‘If His Majesty cannot repay the loan?’ Buckingham smiled. ‘Ah, forgive me, the king will repay. He will not fail. When Prince Frederick and Princess Elizabeth are back on their thrones then the wealth of Bohemia will repay all the debts incurred in the campaign to restore them.’

‘And if the campaign fails?’ the Jew asked quietly.

Buckingham checked for a moment. ‘It will not,’ he replied.

There was a brief silence. The Jew waited for his answer.

‘If it should fail then his Majesty will repay according to the schedule of repayments as you propose,’ Buckingham said smoothly. ‘We are speaking of the King of England, my lords. He is hardly likely to run off to the Americas.’

The nobleman laughed at the joke and Buckingham shot him a swift smile. The Jew did not laugh.

‘But how should we collect if, by some error, His Majesty were to default?’ the burgher asked politely.

Buckingham shrugged as if such a thing were beyond the stretch of any imagination. ‘Oh. I can hardly think – well – we will follow the line of fairytales. If the campaign fails and the Prince and Princess of Bohemia do not repay you themselves, and then if the King of England does not repay you then I, the Duke of Buckingham, will myself deliver to you the Crown Jewels of England. Will that satisfy you, gentlemen?’

John looked from one face to another. It satisfied the nobleman who could not imagine that Buckingham could say one thing and do another. He was no obstacle. The burgher was havering, half-convinced, half-fearful. The Jew was inscrutable. His dark serious face could not be read. He might be inwardly approving, he might have damned this project from the first moment. John could not tell.

‘And you would put that in writing?’

‘Signed in blood if you wish,’ Buckingham said carelessly, the glancing reference to the popular play a half-insult to all Jewish moneylenders. ‘I have promised my master the King of England that he shall have the funds to raise an army to restore his sister to her throne. It is a task which we should all do as good Protestants and good Christians. It is a task which most becomes me as His Majesty’s most faithful servant.’

The three men nodded.

‘Shall I leave you to consult for a while?’ Buckingham offered. ‘I must warn you, out of courtesy, that my time is a little limited. There are other gentlemen who would extend this loan to the king and think it an honour to so do. But I promised you I would see you first.’

‘Of course,’ the burgher said awkwardly. ‘And we thank you. Perhaps you would like a glass of wine?’