normal. Visitors were never treated confrontation ally. All comers were coerced, if possible, whether they were supporters, Royalists or virulent republicans. The Commonwealth government — and Cromwell — hoped to be inclusive. Gideon was fascinated to observe how tolerance pervaded these staterooms. Enemies called the Protector a tyrant, yet what he was experiencing was not repressive.
Being Gideon, as they kept him kicking his heels, he asked openly about the Protector's attitude to his enemies.
'Oliver is as tender-hearted as a man could be. He yearns to make the nation godly, yet his wish is to allow all opinions freely. If he can, he will mercifully pardon horse-thieves and whores, equally with Royalists, Levellers and Fifth Monarchists.'
'Levellers?' Under the brim of his hat, which he had so far kept on, Gideon raised his eyebrows.
The secretary or agent or whatever he was, sighed. 'We are beset, Captain Jukes. I shall say no more.'
And neither will I! thought Gideon wryly.
Shortly afterwards, he was at last called in to meet John Thurloe. At this point, he voluntarily removed his hat.
Thurloe was an Essex man, just forty years of age, one of the regime's tireless, devoted workers. He had a legal background, a protege of Oliver St John, who was a vague relative of Cromwell's and one of the original movers of Parliamentary resistance to King Charles, under John Pym. Thurloe had not served in the army. However, he had been a diplomat, secretary to the Council of State, clerk to the Committee for Foreign Affairs, Thomas Scott's successor as head of the intelligence and spying network, and Postmaster- General. When Cromwell dismissed the Barebones Parliament, Thurloe was closely involved in drafting The Instrument of Government, the constitutional document that legitimised the Protectorate; at that time he was coopted to the Council of State.
He had a wide, square forehead and thrusting chin, with an eager, get- at- 'em expression. His hair was abundant with heavy curls down to his plain collar, though he was clean- shaven. There was a precedent for his kind of intelligence work, in the spy network Sir Francis Walsingham once ran for Queen Elizabeth; however, Thurloe's firm-set mouth gave him the air of a man who might anyway have thought this up himself.
At first, questions about Gideon's career and where he lived passed easily like general conversation, even though Thurloe stared at him from under his brows as he evaluated every remark. Gideon had intended to put himself on guard as soon as the formal interrogation started, but he never saw that moment. Information was drawn from him before he was ready. Very soon he had listed the Trained Bands, Luke, Okey, Rainborough, scouting in Scotland… He had said he worked in Holborn, lived off Shoe Lane, had a wife (he did not say whose wife she had been), two stepsons, his wife newly delivered of a baby…
'Now let me show you this curiosity, Captain Jukes — ' Secretary Thurloe led him around a table to see an object that lay upon a chair. It was an empty viol case.
Thurloe indicated that Gideon might examine it. It was for a bass viol, the largest standard size, the size Robert Allibone had played. In the pair he bequeathed to Anne Jukes was also an alto, suitable for a boy, learning, but Thomas Lovell had rejected that as a woman's instrument…
Gideon closed and reopened the viol case, which was of some age and fairly distinctive. He said nothing.
Coming close, Thurloe told him, 'This was found in a house near Westminster Abbey. It had been taken there as a means to conceal an exceptional weapon. It was intended for murder.' Gideon still kept his expression impassive, though he was horrified. 'A note was discovered, pushed down the lining — '
Thurloe put down a small square of paper where Gideon could read it. Not much bigger than a label, it said:
Thomas Lovell, his viol
If I am found, return me to the haberdashry by sign of the Bell in Fountaine Court, Shoe Lane, and it shall undoubteddly bee to your advantage. Ask therefor Master Jukes
Gideon groaned. The childish handwriting, the misspelling, the trusting mention of his own name, wrenched his heart. 'I would hope that Your Honour has the viol that belongs in this case — but from my heart, sir, I would hope you have the boy who plays the viol.'
Thurloe shook his head, watching him closely. 'I presume he is with his father. One of Langdale's creatures. Probably entangled with the Sealed Knot, which is a secret Royalist group. Your brother has provided information that he is the man we are pursuing as William Boyes. You have said nothing, but I can understand that. Now I am hoping, Captain Jukes, I can enlist you to find Lovell.'
Gideon became agitated. 'I am the last person — indeed, I told the man never to show his face near me again — '
'You have seen him?' snapped Thurloe. 'Give me particulars — height, build, clothes, hair colouring!'
Calmer, Gideon described Lovell. For the first time, he saw Thurloe dashing down notes.
'So! Orlando Lovell — he uses other names and goes in different habits, though his intentions never vary… And you married his wife.'
Gideon felt his stomach clench. Thurloe knew more, much more, than he had thought. 'Lovell's return puts us in a nice predicament,' he conceded.
Thurloe made him squirm. 'Indeed! With reasonable cause to think her a widow, you and Lovell's wife were free to enjoy one another — I wonder, does your freedom continue, now that you know Lovell is alive? Is your lady a bigamist and an adulterer? Are you two committing the detestable sin of fornication? It would be fascinating to put this dilemma to the judgement of a court — '
Gideon felt threatened, even though Thurloe spoke as if genuinely curious about the legal issues. 'It is no intellectual quibble for us, sir. Our difficulty is painful.'
Thurloe stroked his chin. 'I imagine you want Colonel Lovell dead — though that wish is unchristian.'
'My conscience will live with it!' Gideon admitted, his back stiff as a ramrod.
'But he is here, alive — '
And has seized from my custody the boy I love as my stepson, ward, call it what you will — a capture which Lovell is using wickedly. He sent messages that the boy is his hostage.'
'To prevent you assisting me? Will you succumb to blackmail?' This man cannot be married, Gideon thought. (He was wrong; Thurloe married twice and fathered children.) Thurloe continued to press him. 'Marchamont Nedham speaks well of you… I would pay you — we have funds — but I deduce you would not want money for this.' Thurloe spoke of payment matter-of-factly, as if many others did take it.
'For what? Why is Lovell so important?' asked Gideon.
As 'Boyes', he is engaged in dangerous business.' In four or five sentences, Thurloe listed the failed plots to shoot the Protector. At that time, they had not been publicised. 'Captain Jukes, do you know Edward Sexby?'
Gideon took a rapid decision to admit it: 'I met him. He was an Agitator then, and a private trooper.'
'When did you last see him?'
'Putney, where I heard him speak. We never were intimate.'
'Miles Sindercombe?'
'Unknown to me.'
'John Cecil?'
'No.'
'Sindercombe was a mischievous, very active army Leveller. He fomented the army plot in Scotland, if you heard about that — you never met him there?'
'I barely saw service in Scotland, sir. I was badly wounded at Dunbar. I can never wield a sword again to good purpose; I was shipped home.'
'I am sorry for your suffering… But you hold the Dunbar Medal?' After the compliment Thurloe asked, not altering his voice, Are you a Leveller?'
'True until death.' Gideon was not ashamed of his past. He reckoned the secretary of state would know his history, and that he had not been active recently. He refused to conceal his opinions.
'So what is your view of the present government, Captain Jukes?'
'I wish for elected representation — as I believe the Lord Protector does himself. When we risked all in the wars, we did it to secure free Parliaments. But I do understand how the present situation has come about. Every man thinks for himself — the fact that every man has such liberty is our great achievement — yet this makes for such contentious Parliaments, they cannot govern.'
'Do you believe His Highness the Lord Protector should be king?'
