The housekeeper put her head around the door. ‘Dinner is on the table,’ she said.

‘I’m starving!’ Johnnie exclaimed, and he and Frances, who had been sitting in the windowseat looking at the street below, went to the dining room. Alexander took Hester’s cold hand.

‘Come and have something to eat,’ he said. ‘Nothing is going to happen in the next ten minutes. And I will send one of my clerks to Westminster to see what is happening.’

Hester ate nothing at dinner, and every time a cart went by in the street outside she found she was listening, waiting for the knock at the door.

‘What is the matter, Mother?’ Frances asked. ‘I can tell that something is wrong.’

Hester looked at Alexander.

‘You should tell them,’ he said. ‘They have a right to know.’

‘A royalist spy came in the night and took Father’s mare,’ Hester said.

Frances and Johnnie looked stunned at the news.

‘A royalist spy?’ Johnnie demanded.

‘What was he wearing?’ Frances asked.

‘Oh, why didn’t you wake me?’ Johnnie cried. ‘And I could have helped him!’

‘He was wearing a cape and …’ Hester’s voice quavered on a reluctant laugh. ‘And an absurd hat with feathers.’

‘Oh!’ Frances breathed. ‘What colours?’

‘What does that matter!’ Johnnie exclaimed. ‘Oh, Mother! Why didn’t you tell me? I could have guided him! I could have gone with him and been his page!’

‘I expect that’s why she didn’t tell you,’ Alexander said gently. ‘Your place is at home, guarding your mother and the Ark.’

‘I know,’ Johnnie said. ‘But I could have gone with him for a battle or two and then come home again. I am a Tradescant! It is my duty to serve the king!’

‘It is your duty to protect your mother,’ Alexander said, suddenly grim. ‘So be silent, Johnnie.’

‘But why have we come here?’ Frances asked, abandoning interest in the colour of the royalist’s hat feathers. ‘What is happening? Is Parliament after us?’

‘Not after you,’ Hester said quietly. ‘But if they know that he came to the Ark for help then I may be in trouble.’

Frances turned at once to Alexander Norman and put her hands out to him. ‘You’ll look after us, won’t you?’ she demanded. ‘You won’t let them take Mother away?’

He took her hands, and Hester saw that he had to stop himself from drawing her close. ‘Of course I will,’ he said. ‘And if she’s in any danger at all I shall find somewhere safe for her, and for you all.’

Frances, still hand-clasped with Alexander, turned to her stepmother and Hester saw them, for the first time, as a couple; saw the tilt of his head towards her, saw her trust in him.

‘Should you go into hiding?’ Frances asked her.

‘I’ll go to the Tower now,’ Alexander decided, ‘and see what news there is. You keep the door locked until I return. They can hardly have found your name and traced you here so soon. We must be a day ahead at least.’