‘Aye,’ John replied. ‘And if he would consent to be a little less then he still might get clear of this. He could withdraw and offer them his son in his place. Or he could offer to rule by their assent, not his own. But he will be the king. He would rather be a dead king than a live sensible man.’

‘Who were the commissioners?’ Hester asked. ‘Anyone we know?’

‘A few familiar faces,’ John said. ‘But only half of them named and called have had the courage to sit in judgement on their king. There are a lot of men with pressing business elsewhere.’

‘John Lambert?’ she asked, deliberately casual.

‘With the army in the north,’ he replied. ‘But his name is down as a commissioner. Why d’you ask?’

‘I should hate to think him in it,’ she said.

‘He wouldn’t do it,’ Johnnie asserted. ‘He’d know that it is wrong.’

John shook his head. ‘It’s the only way for everyone now,’ he said. ‘King and commoners. He’s left us no way out at all.’

Monday 22 January 1649

On Monday John and Alexander met on the steps of Westminster Hall and went in with the surging crowd as the doors were opened. The press of men and women swept John to the far side of the hall where he could see the king’s profile against the red velvet chair. Charles looked drawn and tired, he was finding it hard to sleep while constantly watched, and he knew now that the chances of a miraculous escape were every day diminishing.

The Lord President Bradshaw nodded to the prosecutor John Cook to begin but he had turned away, talking to one of the lawyers. The king, with all his old imperiousness, poked Cook sharply in the back with his cane, and the man spun around in shock, his hand going instinctively to where his sword would be. A gasp went round the courtroom.

‘Why does he do it?’ Alexander demanded.

John shook his head. ‘I doubt any man has ever turned his back to him before,’ he said quietly. ‘He cannot learn to be treated as a mere mortal. He was brought up as the son of God’s anointed. He just can’t understand the depth of his fall.’

John Cook ostentatiously pulled his jacket into shape, and completely ignored the blow. He approached the judges’ table, and asked them to agree that if the king would not plead then his silence would be taken as a confession of guilt.