John was recalled to his real duty – to be his master’s man heart and soul, to love what he loved, to think what he thought, to follow him to death without question if need be. The image of the creamy tossing heads of gypsy lace and moon daisies encased by hawthorn hedging in its first haze of spring green vanished at once.

‘She was a great queen,’ John volunteered.

Sir Robert’s face lightened. ‘She was,’ he said. ‘Everything I learned about statecraft, I learned from her. There never was a more cunning player. And she named him at the very end. So she did her duty, in her own way.’

‘You named him,’ John said dryly. ‘I heard that it was you that read the proclamation which named him as king while the others were still hopping between him and the other heirs like fleas between sleeping dogs.’

Cecil shot John his swift sly smile. ‘I have some small influence,’ he agreed. The two men reached the steps which led to the first terrace. Sir Robert leaned on John’s sturdy shoulder and John braced himself to take the slight weight.

‘He’ll not go wrong while I have the guiding of him,’ Sir Robert said thoughtfully. ‘And neither I, nor you, will be the losers. It takes a good deal of skill to survive from one reign to the next, Tradescant.’

John smiled. ‘Please God this king will see me out,’ he said. ‘I’ve seen a queen, the greatest queen that ever was; and now a new king. I don’t expect to see more.’

They reached the terrace and Sir Robert dropped his hand from John’s shoulder and shrugged. ‘Oh! You’re a young man still! You’ll see King James and then his son Prince Henry on the throne! I don’t doubt it!’

‘Amen to their safe succession,’ John Tradescant replied loyally. ‘Whether I see it or not.’

‘You’re a faithful man,’ Sir Robert remarked. ‘D’you never have any doubts, Tradescant?’

John looked quickly at his master to see if he was jesting; but Sir Robert was serious.

‘I made my choice of master when I came to you,’ John said baldly. ‘I promised then that you would have no more faithful servant than me. And I promise my loyalty to the queen, and now to her heir, twice every Sunday in church before God. I’m not a man who questions these things. I take my oath and that’s the end of it for me.’

Sir Robert nodded, reassured as always by Tradescant’s faith, as straight as an arrow to the target. ‘It’s the old way,’ he said, half to himself. ‘A chain of master and man leading to the very head of the kingdom. A chain from the lowest beggar to the highest lord and the king above him and God above him. Keeps the country tied up tight.’