Bartholomew Fair (25 page)

Anne nodded, but when the girl had gone, closing the door softly behind her, she said, ‘May you speak of it now?’

‘Better not. Perhaps later, when  . . . when things are settled.’

‘Anne, do not tease Kit,’ Sara said, frowning.

‘She is not teasing,’ I said. ‘After what we all saw at that puppet show, Anne is right to be concerned. Later I am sure I can speak of it.’

Phelippes had not, in fact, forbidden me to speak of the concerns arising from what had occurred at the Fair, but it was understood by all of us at Seething Lane, without discussion, that we must avoid panic in the City at all costs. If the story of the gunpowder and suspicious foreigners were to spread abroad, that would be the inevitable outcome.

The maid servant returned to clear away the soup and was followed by Camster bearing a heavy platter holding two roast ducks, which he carved and served. The maid brought fresh bread rolls and a dish of summer salad.

Once we were eating again, I said, ‘I can tell you some news, though. Good news.’

They looked at me expectantly.

‘Sir Francis has found me a place at St Thomas’s hospital. I am to replace a full physician who is retiring. Though,’ I laughed, ‘I am only to receive an assistant’s salary. I start in two weeks’ time.’

‘That is wonderful news, Kit,’ Sara said warmly. ‘I know how much you want to be practising medicine again.’

‘And I shall no longer be in your debt,’ I said. ‘I shall be able to pay my way now.’

‘You know that does not matter, Kit,’ Sara scolded, shaking a finger at me and laughing.

Anthony, however, was frowning. ‘It does not seem fair,’ he objected. ‘You should be paid properly for the work you do.’

‘Ah, but you see,’ I said, ‘I have not studied in the Faculty of Medicine at Oxford or Cambridge, or even at a university abroad, like your father and mine. I cannot become a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. So the governors of St Thomas’s are quite within their rights to limit my salary.’

‘I still do not think it is fair,’ he muttered.

‘Well, make sure you study hard and attend university,’ I said, ‘then you will have no problem.’

‘You sound like my schoolmasters.’

‘Aye, I do!’ I laughed. ‘Who am I to lecture you? When do you go back to Winchester?’

‘In two weeks. When you will be starting at St Thomas’s.’

‘Then we shall both be working hard. Will you be glad to go back?’

He made a face. ‘The food is terrible. I wouldn’t feed it to a pig. And some of the masters are too ready with a birch switch. But I like the lessons, and I’ve made some good friends.’

‘I wish I might have gone to school,’ Anne said wistfully. ‘My father would not permit me to attend one of the new schools for gentlewomen. He said it was a waste of time, educating women.’

‘Many men think that,’ I said.

‘But you do not?’

I smiled secretly down at my plate. ‘Nay, I do not think that. But I was educated by my father, as you have been educated by your mother, and you have had the run of an excellent library here.’ I sighed. ‘What I regret most, amongst the things that my father’s creditors seized before I reached home, was the books. And my lute.’

‘If I know you,’ Sara said, ‘once you are earning again, you will be buying books.’

‘You know me too well!’ I smiled at her.

The rest of the evening passed in pleasant conversation. I remembered that I had not shared out the gingerbread I had bought at the Fair the day I had gone there with Arthur Gregory, so I fetched it from my room, to the children’s delight. Later, after the two little girls had been taken away to bed, I played a game of chess with Anthony, while Sara and Anne embroidered. I beat him, but only just. He was beginning to master the game. I went to bed contented, thinking how pleasant it was to be part of a family again, at least when Ruy was not about, with his frenetic efforts to carry out some scheme or other. Yet I could not remain here for ever. Once I had paid back all the money Sara had loaned me and I was drawing my salary at the hospital, I must find somewhere else to live. In the meantime, however, I was glad to shut out the world of Seething Lane and all its dangers, and pretend to be a normal person in a normal household, despite my disguise. This was the nearest thing to a family I had left to me now.

The next morning I was back again at Seething Lane, this time having left Rikki with Anne, who said that she planned to spend time sitting in the little summer house in the garden, reading, and Rikki could stay with her.

‘You rightly pointed out to me last night,’ she said, ‘that once we have the gift of reading, we can educate ourselves. As a woman, I do not need a professional training in medicine or church or law. Though I would have liked to attend school, if only to make friends amongst girls of my own age.’

She looked sad again, for I knew she led a very restricted life, as Ruy Lopez’s daughter. Though neither Portuguese nor even truly Jewish herself, she was set somewhat apart. Like her mother, she attended the secret synagogue held at Dr Nuñez’s house from time to time, as a kind of duty to her ancestry. However, she went more happily to the Christian church in her parish, St Alban’s, one of London’s most ancient and holy churches. Although we hardly ever discussed religion, I thought that, like Sara, she regarded herself as English and Christian, despite the nod to the faith of her father’s and maternal grandfather’s birth. Ruy himself was a baptised Christian, as I was. What a tangle we lived in! Neither fish nor fowl.

Back with Phelippes and Berden, I turned my mind to other matters. At least here I knew what I was and how I must conduct myself. I was accepted as a young man, clever at cracking codes, fluent in several languages, and, perhaps somewhat to my surprise, one of the trusted inner group closest about Sir Francis. I felt some pride in this trust they accorded me, though I wondered whether it would be shattered if they discovered that I had been deceiving them all these years, that I was in fact no young man but a girl. They must never find out, for I valued their friendship and their respect too much. I felt a brief stab of pity for Anne, despite her wealth, her family, and her comfortable home. Unlike her, I could go out into the world and find both friends and respect. I could even gain self respect through my work, here and as a physician.

‘Arthur!’ I said, as he came out of his small office. ‘I am glad to see you back. How does your wife fare? I was worried.’

‘Much better now,’ he said with a smile. ‘Quite well again. She had some severe stomach pains and was frightened that she was losing the babe, as she has done twice before, but it was a false alarm. All is well again.’

‘I am relieved to hear it,’ I said. ‘It was unfortunate we had to stay away so late that night at the Fair.’

‘Oh, it did not begin until after that, in the early hours of the morning. But she is quite well now, and has her appetite back.’

It was decided that I should go out with Nick this time, even at the risk of being recognised by the puppeteers or the soldiers or Borecroft. The more time that passed without our discovering their whereabouts, the more worried Phelippes was growing. Sir Francis was keeping to his bed today, after the strain of yesterday’s ride, but Phelippes was reporting to him every hour, and Sir Francis himself thought I should help in the hunt.

‘It is a mystery to me,’ Berden said, as we set off from the stable yard, ‘where they can all be lying hid. One man – like Poley or Borecroft who both know London – can easily lose himself amongst the streets and alleys, but surely some of these soldiers are country lads. They cannot know the City. And the others, the puppeteers, are foreign. It must be even more difficult for them, because as soon as they open their mouths they will be known for Italians, yet for all my lads who have been searching the City from end to end, there is no word of them.’

‘Phelippes may be right,’ I said. ‘They may have gone to ground amongst the Italian community living here.’

‘If so, they have been very thorough about it. We’ve kept a watch on all the known Italian merchants and have seen nothing.’

We made our way down to Thames Street. We would walk the length of it to Blackfriars, where the Fleet runs into the Thames just beyond the City wall, then work our way back through some of the narrow alleyways leading off Thames Street. At various points there were inns where Berden’s men would leave information for him, if they should have found anything.

The cold wind of the day before had died away and summer heat had returned. I began to feel hot and sticky as we trudged along, past fishermen’s huts and tottering houses leaning together like old men. Many had been extended upward and outward in defiance of City regulations and looked ready to fall on our heads. I expect in the last century this might have been a fashionable part of the City, where the wealthy could have homes close to the heart of London yet overlooking the Thames, with their own steps down to the river and a boathouse for a private wherry or, if they were rich enough, a barge.

Now the area was thoroughly run down and the wealthy had moved outside the City to the west, where a string of mansions reached from the Inns of Court to Westminster. The river was not so foul there and the air was fresher. The old houses here had been divided up into many smaller lodgings. In some, whole families would live in a single room. We were restricting our search to the City, for the moment at least. Later, it might be necessary to extend it to the west.

‘How many soldiers will there be, in this renegade group?’ Berden asked.

I shook my head. ‘I do not know. The man who told me about the gunpowder did not say. Perhaps he did not know.’ I hesitated. ‘I have no real reason for thinking this, but I felt it was not many.’

It occurred to me that I could visit Adam again and discover whether he knew, but I could not do so while I was with Nick Berden. He would feel obliged to tell Phelippes, who might have Adam fetched in for questioning.

‘If it is a large group,’ Berden said, ‘it is even more baffling that they can remain hidden.’

‘It is.’ I could think of nothing more to say. Like Berden and Phelippes, I could not understand how the soldiers and the Italians had managed to disappear.

After I while I said ruefully, ‘I hope I have not started a false hare. What if the soldiers have decided to go home after all? And the Italians left the country? And Poley pursuing Borecroft simply because of some debt to this man Ingram Frizer? I shall look a fool then, shall I not? Especially since Sir Francis has left Barn Elms all because of this.’

‘You had to report it,’ Berden said firmly. ‘And Arthur was also sure there was something afoot. And so did this soldier who knew about the gunpowder.’

‘I hope you are right,’ I said, and sighed.

It was a fruitless morning. By noon we were both hot and tired and we had found no trace of those we sought. Word left by Berden’s men at three taverns was just as negative. By now we had worked our way up to Cheapside, and went into the Three Bells for a pint and a pasty. I was feeling even more discouraged. And poor Nick had been doing this all the previous day as well. He did not seem unduly worried by our lack of success, but I suppose he was accustomed to these long, tedious searches. I was too impatient for this kind of work.

The afternoon was nearly as tiresome, but towards the end we had two pieces of good fortune. One of Nick’s lads met us in Eastcheap and said he had caught a glimpse of Poley amongst the crowds in Three Needle Street, though he had lost him again, because of the press of people. So that meant at least that Poley was still in London.

The other bit of luck occurred when we were on our way back to Seething Lane, footsore and rather discouraged. At the corner of Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street, Nick pointed out to me a large merchant’s house next to a grand shop selling fine cloth.

‘That is one of the Italian merchants we have been keeping an eye on,’ he said, ‘Giancarlo di Firenze. He is a man of standing, an honorary member of our own Drapers’ Company, for he has lived here more than twenty years. Phelippes has told me to be wary of him, for he has powerful friends. The house is as strong as a fortress, and so is the shop.’

‘He will have been at the Cloth Fair, then,’ I said.

‘Almost certainly.’

And at that moment we had our first real piece of good fortune. A woman came out of the shop carrying a bundle, probably a bolt of cloth, and went up the steps of the house, where she was immediately admitted. She was dressed in the modest grey gown and white apron of a servant, but even so I knew her at once.

‘That is the woman!’ I whispered to Nick, though there was no need to whisper, there in the middle of a busy street. ‘The woman who was with the puppeteers. She spoke the voice for La Ruffiana,’ I said, suddenly thinking of the implications. ‘The outrage against Her Majesty.’

‘Are you sure? She did not look much as you described her.’

‘She is clad very differently, but I got a good look at her face. I am sure it is the same woman.’

‘Well!’ He looked pleased. ‘Something definite at last. That house is large enough to hide all that troupe of Italians. Or they may be scattered about, but at least one is here. Though the woman may be the least important.’

‘Do not be too sure.’ I remembered the imperious way the woman had looked over the men gathering for the meeting at the tent, as Arthur and I watched from the platform. ‘I think she may be one of the leaders. Though from all I have heard, Italian women are readier to use poison than gunpowder!’