I shook my head.

‘You become his, like one of his puppies, like one of his soldiers. Your job, like a puppy and not like a soldier, is to be yourself. Say the first thing that comes into your head, do whatever you wish. It will amuse him. It will amuse us, and it will set before us all the work of the Lord, which will please him. You will tell the truth in this court of liars, you will be our innocent in this wicked world. Understand?’

‘How am I to be?’ I was absolutely confounded. ‘What d’you want of me?’

‘You are to be yourself. Speak as your gift commands you. Say whatever you wish. The king has no holy fool at present and he likes an innocent at court. He has commanded you. You are now a royal fool. One of the household. You will be paid to be his fool.’

I waited.

‘Do you understand, fool?’

‘Yes. But I don’t accept.’

‘You can’t accept or not accept. You’ve been begged for a fool, you have no legal standing, you have no voice. Your father has handed you over to Lord Robert here, and he has given you to the king. You are now the king’s.’

‘If I refuse?’ I could feel myself trembling.

‘You can’t refuse.’

‘If I run away?’

‘Punished according to the king’s wishes. Whipped like a puppy. You were your father’s property, now you are ours. And we have begged you for a fool to the king. He owns you. D’you understand?’

‘My father would not sell me,’ I said stubbornly. ‘He would not let me go.’

‘He cannot stand against us,’ Robert said quietly behind me. ‘And I promised him that you would be safer here than out on the street. I gave him my word and he accepted. The business was done while we ordered the books, Hannah. It is finished.’

‘Now,’ continued the duke. ‘Not like a puppy, and not like a fool, you have another task to do.’

I waited.

‘You are to be our vassal.’

At the strange English word I glanced at Robert Dudley.

‘Servant to command, servant for life,’ he explained.

‘Our vassal. Everything you hear, everything you see, you come and tell me. Anything the king prays for, anything that makes him weep, anything that makes him laugh, you come and tell me, or you tell Robert here. You are our eyes and our ears at his side. Understand?’

‘My lord, I have to go home to my father,’ I said desperately. ‘I cannot be the king’s fool nor your vassal. I have work to do at the bookshop.’

The duke raised one eyebrow at his son. Robert leaned towards me and spoke very quietly.

‘Mistress Boy, your own father cannot care for you. He said that in your hearing, d’you remember?’

‘Yes, but, my lord, he only meant that I am a trouble to him . . .’

‘Mistress Boy, I think your father is not a good Christian from a good Christian family at all, but a Jew. I think you came from Spain because you were expelled by the Spanish for the sin of Jewishness, and if your neighbours and the good citizens of London knew that you were Jews, you would not last for very long in your new little home.’