BooksBarbecue
Back Lamentation Save as PDF
Chapters (56)
  1. Chapter One
  2. Chapter Two
  3. Chapter Three
  4. Chapter Four
  5. Chapter Five
  6. Chapter Six
  7. Chapter Seven
  8. Chapter Eight
  9. Chapter Nine
  10. Chapter Ten
  11. Chapter Eleven
  12. Chapter Twelve
  13. Chapter Thirteen
  14. Chapter Fourteen
  15. Chapter Fifteen
  16. Chapter Sixteen
  17. Chapter Seventeen
  18. Chapter Eighteen
  19. Chapter Nineteen
  20. Chapter Twenty
  21. Chapter Twenty-one
  22. Chapter Twenty-two
  23. Chapter Twenty-three
  24. Chapter Twenty-four
  25. Chapter Twenty-five
  26. Chapter Twenty-six
  27. Chapter Twenty-seven
  28. Chapter Twenty-eight
  29. Chapter Twenty-nine
  30. Chapter Thirty
  31. Chapter Thirty-one
  32. Chapter Thirty-two
  33. Chapter Thirty-three
  34. Chapter Thirty-four
  35. Chapter Thirty-five
  36. Chapter Thirty-six
  37. Chapter Thirty-seven
  38. Chapter Thirty-eight
  39. Chapter Thirty-nine
  40. Chapter Forty
  41. Chapter Forty-one
  42. Chapter Forty-two
  43. Chapter Forty-three
  44. Chapter Forty-four
  45. Chapter Forty-five
  46. Chapter Forty-six
  47. Chapter Forty-seven
  48. Chapter Forty-eight
  49. Chapter Forty-nine
  50. Chapter Fifty
  51. Chapter Fifty-one
  52. Chapter Fifty-two
  53. Chapter Fifty-three
  54. Epilogue
  55. A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  56. H ISTORICAL N OTE

He replied with unaccustomed seriousness. ‘I am glad to have saved a life, sir, when so many have been lost in this business. Leeman – I felt hot with anger against him last night, with his mad beliefs. I was starting to say too much, wasn’t I?’

‘Yes. He needed to be gentled along.’

‘And I remember I was the cause of Elias fleeing,’ he said quietly. ‘And then later he, too, was murdered. That has been on my conscience ever since.’

‘It need not be. We have all made mistakes in this business.’

He shook his head. ‘I knew London was a place of violence and murder, but this – ’

‘It is not my normal trade, though over the years certain people high in the realm have made it seem so.’

He hesitated, then asked, ‘Her majesty?’

I hesitated. ‘Yes. And others before her. Cranmer and Cromwell, too.’

He looked impressed. ‘You have truly known the great ones of England.’

‘That can have its disadvantages.’

‘Those names are all on one side of the religious divide,’ he said hesitantly.

‘I was once myself on that side, and as the realm has divided so my contacts have remained there. But my religious loyalties – ’ I shrugged – ‘they are gone.’

‘Surely it is enough just to believe.’

I looked at him. ‘Do you believe, Nicholas?’

He laughed uneasily. ‘Just about. I know that at heart I want to save life, not destroy it. Yours was a life I am glad to have saved,’ he added, his face reddening.

‘Thank you, Nicholas.’ Now I was embarrassed, too. Such words from pupil to barrister could have been sycophantic, but Nicholas had none of that sort of guile in him. I said gruffly, ‘Let’s see if these villains are at home.’

STICE OPENED THE DOOR. He wore a bandage round his forehead. ‘You.’ He looked at us with displeasure. ‘Come to discuss the mess you made last night?’

‘We all failed.’

‘My master’s here.’ He lowered his voice. ‘He’s not pleased.’

‘How is Gower?’

‘Like to die.’

‘I am sorry.’

‘My shitten arse you are.’

He led the way upstairs. Sir Richard Rich was sitting behind his desk. The shutters were drawn, making the room stifling. No doubt he did not want people in the street to see him here. He glowered at us. ‘Bowels of Judas! You made a fine butcher’s shambles of last night’s business!’

‘They were good fighters. We could not stop Vandersteyn getting away.’

‘We did our best, sir,’ Stice added. ‘Everyone did.’