He drew back one of the thick hangings and showed a small door beyond. It opened into a walled courtyard. In a giant pot against the wall grew an apricot tree, at its feet the folded leaves of some tulips now past their prime. John saw at once that they had been Lack tulips, beautifully white and veined with scarlet. There were a couple of chairs and a table in the shade of the tree, and a flagon of wine with a small plate of biscuits.

‘Please,’ the burgher said. ‘Enjoy this. And ring for anything further you need. We will delay you only a moment.’

He bowed and went back into the room. Buckingham threw himself into the chair and watched John pour the wine and hand him a glass.

‘What d’you think?’ he asked quietly.

‘It’s possible,’ John said in the same undertone. ‘Do you have other men to borrow from?’

‘No,’ Buckingham said. ‘D’you think they know that?’

‘No,’ John said. ‘There is so much wealth flying around this city that they cannot be sure of it. The nobleman is in your pocket but I doubt the other two.’

Buckingham nodded and sipped his wine. ‘That’s good,’ he said with approval. ‘Alicante.’

‘What do we do if they say no?’

Buckingham tipped his beautiful face up to the sun and closed his eyes as if he did not have a care in the world. ‘Go home with the whole of the king’s foreign policy in ruins,’ he said. ‘Tell the king that his sister is thrown out of her kingdom and insulted and that he can do nothing. Tell the king that unless he agrees with Parliament he will be a pauper on his own throne, and that his chief minister was a better Master of Horse than he is a diplomat.’

‘You got him the French princess,’ John observed.

Buckingham half-opened his eyes and John saw the glint of his look under the thick eyelashes. ‘Let’s hope to God she pleases him. I don’t guarantee it.’

The door behind John opened and he whirled around. It was the Jew in the doorway, his head held low. ‘I am sorry, masters,’ he said quietly. ‘We cannot oblige you. The capital is more than we can afford without holding the security ourselves.’

Buckingham jumped to his feet in one of his sudden rages, about to shout at the man. John threw himself forward and got both hands on his master’s shoulders as if he was re-arranging his cape.

‘Steady,’ he whispered.

He felt the shoulders straighten under his grip. Buckingham lifted his head. ‘I am sorry you could not oblige me,’ he said. ‘I will tell the king of your reluctance and my disappointment.’

The Jew’s head bowed lower.