‘Yes.’

‘And Sir James Crofts, my good friend?’

‘Yes, Your Grace.’

I kept back behind her. These were the very men that my lord had named to me, that he had asked me to name to John Dee. These were the men who were to make a chemical wedding and to pull down silver and replace it with gold. Now I thought I knew what he meant. I thought I knew which queen was silver and which was gold in his metaphor. And I thought that I had again betrayed the queen while taking her wage, and that it would not be long before someone discovered who had been the catalyst in this plot.

She took a breath to steady herself. ‘Any others?’

Bishop Gardiner looked at me. I flinched back from his gaze but it went on past me. He did not even see me, he had to give her the worst news. ‘The Duke of Suffolk is not at his house in Sheen, and no-one knows where he has gone.’

I saw Jane Dormer stiffen in the window-seat. If the Duke of Suffolk had disappeared then it could mean only one thing: he was raising his hundreds of tenants and retainers to restore the throne to his daughter Jane. We were faced with an uprising for Elizabeth and a rebellion for Queen Jane. Those two names could turn out more than half of the country, and all the courage and determination that Queen Mary had shown before could come to nothing now.

‘And Lady Elizabeth? Does she know of this? Is she at Ashridge still?’

‘Courtenay says that she was on the brink of marriage with him, and the two of them were to take your throne and rule together. Thank God the lad has seen sense and come over to us in time. She knows of everything, she is waiting in readiness. The King of France will support her claim and send a French army to put her on the throne. She may even now be riding to head the rebel army.’

I saw the queen’s colour drain from her face. ‘Are you sure of this? My Elizabeth would have marched to my execution?’

‘Yes,’ the duke said flatly. ‘She is up to her pretty ears in it.’

‘Thank God Courtenay has told us of this now,’ the bishop interrupted. ‘There may still be time for us to get you safely away.’

‘I would have thanked Courtenay more if he had the sense never to engage in it,’ my queen countered sharply. ‘Your young friend is a fool, my lord, and a weak disloyal fool at that.’ She did not wait for his defence. ‘So what must we do?’

The duke stepped forward. ‘You must go to Framlingham at once, Your Grace. And we will put a warship on standby to take you out of the country to Spain. This is a battle you cannot win. Once you’re safe in Spain perhaps you can regroup, perhaps Prince Philip . . .’