The king’s smile transformed him. ‘Y … Yes. Indeed. The army will destroy P … Parliament, and then t … tear themselves apart. Already the army tells P … Parliament what it should do. When they have no enemy they have no c … common cause. All they could do was to destroy, it needs a k … king to rebuild. I know th … them. There is L … Lambert. He heads the f … faction against Parliament. He will lead the army against P … Parliament and then I will have w … won.’

John paused before he could find the words to reply. ‘So Your Majesty will greet them kindly when they come? And make an agreement with them?’

The king laughed shortly. ‘I shall w … win the argument, though I lost the b … battle,’ he said.

A trooper came to the garden gate. ‘We are ready to leave, Your Majesty,’ he called.

King Charles, who had never before this year ever done another man’s bidding, turned and went from Tradescant’s garden.

John and his son went down to the gatehouse to see them leave. John was half-expecting a summons to Hampton Court, but the king went by with only a flicker of recognition that his gardener was on his knees at the roadside.

‘And that’s it?’ Johnnie demanded again.

‘That’s it,’ John replied shortly. ‘Royal service. We’ll set things in order tomorrow and we’ll go home the next day. Our work here is done.’

They discovered why the king had been moved when they got home. The City was in uproar with the apprentices rioting in favour of the king’s return and the army had thought it safer to have him at Hampton Court with a larger garrison around him. Alexander Norman had sent Frances to the Ark for safety and forbidden her to return to the City until the riots were over – whether they were ended by the return of the king to his throne, the seizing of control by Parliament, or the arrival of Cromwell’s army. There were now three players in the game for England. The king, playing one side against the other and hoping; Parliament, increasingly directionless and fearful of its future; and the army, which seemed to be the only force with a vision of the future and the discipline and determination to make it happen.