They reached the ferry-house door. Rob turned the latch and the door yielded. “Mr. Summer came with me,” he said as he went in and James stepped in behind him.

After the darkness of the harbor, the room was bright, though it was only lit by firelight and rushlights. Ned was seated at the table, sharpening a pocket knife, Alinor and Alys either side of the fire, spinning, with their distaffs propped beside them and their spindles whirling at their feet. As James came in, Alinor jumped up with a gasp, her spindle skittering away under the settle.

“You’re very welcome,” she said, recovering.

“I thought I’d walk over with Robert,” James said awkwardly. “I thought I’d ask you for some herbs against my fever . . . if it comes back again. I didn’t mean to disturb you all.”

Ned barely raised his eyes from his work but bobbed his head in a nod.

“Will you take a glass of ale?” Alinor asked. “Please, sit.” She gestured to her stool at the fireside.

“Thank you, and then I’ll walk back by the road.”

“Dark night,” Ned observed.

“Yes indeed.”

There was a silence as Alinor went to the cool buttery at the back of the house and drew a glass of ale each for James and Rob, and then brought another for Ned. Rob sat beside her on the bench against the wall.

“Is it strange to be home?” James asked Ned.

Ned shrugged. “It’s not the life I’d have chosen, but none of us can live the life we’d have chosen.” He paused. “Maybe you can,” he said. “Maybe his lordship does.”

“Not anymore,” James said honestly. “I never thought this would happen, and I never thought it would end this way.”

Ned put his knife carefully in the worn leather sheath and put the whetstone to one side. “Pity that you didn’t,” he said gruffly. “Could’ve been stopped years ago.”

“I agree,” James said, trying to find some common ground. “I have thought for a long time that we should have found a way ahead without going to war. That we should have made an agreement so that we could find a way to end our differences and live together.”

“Well, now we have,” Ned said with a little smile. “Though p’raps not the agreement you’d have wished. Can you live in this new England?”

“I hope to,” James said. “I hope to regain my home, and I hope to live there, with my family, and help . . .”

“Help what?”

“The ruling and governing of the kingdom . . . of the country.”

Ned raised his head and stared at James as if he could not believe the quiet words. “And why should you, and the likes of you, rule and govern us, when you’ve disturbed our peace for nearly ten years?”

James swallowed. “Because I am an Englishman and I want to live in peace.”

“I’m sure we all want peace,” Alinor interrupted.

Ned smiled at her. “Aye. I know you do, Sister. And I hope that we’ll have it now. What’s your opinion on how the country should be run?”