Hester stepped forwards and laid her hand on her stepson’s shoulder. ‘He’s still the king,’ she said.

Mrs Goodall looked angrily at her. ‘Some say that a king who is his people’s woe is no king. The law that says he is king says that he rules for our good, not for our regret. If he does not please us then he is no king at all. There are those who are saying that he should die in one of his bitter battles and we would be a happier land without him.’

‘Then his son would be king,’ Hester said steadily. ‘There would still be a king.’

‘Of course you were at court,’ the woman remarked pointedly. ‘Enriched by the pack of them.’

‘I worked there as many did,’ Hester said. She sounded defensive and her hand tightened on Johnnie’s shoulder as if to draw courage from his narrow little bones. ‘But I have taken neither one side nor the other. All I have wanted from the beginning is peace.’

‘So do we all,’ the woman agreed. ‘And there can be no peace with that man or his son on the throne again.’

‘You may be right,’ Hester said, swiftly stepping back and drawing Johnnie back with her. ‘Please God we shall have peace at last and our men can come home.’

October 1644, England

On a cold day in the middle of October, Alexander Norman rode to Lambeth between frosty hedges on icy tracks. Frances was on the look-out for him and ran out into the stable yard with her cape around her shoulders to take his horse and send Alexander into the parlour, to the warmth of the fire.

Hester had mulled wine to greet him. He took a deep draught and set it down. At once Hester knew that he had something important to say. ‘Is it peace?’ she asked. ‘Has the king surrendered?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘He’s taken Salisbury, it looks like he’s rallying again. But it’s not that I came about. It is time for me to speak to you about another matter.’

‘Frances,’ Hester said, knowing at once what Alexander Norman meant.

‘Frances,’ he replied.

‘I wrote to her father,’ Hester said. ‘I did not tell him what you had said. But I told him of my worries about keeping her safe. I thought he might make some suggestion.’ She paused. ‘I have not had a reply. Nothing since that consignment of Indian goods and a barrel of plants.’

‘I don’t want to wait for his reply,’ Alexander said. ‘Whether it is for me or against me.’

Hester nodded, taking in the determined tone. ‘Why now?’ she asked. ‘After waiting so long?’