king of toy men! His father was a toy man before him, went about the streets with a tray round his neck, like a pie seller, and that’s how this Borecroft started, but it wasn’t good enough for him. So he rents this big shop, buys in a huge stock, runs up all these debts. He does plenty of business, mind. The children all love him. Just not enough business to meet his expenses. Too much money going out, not enough coming in.’

  ‘I see.’ I was beginning to feel sorry for Borecroft. After all, apart from flirting outrageously with Anne and Sara, I did not honestly know any real harm of him. Perhaps indeed he had agreed to play for the puppeteers simply because he needed the money.

  ‘There’s more,’ Phelippes said.

  I turned to him. ‘You think he may be involved after all?’

  ‘While he has been making these enquiries, Nick has spoken to the men who came to try to collect the debts. There is a fellow called Ingram Frizer.’

  He exchanged a glance with Sir Francis.

  ‘He’s sometimes been useful to us,’ Phelippes went on. ‘He is not a regular intelligencer, but he moves in certain circles . . . He has occasionally passed us bits of information, for a consideration.’

  I knew what that meant. Beyond the regular group of the service’s trusted agents, there was a mass of rogues and vagabonds who could prove valuable in certain circumstances.

  ‘How does Frizer come into it?’ I said.

  ‘His main business is getting foolish young men to borrow money on what seem to be good terms, but there is always a trick to it, and they end up owing ten times, a hundred times, what they borrowed.’

  ‘And Borecroft borrowed from him?’

  ‘He did. Borrowed heavily.’ Phelippes paused before delivering the clinching blow. ‘Frizer is a friend, and perhaps a business associate, of Robert Poley.’

  Realisation broke through. ‘You mean, you think Poley might have been putting some kind of pressure on Borecroft?’ I said. ‘Forcing him to pay back his debt to this Ingram Frizer, by making threats?’

  ‘Possibly.’ Phelippes glanced at Sir Francis again. ‘We all know that Robert Poley often goes his own way, and his behaviour is not always–’ he searched for the right word, ‘not always, shall we say, desirable? But he can get results, and he has often been of great use in the past.’

  ‘But this time he is certainly not working for Sir Francis, or you would know of it.’ I was growing tired of the way we were tiptoeing around the subject. ‘If Poley is not working for us, he is either working for himself or for someone else. What sort of threat could he have made against Borecroft? A threat of violence? Or do you think it was something different – not a threat of violence but a promise that his debt would be cancelled if he did something? Something which links him to the puppeteers and the soldiers with the gunpowder?’

  ‘The whole thing baffles me,’ Berden said. ‘What use would a toy man be to a group of papist troublemakers or to soldiers planning to blow up a building? It makes no sense.’

  ‘We can do no more tonight,’ Phelippes said. He stole another glance at Sir Francis who had begun to look very tired. ‘I have men watching both the Herbar and Drake’s warehouse. I doubt anyone can interfere with either building without our being able to stop them. You, Kit, and Nick, go your ways for now and come back here first thing tomorrow.’ He turned again to Sir Francis. ‘You, sir, you must be tired after that long ride, when you are only just got up from your bed. Lady Ursula will not take it kindly if I keep you up late.’

  Sir Francis levered himself out of his chair with a groan.

  ‘You are right, Thomas. The rest of the family will be here soon. I had better look as though I am on my way to bed.’

  ‘I think I can hear them coming now,’ I said, for there was a clattering of hooves and the sound of wheels heading towards the stable yard, which could be heard even from here.

  Nick Berden and I went down the stairs together, meeting servants on the way up, carrying bundles and chests. The stable yard was brightly lit with lanterns hung on all the walls, while Harry and the other stable lads hurried about, unharnessing the horses from the coach and the luggage cart, and leading them into the stables. I collected Rikki from the tack room where he had been shut to be out of the way.

  As Berden and I headed west across the city, I said, ‘What do you think is really afoot, Nick?’ He was a shrewd and experienced man. He was as likely as anyone to guess what was being planned, but he still looked baffled.

  ‘It’s like some terrible conundrum, Kit.’ He laughed ruefully. ‘A pack of Italian papist puppet masters with a scurrilous play. An English toy man who seems harmless but may be in debt to one of the greatest rogues in London. Oh, aye. I know all about Ingram Frizer and his little schemes. A troop of disaffected armed soldiers in possession of a pack of gunpowder – we don’t know how much. And a tricky spy who is probably as two-faced as that Roman god – what is he called?’

  ‘Janus,’ I said.

  ‘Aye, Janus. A tricky bastard of a double agent I’ve never liked and wouldn’t trust if I had him chained to the wall and gagged.’

  ‘So you don’t like Poley either.’ It was a relief to find that my opinion was so widely shared.

  ‘I do not. But what is the meaning of it all?’

  I stood stock still as we came to the Cheapside Great Conduit.

  ‘My mathematics tutor, Master Harriot, had some training in the law. I remember him saying to me that in trying to solve a crime at law, you should always ask “cui bono”. He was talking about something else at the time, but I think it applies here.’

  Three drunken young gallants pushed past us, singing some rude ditty. Once they were gone, Berden said, ‘What does that mean, “cui bono”?’

  ‘Well, “to whose good”, in other words, “who benefits”. If these people, or some of them, plan to blow up a building, how do they benefit? We don’t know for sure that it is the Herbar, but suppose it is.’

  He rubbed his chin with a rasping sound. He had three or four days’ growth of stubble. ‘The soldiers will benefit if they can steal some valuable goods. And they will get revenge on Drake for treating them shabbily.’

  ‘Aye. And the Italians will cause terror and death in the heart of London, perhaps as a first step in a
Catholic attack.’

  ‘But then we come back to Poley and Borecroft,’ he said. ‘What does Poley gain?’

  ‘I think he will do anything for a large enough payment. And he may be a true papist sympathiser, not just a fake one. There have been suspicions about that in the past.’

  ‘So he could be in league with the Italians?’

  ‘Aye, or paid by them.’

  ‘That still leaves Borecroft,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘What could they want with him?’

  ‘If Poley has some hold over him, through Frizer,’ I said, ‘he might be forced to do something for them, but I cannot imagine what.’

  ‘It makes my head ache,’ he said. ‘We’ll get no further tonight, Kit. I go down toward the river here. I will see you tomorrow.’

  ‘Aye,’ I said. ‘Perhaps if we sleep on it, we will wake with an answer. Goodnight, Nick.’

  I gave a tug on Rikki’s lead, for he had fallen asleep on the Conduit steps, and we set off on the last part of our way to Wood Street. I had grown cold while we stood talking. It was not yet September, but that east wind carried the threat of autumn. Remembering the wheat standing tall in Sir Francis’s fields, I hoped the farmers would be able to gather the harvest safely in, for famine was never distant in the crowded streets of London, which must depend on the work of men in fields far away. How many of the thousands lost in the folly of the Portuguese expedition should have been working at the harvest in the coming weeks? How many villages would have to depend on the labour of women and old men to bring in the crops before winter fell upon us all? I shivered.

  When I reached the Lopez house I ran up the stairs to my room and quickly changed my breeches and hose, for I knew there would be a strong smell of horse about them after my long ride. Coming downstairs again I met Camster.

  ‘Good evening, Dr Alvarez,’ he said. ‘The master has ridden out to Eton to see Dom Antonio, and the mistress is about to dine in the small family dining parlour with the children. Will you join them?’

  ‘Aye,’ I said with a smile. ‘I am home in time to dine for once.’

  I much preferred the smaller room for intimate family meals. The grand dining hall, with its vast table of imported wood from the Indies, had always intimidated me when I had come to dine here with my father. Ruy liked to impress guests with his dinner parties, but he was having to tread carefully these days.

  In the smaller room I found Sara and Anne with the younger children just sitting down to eat.

  ‘Ah good, Kit,’ Sara said. ‘I fear you have had little time for proper meals these last few days.’

  ‘I had a meal midday at Barn Elms,’ I said, and watched with amusement as Anthony’s mouth fell open.

  ‘You have been all the way to Surrey and back today?’ Anne asked.

  ‘Aye, and all my muscles are aching.’ I pulled out a chair and sat down. ‘Ambrose has gone back to his grandfather, then?’

  ‘They are very busy with a large shipment of long pepper,’ Sara said, ‘which must be sent out to customers in Oxford and York and Bristol, as well as London.’

  ‘We all of us had but a short holiday, then,’ I said, ‘to visit the Fair.’

  ‘You seem to have had much business at Seething Lane ever since,’ Anne said. ‘I think you did not like those puppeteers.’ She gave me a shrewd look. She had a quick understanding, Anne Lopez.

  ‘I did not,’ I said, as one of the maid servants carried in a steaming tureen of soup and began to serve us. ‘But I am afraid I may not speak of it.’

  Anne nodded, but when the girl had gone, closing the door softly behind her, she said, ‘May you speak of it now?’

  ‘Better not. Perhaps later, when . . . when things are settled.’

  ‘Anne, do not tease Kit,’ Sara said, frowning.

  ‘She is not teasing,’ I said. ‘After what we all saw at that puppet show, Anne is right to be concerned. Later I am sure I can speak of it.’

  Phelippes had not, in fact, forbidden me to speak of the concerns arising from what had occurred at the Fair, but it was understood by all of us at Seething Lane, without discussion, that we must avoid panic in the City at all costs. If the story of the gunpowder and suspicious foreigners were to spread abroad, that would be the inevitable outcome.

  The maid servant returned to clear away the soup and was followed by Camster bearing a heavy platter holding two roast ducks, which he carved and served. The maid brought fresh bread rolls and a dish of summer salad.

  Once we were eating again, I said, ‘I can tell you some news, though. Good news.’

  They looked at me expectantly.

  ‘Sir Francis has found me a place at St Thomas’s hospital. I am to replace a full physician who is retiring. Though,’ I laughed, ‘I am only to receive an assistant’s salary. I start in two weeks’ time.’

  ‘That is wonderful news, Kit,’ Sara said warmly. ‘I know how much you want to be practising medicine again.’

  ‘And I shall no longer be in your debt,’ I said. ‘I shall be able to pay my way now.’

  ‘You know that does not matter, Kit,’ Sara scolded, shaking a finger at me and laughing.

  Anthony, however, was frowning. ‘It does not seem fair,’ he objected. ‘You should be paid properly for the work you do.’

  ‘Ah, but you see,’ I said, ‘I have not studied in the Faculty of Medicine at Oxford or Cambridge, or even at a university abroad, like your father and mine. I cannot become a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. So the governors of St Thomas’s are quite within their rights to limit my salary.’

  ‘I still do not think it is fair,’ he muttered.

  ‘Well, make sure you study hard and attend university,’ I said, ‘then you will have no problem.’

  ‘You sound like my schoolmasters.’

  ‘Aye, I do!’ I laughed. ‘Who am I to lecture you? When do you go back to Winchester?’

  ‘In two weeks. When you will be starting at St Thomas’s.’

  ‘Then we shall both be working hard. Will you be glad to go back?’

  He made a face. ‘The food is terrible. I wouldn’t feed it to a pig. And some of the masters are too ready with a birch switch. But I like the lessons, and I’ve made some good friends.’

  ‘I wish I might have gone to school,’ Anne said wistfully. ‘My father would not permit me to attend one of the new schools for gentlewomen. He said it was a waste of time, educating women.’

  ‘Many men think that,’ I said.

  ‘But you do not?’

  I smiled secretly down at my plate. ‘Nay, I do not think that. But I was educated by my father, as you have been educated by your mother, and you have had the run of an excellent library here.’ I sighed. ‘What I regret most, amongst the things that my father’s creditors seized before I reached home, was the books. And my lute.’

  ‘If I know you,’ Sara said, ‘once you are earning again, you will be buying books.’

  ‘You know me too well!’ I smiled at her.

  The rest of the evening passed in pleasant conversation. I remembered that I had not shared out the gingerbread I had bought at the Fair the day I had gone there with Arthur Gregory, so I fetched it from my room, to the children’s delight. Later, after the two little girls had been taken away to bed, I played a game of chess with Anthony, while Sara and Anne embroidered. I beat him, but only just. He was beginning to master the game. I went to bed contented, thinking how pleasant it was to be part of a family again, at least when Ruy was not about, with his frenetic efforts to carry out some scheme or other. Yet I could not remain here for ever. Once I had paid back all the money Sara had loaned me and I was drawing my salary at the hospital, I must find somewhere else to live. In the meantime, however, I was glad to shut out the world of Seething Lane and all its dangers, and pretend to be a normal person in a normal household, despite my disguise. This was the nearest thing to a family I had left to me now.

  The next morning I was back again at Seething Lane, this time having
left Rikki with Anne, who said that she planned to spend time sitting in the little summer house in the garden, reading, and Rikki could stay with her.

  ‘You rightly pointed out to me last night,’ she said, ‘that once we have the gift of reading, we can educate ourselves. As a woman, I do not need a professional training in medicine or church or law. Though I would have liked to attend school, if only to make friends amongst girls of my own age.’

  She looked sad again, for I knew she led a very restricted life, as Ruy Lopez’s daughter. Though neither Portuguese nor even truly Jewish herself, she was set somewhat apart. Like her mother, she attended the secret synagogue held at Dr Nuñez’s house from time to time, as a kind of duty to her ancestry. However, she went more happily to the Christian church in her parish, St Alban’s, one of London’s most ancient and holy churches. Although we hardly ever discussed religion, I thought that, like Sara, she regarded herself as English and Christian, despite the nod to the faith of her father’s and maternal grandfather’s birth. Ruy himself was a baptised Christian, as I was. What a tangle we lived in! Neither fish nor fowl.

  Back with Phelippes and Berden, I turned my mind to other matters. At least here I knew what I was and how I must conduct myself. I was accepted as a young man, clever at cracking codes, fluent in several languages, and, perhaps somewhat to my surprise, one of the trusted inner group closest about Sir Francis. I felt some pride in this trust they accorded me, though I wondered whether it would be shattered if they discovered that I had been deceiving them all these years, that I was in fact no young man but a girl. They must never find out, for I valued their friendship and their respect too much. I felt a brief stab of pity for Anne, despite her wealth, her family, and her comfortable home. Unlike her, I could go out into the world and find both friends and respect. I could even gain self respect through my work, here and as a physician.

  ‘Arthur!’ I said, as he came out of his small office. ‘I am glad to see you back. How does your wife fare? I was worried.’