‘God’s blood, John, this is a terrible pass,’ Henbird said.
Shakespeare pushed Glebe down roughly on to a settle. ‘I wish you to keep this miserable churl safe, Nicholas. Question him with me, then lock him away. You have a cellar?’
‘Beneath a concealed trapdoor. It’ll hold this fellow safe enough. And I have information for you.’
‘Hold it until we have dispensed with Glebe.’
They were in Nicholas Henbird’s pleasant solar room. The sky was dull, but even on such a day, light flooded in through large windows. Glebe, his arms bound behind his back, sat on a settle by a window. He looked as disconsolate as the sky.
Shakespeare glared at Glebe with contempt, then turned back to Henbird. ‘He has mentioned a name. Laveroke. Have you heard of him, Nick?’
Henbird shook his head. ‘No.’
‘Perhaps he is an invention of Glebe’s gong-house mind.’
‘I swear it, Mr Shakespeare. He is all too real, though I wish I had never met him.’
‘Tell us all you know. Who is this man, where did you meet, why is he using your broadsheet?’
‘I was approached by him,’ Glebe said in a quavering voice. ‘In a tavern.’
‘Which tavern?’
‘The Swan in Gray’s Inn Road. I go there often, to listen to the lawyers talk, to garner what news I may. This man, this Laveroke, approached me and asked if I would publish a goodly tale. He said he knew of me from friends. He told me he could give me stories that would sell the Informer by the wagonload. Not only that, he said, but he would pay me two pounds in gold for each story I published. How could I refuse such an offer, Mr Shakespeare?’
‘So you became Tamburlaine’s Apostle?’
‘No, that was Laveroke. He was the author of the stories: he put that name at the end. And they were good stories, Mr Shakespeare, the news the people wished to read.’
Henbird stood still by his great desk. ‘You must have realised you were delving into treacherous waters, Mr Glebe.’
Glebe nodded. ‘I was concerned, Mr Henbird, indeed I was. But which publisher would not want such tales? And to be paid gold as well
…’
‘You should have gone straightway to the Privy Council or, at the very least, to Stationers’ Hall, and you know it, Glebe,’ Shakespeare said. ‘Tell me of this Laveroke. What manner of man is he?’
Glebe sat in sullen resignation. ‘What are you going to do with me, Mr Shakespeare?’
‘That very much depends on you, Glebe. You have saved yourself from Little Ease thus far. But Sir Robert Cecil wishes you consigned to Newgate, and from there to Tyburn. You would do well to convince me otherwise.’
Glebe sighed heavily. ‘In truth, Mr Shakespeare, I thought Laveroke gentry, perhaps even nobility. He had an air about him, sir, an air…’
‘Explain.’
‘I thought him used to command. He was well attired in fine doublet. He had a jewelled dagger at his waist and, though not fat, he looked prosperous.’
‘After this first meeting at The Swan, where did you talk? Did he bring the stories to you at the house near Aldersgate?’
‘No. There is a tavern where I usually take my evening repast, The Mitre. He would come to me there. I had no idea when he would come. He would arrive with the story written in what I took to be his hand and with two pounds in gold.’
‘What was his voice?’
‘I cannot say. I could not identify it.’
‘Spanish? French? Dutch? English?’
‘He spoke perfect English, sir, but beyond that I cannot tell you true what he was, whether of Bristol or Norwich or any other place in this land.’
‘Was he bearded?’
‘Indeed. A spade beard, I would say, neat and well trimmed, as if he had been attended by a good East Cheap barber. His face was unmarked. He was a fetching man with hair that fell to his shoulder. I noted a heavy gold band on his forefinger and pearls studding the front of his doublet.’
‘Where can I find him?’
Glebe lowered his eyes, hunching down into his shoulders. He did not look up. His voice was a mumble, but Shakespeare’s hearing was acute. ‘I do not know. I never knew. I have never seen him before and wish never to see him again, for it is meeting him that has brought me to this ugly pass.’
‘Oh no, Glebe. There is more than that. You have wit enough to know the power of the words you have published. You know well what the Council thinks of such talk. And when it is written, it is a thousand times worse, for it infects others. You know this. Whatever else you are, you are no simpleton.’
Glebe stayed silent.
‘Have you heard of one Christopher Morley?’
Glebe shook his head.
‘He stayed silent. He is now dead, with a cord wound tight about his neck. That is the price of silence. And Marlowe? Did you know Kit Marlowe or Frizer or Poley or Skeres?’
Glebe hesitated.
‘Answer me or be damned to the comfort of Little Ease, Glebe.’
‘I have met Poley and Frizer, sir. Not Skeres, I never met him, but Poley and Frizer. They are coney hunters, Mr Shakespeare. They are the sort of men I know. I could not avoid meeting them from time to time…’
‘Were they involved in the Tamburlaine’s Apostle story?’
‘Not that I know of, sir. That was all Laveroke.’
‘You said he handed you the papers written in his own hand. Where are these papers now?’
‘Destroyed, Mr Shakespeare. Burnt in the hearth.’
‘As you are like to be, Glebe.’ Shakespeare had no time to waste. He had to discover this Laveroke.
‘Let us consign him to your cellar, Nick. I trust it is dank and dark.’
‘Indeed it is, John.’
‘Say nothing of this, Nick,’ Shakespeare said when they returned to the solar without Glebe. ‘I fear there are those that would come after him, for I am not certain Morley took his own life. Keep him alive and keep questioning him. He may know more.’
‘About the gunpowder blasts?’
‘That and the supposed prince of Scots. There is no difference. Can it be mere coincidence that one man feeds such stories to Glebe?’
‘No, it cannot be mere coincidence.’ Henbird poured two cups of brandy and handed one to Shakespeare. ‘I have some news for you, John.’
‘The servant I asked you about, Oliver Kettle? I know he has left the Sluyterman house.’
Henbird settled his corpulent, well-attired frame back into his thronelike chair. ‘I had him followed. And where do you think he went? All the way to the Guildhall for the Lord Mayor’s banquet, where he served as a waiter.’
‘Tell me more, Nick.’
‘They take on day staff for the big banquets. Many of those employed on such nights have positions elsewhere in the homes of the city merchants. Your Oliver Kettle was one of those.’
‘But now he is missing.’
‘Wait, there is more to the story. On the night of the banquet, my man watched Kettle as closely as he could. As you can well imagine, this was not easy, for the watcher was neither a guest, nor a serving man. He is, though, a close acquaintance of the Common Sergeant at the Guildhall and so he enlisted his aid.’
‘In return for a turkey cock or two?’
‘Or three or four, John. The sergeant is a stout fellow. He and my man were able to observe the evening’s proceedings and keep a discreet watch on Kettle. And they discovered something of great interest. Kettle was making a collection. Somewhere between the suckling pig and the swan hearts with syrup of pears, they saw him huddled with a merchant on his way to the house of easement. And then, over the course of an hour, he spoke to others, six in all. And in each case money was passed to him.’
‘Which merchants?’
‘John, be careful. I cannot abide these merchants in all their ermine-clad satisfaction. They are too pleased with themselves. Yet they are not without power for all their softness of belly; these are some of the richest and
mightiest men in the city. They have fortunes that could buy the war chest. In their own way, they wield as much force as a Cecil or a Devereux.’
‘Name them.’
‘I have been to speak with two of them — Sir Gerald Bookman and Tolly Weaver. They gave me the same story. They laughed it off. They said Kettle told them he was collecting alms for distressed mariners and they gave him a little money. It was a simple story but unbreakable — unless you wish them arrested and tortured for what would appear to be little or no reason. I have not been to the others yet and I do not intend to.’
Shakespeare was silent for a moment. He had come up against the power of wealth before. No, he could not have the men brought in on such evidence; nor would he, anyway. It was no crime to be charitable. The key to this was the man Kettle. Who — or what — was he collecting for?
‘My man and the sergeant watched to see more of Kettle’s movements — who he approached, where he went…’
‘But they lost him.’
Henbird nodded gravely. ‘He went to the kitchens and was not seen again. None of the cooks or the other serving men could say where he had gone. They knew him as an occasional worker there, but nothing more about him.’
‘What do you think, Nick? What’s happening here?’
‘There is considerable unrest about the strangers. The placards outside the Dutch church and now the powder outrages… There is a fever in the air. I have spoken to some of the poultry traders here. They are wary what they say to me. I think them reluctant to be involved in any way, which is understandable, but one or two have confided that they hear things in the taverns and ordinaries about rabble-rousing. Some speak of a new Wat Tyler or Jack Cade, feeding off the fears of the merchants and the resentment of employed men whose wages have been cut, or whose jobs have been lost. My instinct is that there is something in this, some organisation bubbling up into insurrection. If you asked me to guess, I would say Kettle was collecting for them and that the merchants who gave their gold knew very well what it was for. Distressed mariners be damned. The money is buying gunpowder to blow up Dutchmen.’
‘Then this is even bigger than we feared. This is not merely the usual mob of apprentices spoiling for a fight.’
‘A great deal bigger, John. That is my honest worry.’ He paused. ‘Drink your brandy. You have suffered most grievously, and I am sorry
…’
Shakespeare nodded stiffly, then downed the spirit in one shot. There was, for a moment, silence in the room. At last he spoke. ‘Do you think it worth going back to the two merchants, Bookman and Weaver?’
‘Possibly.’
‘I think you should go. Appeal to their God-fearing natures. Explain that if they don’t help you, they could end up in something so deep it will unsettle their comfortable lives. And find Oliver Kettle for me.’
Henbird enjoyed the smooth heat of the brandy slipping down his throat. ‘I shall also ask about if anyone has heard of a Laveroke…’
‘Do that, Nick, do that.’ Henbird was right, Shakespeare thought as he refilled his brandy. There was a fever in the air. ‘Does this all come from the Escorial?’ he said, expressing his reflections aloud. ‘I know what Mr Secretary would be thinking…’
‘He would be thinking that we are under attack.’
‘And I would have to agree with him.’
It was early evening, a fine evening now that the grey cloud had moved away. The sun was high and the land was warm. No more than a few white clouds drifted on the light breeze.
Boltfoot left his horse at a livery stable, all the time closely watched by Warboys, so that he had no hope of slipping away or getting a groom to take a message for him. Then they doubled back to Brick Lane, where they were joined by eleven other men, all of whom he had seen in the workshop and none of whom were introduced to him. They seemed a strange group, men of different ages and sizes. The only things that united them were the old hagbuts and pikes they brought, their common working men’s clothing of leather and wool jerkins, and their obvious deference to Warboys.
Together, they marched north and east, skirting the fields that fringed the urban areas outside the city wall. Now they were in the countryside to the north of Houndsditch.
Boltfoot heard the distant boom of a cannon. As they drew nearer, the intermittent crack of musket-fire grew louder. They were approaching the long brick wall surrounding Artillery Yard, to the west of Spital Field.
‘Now we’ll try your mettle, Mr Cooper. Now we’ll see whether you have the eye of a hawk or the fumbling eye of a mole.’
Boltfoot mumbled in a non-committal way. He knew his worth in the heat of battle. He had staked his life on many an occasion when ships came broadside and the grappling hooks lashed them together for hand-to-hand fighting. He would fear no man in armed close-quarters combat.
There were other trainbands in the area. Hundreds of men were out this day with the militias of the great livery companies. These were the men who would defend London should Spain ever invade. Slightly apart, keeping themselves to themselves as if looking down on the Londoners, were troops raised by the noble families from the shires, all identifiable by their bright tabards and fluttering pennants. Outside the yard, pikemen and halberdiers rehearsed their deadly craft — parry, thrust and chop. Archers, too, reminded those who thought the longbow had had its day that the whisper of an arrow could be every bit as deadly as the bang of a musket-ball. Within the yard, a few artillery men were working on an array of cannons. Also in the yard, a hundred or so arquebusiers stood idly talking, awaiting their turn to step up to the mark, rest their matchlock muskets on notched props and fire half a dozen balls at a range of targets.
There were others here — food sellers with bushel bags of fruit and bread, whores, alemen — all trying to earn a few pence from this ritual, which had become so much a part of London life since King Philip first threatened to send an invasion armada back in the 1580s. All this army of part-time English warriors required was good leadership and cohesion, for they had fighting spirit in great measure and were rapidly acquiring martial skills.
As they arrived in the yard, Warboys nodded to a group of a dozen men, who came over and mingled with the group he had brought. He turned to Cooper. ‘Do you want to show me your skills with a matchlock hagbut or are you content with your caliver?’
‘What I would most like, Mr Warboys, is a little more information if I am to hazard my life with you. This is a ragged band. I do not mind fighting for England, but I do not wish to have my belly slit open and my trillibub spilled into the Tyburn dust for a group of worthless vagabonds.’
‘All in good time. All will become clear. But I can tell you there is nothing treasonable here. You are risking nothing by training with us. No man who sees us could think us anything but another of the many trainbands honing their aim. What true Englishmen is not out at the targets on such a fine summer’s evening? What man would not defend his country from enemies without and enemies within?’
For the next two hours, Boltfoot took his turn to fire at the targets, along with the other men. They did not talk with him much. Finally, Warboys handed him a tankard of ale. ‘Here you are, Mr Cooper. You have earned that. Not only are you a good craftsman, but you are a fine shot, too. What else do you know? Have you dealt with ordnance, with powder?’
‘Aboard ship, aye, I was proficient enough, but there were plenty of men who knew more than me.’
‘Well, go now and sup, then later, you shall make acquaintance with Mr Curl. I think he will like you well. In the meantime, I have other work I must attend to.’
Chapter 22
Cecil’s man Clarkson was waiting for Shakespeare at Dowgate. He was on horseback. ‘I have never seen Sir Robert so agitated, Mr Shakespeare. He awaits word from the Perez faction and none comes. He says you must go to Essex House and bring the Spaniard forth.’
Shakespeare was incredulous. ‘Sir Robert knows well that I cannot go to Essex House. I would not be admitted.’
>
‘He is adamant that you bring Perez to him. I think he does not care how you do it.’
‘He demands the impossible.’
Clarkson smiled with resignation. He was one of the Cecils’ oldest retainers, having worked for Sir Robert’s father, the Lord Treasurer, Burghley, before being taken on by the son. Shakespeare had always liked him and could not be angry with him; he knew he was only relaying a message.
‘Well, come in and take a little wine with me, Mr Clarkson. Let us think about this.’
‘I fear I must hasten back to Sir Robert to tell him that I have communicated with you.’
‘Tell him my reply, if you will. And tell him, too, that I have apprehended Glebe and have him in safe-keeping. He talks of receiving information from a man named Laveroke. Ask Sir Robert if he knows this name, for I do not…’
Clarkson bowed, shook the reins and was gone.
Shakespeare watched him go, then stepped inside his house. He stayed just long enough to take sustenance, kiss the children and try to reassure Jane that she would be hearing from Boltfoot soon. Then he rode for the Strand.
Ellington Warboys waited outside the Tower. It was almost ten of the clock and the curfew would start soon. At last the constable, fat and plodding, approached him furtively. He looked about to make sure he was not observed, then stretched out his greedy hand. Warboys placed two angel coins in his palm. ‘There’s your pound, master constable. Free passage this night.’
‘Three angels. It’ll cost you three angels. The price is up.’
Warboys had been expecting this. ‘You have no men, constable.’
The constable held out his hand for more. ‘Three. Or do you wish me to call in the provost-marshal and make search of your supposed brandy barrels?’
For a brief moment, Warboys considered whether it might be wise to cut the constable’s throat and be done with him. Instead he formed his scowling mouth into what he intended as a smile. ‘Very well, three it is. But be sure of this: the price cannot go up again.’
‘Well, now, that’s for me to say, ain’t it. Strange coves you’ve got to move your casks. Foreigners are they?’
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