‘You have it? Well that’s –’ John broke off.

‘A surprise,’ John Lambert finished diplomatically for him. ‘I think so too. I certainly didn’t ever think to find myself in a queen’s house, but I think it will suit me very well. I was especially interested to know if any of your plantings have survived. I’d be sorry to spoil a bed of rarities through my own ignorance.’

‘Johnnie told me that some things are still there. I know the trees have done well, and Johnnie told me that the horse chestnuts are growing and the fruit trees in the orchards.’

‘Horse chestnuts?’ John Lambert asked with a gleam.

‘Yes.’

‘Mature?’

John thought for a moment. ‘They’d be, oh, fifteen years old now.’ He laughed. ‘They’ll be flowering and coming into their full beauty. I think you’ll find you have a bargain in the garden. And I had planted plum and medlar and quince apples and pears; also the Tradescant great black cherry, and espaliered peaches.’

Hester came out on to the terrace with a bottle of wine and two glasses, Johnnie washed and tidy behind her. ‘Will you stay for dinner, Lord Lambert?’ she asked. ‘Elias Ashmole and his wife are staying with us at the moment, and we expect some other guests too.’

‘Thank you, I would like to,’ he said.

‘His lordship has bought Wimbledon House,’ John told her. ‘Johnnie, would you go and see if you can find the garden plans for me? They were in the documents in the rarities room.’ He looked directly at his son and spoke with emphasis. ‘We must be glad that one of our gardens has been bought by a man who will love it,’ he said firmly.

It was as if the boy had not heard him.

‘That’s the queen’s house,’ Johnnie said bluntly.

Lambert heard the repressed passion behind the words and replied very calmly. ‘It was confiscated, as are all the royal houses and palaces. And now I have bought it. I paid good money for it, Johnnie. It was a proper transaction, not booty. I didn’t steal it.’

‘It wasn’t the king’s house, it was the queen’s,’ Johnnie insisted. ‘She’s never been tried for treason, her estates have never been sequestrated. How can anyone have her house? It has nothing to do with the royal palaces. It’s her own house.’

Hester glanced at John.

‘Her fortunes go with her husband,’ Lambert answered. ‘That’s the law, Johnnie. And all royalists have lost their houses.’

‘Fetch the plans for me.’ John tried to stem the rise of his son’s temper.