John, who had bathed and changed into his russet suit with a rich lace collar, rose slowly from the table.

‘You’re dressed very plain,’ he said cautiously.

Elizabeth heard the front door slam and came slowly from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron.

J measured his father and spoke steadily. ‘I believe that finery is a waste of a man’s money and an abomination in the sight of the Lord.’

John wheeled around and looked accusingly at Elizabeth. She met his gaze without flinching. ‘You’ve turned him into a Puritan at last,’ he said. ‘I suppose he preaches and bears witness and can fall down in a faint if required?’

‘I can speak for myself,’ J said. ‘And it was not my mother’s decision, but my own.’

‘Decision!’ John scoffed. ‘What can a boy of eighteen decide?’

J flinched. ‘I am a man,’ he said. ‘I am nineteen now. I earn a man’s wage, I do a man’s work, and I give a man’s whole duty to my God.’

For a moment they thought John would roar out his temper. J braced himself for the blast of anger, but to his surprise none came. The older man’s shoulders dropped and he turned and fell heavily in his chair. ‘And how long will you draw a wage here, looking like that?’ he asked. ‘When the king comes to visit? When Archbishop Laud comes to visit? Do you think they want to see a sectary in their garden?’

J’s head went up. ‘I don’t fear them.’

‘Yes, I daresay you are longing for martyrdom, to be burned at the stake for your beliefs, but this is not a burning king. He will merely turn away from you and Buckingham will dismiss you. And where will you work then?’

‘For a nobleman who shares my faith,’ J said simply. ‘The country is full of men who believe in worshipping our God in simplicity and in truth, who have turned against the waste and sin of the court.’

‘Do I have to spell it out?’ John shouted. ‘They will turn you off and no-one will employ you!’

‘Husband –’

‘What?’

‘You told me yourself that your faith in the king and the duke has been shaken,’ Elizabeth said gently. ‘J is trying to find his own way.’

‘What way?’ John demanded. ‘There is no other way.’

‘There is going back to the Bible and seeking a way through prayer,’ J said earnestly. ‘There is the beauty of hard work, and turning away from show and masques and waste. There is sharing the land, every man to have his own piece of ground to grow his own food so that none go hungry. There is opening up the enclosed sheep runs and the enclosed parks so that everyone can share in the wealth which God has given.’

‘Opening parks?’