He shook his head. “The London Committee will doubtless award that.”

“Doubtless. And to Cony, no doubt.”

The Earl put his hands behind his back. “There is the plate, Lady Margaret. I notice it is all gone, yet I assume Sir George took pains to make it safe?”

Lady Margaret shook her head. The treasures of Lazen were still within the castle, walled up in the cellars, and it had been a small satisfaction to her that the victors had neither found it, nor had they been told where it was by one of the few servants who knew of the treasure’s existence. She looked at her son-in-law. “There is no plate.”

“No plate!” The Earl looked shocked.

“John!” Anne looked at her mother. “What did father do with it?”

“That is no business of the King’s enemies.”

There was an awkward silence, broken by the Earl of Fleet. “It will be some time before the transaction is completed. You won’t have to leave immediately.” He smiled. “You are, of course, welcome to use our house. We shall be honored.”

“Thank you, John.” Lady Margaret smiled at her daughter. “And thank you, Anne. There is one other thing you can do for me.”

“Yes?” The Earl sounded eager, glad to be moving on from the bad news he had delivered.

“There was a girl here, a Dorcas Slythe, who has disappeared. I want to know where she is.”

“Mother!” Anne, who had been longer in the castle since its fall than her husband, frowned. It was Anne’s belief that Campion’s presence had brought this ruin on her parents, and she had tried to persuade Lady Margaret, from the evidence of the blood in the bedroom, that the girl was wounded and probably dead by now.

Lady Margaret quietened her daughter. “I want news of the girl. The soldiers say she was taken to London. Can I rely on you, John?”

He nodded. “Yes, of course.” Then he glanced at his wife. “I think Anne is right, Lady Margaret. The girl has caused endless trouble.”

Lady Margaret’s voice was cold. “Would you like to explain that to Sir Toby when he recovers?”

The Countess of Fleet frowned. “Toby will get over it, mother.”

Lady Margaret sniffed. “I hope not. If Lazen’s downfall was brought about so that my enemies could destroy that girl, then I wish to save her. I wish to deny them that victory.”

The Earl of Fleet stood beside his wife. “Even if we find her, Lady Margaret, I doubt if there is a thing we can do now.”

“You mean your influence in the councils of my enemies is declining?”

Fleet frowned. “It was never great.”

Lady Margaret turned back toward her son’s sick room. She feared, if he should come out of the fever, telling him of Campion’s unknown fate. “Find her, John! Let me know, and then we shall see how helpless we are. I want the girl found!”

Campion was in the place of the ravens; the Tower.