There was a tap at the door and I gasped in fright; I was a very timid guardian. I went into the shop, closing the door of the printing room with the incriminating titles behind me, but it was only our neighbour.

‘I thought I saw you come in,’ he said cheerfully. ‘Father not back yet? France too good to him?’

‘Seems so,’ I said, trying to recover my breath.

‘I have a letter for you,’ he said. ‘Is it an order? Should you hand it on to me?’

I glanced at the paper. It bore the Dudley seal of the bear and staff. I kept my face blandly indifferent. ‘I’ll read it, sir,’ I said politely. ‘I’ll bring it to you if it is anything you would have in stock.’

‘Or I can get manuscripts, you know,’ he said eagerly. ‘As long as they are allowed. No theology, of course, no science, no astrology, no studies of the planets and planet rays, or the tides. Nothing of the new sciences, nothing that questions the Bible. But everything else.’

‘I wouldn’t think there was much else, after you have refused to stock all that,’ I said sourly, thinking of John Dee’s long years of inquiry which took in everything.

‘Entertaining books,’ he explained. ‘And the writings of the Holy Fathers as approved by the church. But only in Latin. I could take orders from the ladies and gentlemen of the court if you were to mention my name.’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘But they don’t ask a fool for the wisdom of books.’

‘No. But if they do . . .’

‘If they do, I will pass them on to you,’ I said, anxious for him to leave.

He nodded and went to the door. ‘Send my best wishes to your father when you see him,’ he said. ‘The landlord says he can go on storing the press here until he can find another tenant. Business is so poor still . . .’ He shook his head. ‘No-one has any money, no-one has the confidence to set up business while we wait for an heir and hope for better times. She’s well is she, God bless her? The queen? Looking well and carrying the baby high, is she?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘And only a few months to go now.’

‘God preserve him, the little prince,’ our neighbour said and devoutly crossed himself. Immediately I followed suit and then held the door for him as he went out.

As soon as I had the door barred I opened my letter.

Dear Mistress Boy

If you can spare a moment for an old friend he would be very pleased to see you. I need some paper for drawing and some good pens and pencils, having turned to the consolation of poetry as the times are too troubled for anything but beauty. If you have such things in your shop please bring them, at your convenience, Robt. Dudley. (You will find me, at home to visitors, in the Tower, every day, there is no need to make an appointment.)