Frances saw him first. She and Hester were grubbing in the flower beds of the queen’s court, lifting the early tulips and putting the precious bulbs into sacks to take away.

‘Look!’ Frances exclaimed, and in the next moment she was up and running like a child with her arms outstretched to him.

For a moment he hesitated and then he spread his arms to her and folded her tight. Over her light brown head his eyes met Hester’s and he gave her a small apologetic smile. Frances pulled back to see his face but did not unclasp her hands from their grip around his back. ‘Are we safe?’ she demanded urgently.

‘Praise God, yes,’ he said.

Hester felt her knees go weak and sank down on a stone seat. For a moment she could not speak. Then she asked: ‘The man got safe home to Oxford?’

‘And sent your mare back with a hidden note in the saddle which apologised for seizing the animal at swordpoint. If anyone does inquire we can show them the note which will serve as a strong argument in your defence. We have been lucky indeed.’

Hester shut her eyes and breathed deeply for a moment. ‘I have been more afraid than I was ready to admit.’

‘And I,’ Alexander Norman said with a gleam. ‘I have been trembling in my boots for the last fortnight.’

‘I knew we’d be safe,’ Frances said. ‘I knew you would keep us safe, Uncle Norman.’

‘What other news?’ Hester asked.

‘Waller, who started the whole plot, is the only one to get off scot-free,’ Alexander said, his voice low. ‘Every time the king uses such weak reeds as this, he falls in the estimation of every right-thinking person. Waller confessed everything, he named everyone he had spoken to and thanks to his ready tongue two men have been hanged for conspiracy, though they did far less than him, and at his bidding. And there will be more to die.’

Hester shook her head in disapproval.

‘Waller himself is fined and imprisoned, but the news of his treachery and of his conspiracy has driven the Parliament men closer together. There’s a new oath of loyalty and they’re all eager to make close alliance with the House of Lords and with the Scots. The king has done his cause the worst damage he could have done – he has frightened his enemies into friendship with each other, and not advanced himself a single step. And any man of judgement must despise Waller, and his master too.’

Hester rose from the seat. ‘So I can go home?’

‘Yes. I called in at Lambeth on my way upstream so that I could tell you if things were well there. Joseph tells me that the garden is beautiful and the house has been closed and kept safe. Everything is ready for your return.’