He was admitted by a clerk and found Dr. Sean seated behind his table, his stole of office scarlet against the black of his gown, a black cap of office on his head, his thin face pale and drawn. He rose from his chair and skirted the table to greet James, and hugged him, kissing him on both cheeks in the French way, and then made the sign of the cross and blessed him. “Sit down,” he said warmly. “Sit down, my son, and tell me everything.”

James, very sure that he could not tell everything, sat on the edge of his chair as the professor seated himself and took up a quill pen to make notes.

“You came back last night? And you have spoken to no one of your trip?”

“No one,” James confirmed.

“You left the king in captivity?”

“God forgive me, I did.”

“Tell me how that was? Were you not ordered to get him to a boat? And see him to his son’s ship and safety?”

“I was, Father Professor.”

“Then why did you fail?”

Haltingly, ashamed of himself, James explained the trip to the Isle of Wight, the associates who met him, the boys who concealed his mission, the boatman who failed him, and the replacement: Zachary. He said that Mr. Hopkins’s house was completely unguarded and that the king could have left with him but would not do so.

The professor sat, his fingers steepled together as if he were praying. “Why would he not leave with you?”

“He did not explain himself to me.”

“But he would not leave?”

“He laughed,” James said bitterly. “And then he was angry that anyone should doubt that he could save himself. He was confident that he would be able to make an agreement with them. He told me to come again in future, if he needed me. I warned him that it was dangerous for me, and for others—that we might not be able to come again—but he didn’t take me seriously. I couldn’t make him take us seriously.”

“You told him you were obeying his wife and son? That it was their plan?”

“I said the password, and I told him they had paid me, and given me money to bribe the boatman. He said he would not go at their bidding.” James could not easily convey the king’s petulance and maintain the respect that he must show for God’s ordained leader on earth.

“But you got back to Sir William without detection?”

“I’m certain that I did.”

“And then you were ill?”

James flushed. The professor could see the deep color at the neck of his robe.

“I was. Some sort of fever that they have on the marshes there. It didn’t last long.”

“Was it a sickness of the body only? Or was it of your faith, my son?”

James dropped his head. The older man could barely make out the muttered words that his faith was shaken and indeed lost.

“This is not surprising,” Dr. Sean said gently. “You were very alone, a young man, and in danger of your life for weeks and weeks before you even got to the island. We gave you the greatest task that anyone from this college has ever been set, and it failed.”