“As soon as Larkin is finished, Frankie will pawn the clothes he is painting and pay you from the proceeds,” I said, although she had made many such promises that she did not fulfill. Sir Thomas Lake, a privy councillor, had paid her two thousand pounds to be made the Secretary of State, but her husband advanced his own client, Sir Ralph Winwood, he who had given them a coach for a wedding present. Frankie had kept Winwood’s best horses and had not returned Lake’s money. Now even someone as lowly as Weston was disappointed in her.

Carr also promised more than he delivered. He had asked a pleasing man called John Donne to turn down holy orders for a good position in his administration yet kept him waiting for months before finally turning him away, without compensation. This was not the way to keep followers happy. Weston was right: Lord Northampton had taken much greater care to foster loyalty.

“And the position?” Weston asked, but it was not within my power to grant anything.

“To have you in her household would be a daily reminder of what has occurred,” I said gently. “She will look for something else that is suitable.”

Very quietly, he placed his mug on the table. “So I am good enough to sin for her but not to be in the same building? And yet I hear that the loathsome Franklin is admitted to her bedchamber whenever he wants.”

I pursed my lips, as much at Frankie’s behavior as at Weston’s complaint. “Franklin is helping her conceive a child.”

Weston’s eyebrows shot up.

“Not that way,” I said. “He brings medicines and says prayers to angels and, for reasons I will never understand, he amuses her. I tell her plain not to let that truckling cat’s paw visit at all, let alone be given the privilege of the bedchamber, for he is untrustworthy to his core.” I hoped that our mutual abhorrence of Franklin would unite us, but Weston did not even nod as he drained his cup and got to his feet.

“You might have thought that the scandal with Mary Woods was lesson enough to keep away from certain folk. What I did for the Lady Frances has led to great reward for her and nothing but idleness and poverty for me. If she doesn’t look to those who helped her when she was down, she won’t spend long on the up.”

Weston escorted me out of the tavern but did not offer to accompany me to Whitehall; he knew without doubt now that I would never marry him. It pained me to see him walk away with shoulders hunched.

“Richard!” I ran after him and kissed his cheeks three times. “Thank you. Thank you for all you have done for us. I promise you will receive your full reward.” He blushed and gave me a bow before leaving.