Read The Doublet Affair (Ursula Blanchard Mysteries) for Free Online Page B

be on your way to join Matthew de la Roche. Whatever my personal opinion of his opinions, you are his wife. You also have a child to rear. However, you have done admirable work for us in the past year. We have disposed of Dudley, I think, at least as a conspirator and probably as a suitor for the Queen . . . well,let us hope so! Though I must say I wish she’d marry somebody, and so do the rest of the council.”
    The table was still covered in white damask and strewn with dishes, but somehow, in that moment, it became a conference table. I cleared my throat. I knew I must give the impression that I was seriously attending the conference. “What is it that you want me to do?” I asked.
    “It’s a long story,” said Lady Mildred. “Let my husband approach it in his own way.”
    “The fact is,” Cecil said, “that unless and until Her Majesty takes a husband—preferably not Dudley—and a lawful prince is born, the Queen is vulnerable: to illness, accident, assassination or scandal. Scandal can be as damaging as death. If anything happens to her, then I don’t need to tell you where we shall all be. We shall have a choice between two of her cousins: Lady Catherine Grey, who would support the Protestant faith but is not in anyone’s opinion capable of taking the throne and holding it, and Mary Stuart of Scotland, who would bring back the heretic-hunt and the stake. Three hundred died that way in Mary Tudor’s reign. If the old religion were restored, there would be more deaths. Probably including my own. Tell me, do you know Señor Borghese, Bishop de Quadra’s private secretary?”
    “By sight, that’s all. Thickset, quiet, well dressed in an unobtrusive way.” I was taking pains to sound interested, but despite myself, the interest now began to be genuine.
    “That’s the fellow. He may well be wise to keep his excellent tailoring unobtrusive, or de Quadra mightthink he’s overpaying him! They are a fine pair,” said Cecil. “De Quadra takes backhanders from the French for keeping them informed of events here, and Señor Borghese takes backhanders from me, to keep me informed of his master’s doings! Though he doesn’t pass on everything. He didn’t tell me of Dudley’s plans—I owe that to you. By the way, you were watching Dudley. What made you think that de Quadra’s document case might yield something?”
    “I’d noticed that Dudley kept sidling up to de Quadra in anterooms,” I explained. “People do that when they want to remind someone of something without an official interview.”
    “Sharp of you! I said you had a gift. Well, one of the things that Borghese did pass on to me was the fact that some prominent former Councillors—men from Queen Mary’s administration—have been writing to de Quadra enquiring if he has any ideas about ways and means of restoring the country to Catholicism. I’ve got them all in the Tower now, as a warning to others.”
    “I heard about that.” Recently, it had been a talking point for the whole court. “But in that case . . .”
    “You are thinking that now Dudley and the ex-councillors have been put in check, the danger is over? I wish it were so, but Señor Borghese also handed this to me.” Turning, he reached over to a sideboard behind him and picked up a document which lay there in readiness. “This is a copy of the original, but a faithful copy, so Señor Borghese assures me.” He handed it to me. “It may not please you to read this,” he added, “but I think it spells danger. I am sorry.”
    It was another dark afternoon. Cecil pushed a candlenearer to me to make reading easier. I took the sheet of paper up and studied it.
    “Oh, no! ” I said, with passion, when I had done.
    I felt so strongly, that for several moments I actually forgot about Matthew and my half-formed scheme to travel to France. I had been swept back, beyond my marriage to Matthew, to the previous autumn, when I was travelling in Berkshire and stayed, briefly but