‘He trusted a man because he knows his uncle?’ John asked Hester in despair as they sat by the fireside before going to bed.

She shook her head. ‘Oh, John. What else could he do but dodge and dive and scrape about?’

‘He could come to an agreement!’ John exclaimed. ‘And have his throne again!’

She picked up the sewing from her lap. ‘He is the king,’ she said. ‘He would not feel that he has to agree. He has always thought that others should agree with him.’

Hester was right. When the king arrived at Carisbrooke Castle and found that Governor Hammond imprisoned him, rather than hailing him as a hero, he gave his parole and immediately set to scheming. He sent secret messages to the Scots and told them that he was ready now to agree to the very things he had sworn he would never accept when he had been their prisoner. The Scots, tempted by the thought of a king who would accept their parliament and their church, secretly betrayed their allies, the English Parliament, and made a secret solemn engagement to restore Charles to his throne. In return he swore that for a trial period of three years he would abolish the position of bishops and run the English church on the Scottish model. He promised that all the senior posts in the land (and their fat fees) would be given to Scotsmen.

But Charles was no better at keeping his secrets than keeping his word. News of the agreement soon leaked out, especially when a proposal from the English Parliament was insultingly rejected by the king who was visibly, excessively, puffed up with confidence. Soon everyone knew that the king was dealing a false hand again.

‘He would make an alliance with the Scots Covenanters?’ Johnnie asked his father in bewilderment. ‘But he refused to agree with them for all those months at Newark.’

‘He has changed his mind,’ John said quietly. ‘He wants to make a new agreement. He wants to beat Parliament and Cromwell’s army at any price. He hated the covenanting Scots and could not agree with them, but they are now the only allies he can get. He is agreeing to things he denied completely only a few months ago. He refused them when he was their prisoner but now he has been seized by the English army he is looking kindly on the Scots again.’

Johnnie scowled. ‘So what does he believe in?’ he demanded in exasperation. ‘I thought that he would never give up the English church and the bishops. You told me he thought that was sacred. You told me he would never give up his rights as a king.’

‘I think now he is looking to survive,’ John said grimly. ‘And if he can get back on the throne then who can force him to keep to agreements he made when he was in prison?’

‘He would play false?’