Lady Honor looked over at the high wooden amphitheatre. A great crowd was waiting by the gates, and shouting and cheering could already be heard from within: the old blind bears were already in the ring, the dogs loosed on them. She sighed again.
'When is the great Magnus to be brought on?'
Marchamount did not appear to notice the ironic emphasis in her voice. 'Not for an hour or so.'
'I will join you then, I think. I don't think I can stand that dreadful kerlie-merlie of noise right now. If you will forgive me, I will take a walk along the bank with my ladies.'
Marchamount looked crestfallen. 'As you wish, Lady Honor-'
'I will join you by and by. Would any of the other ladies care to join me?' She looked around. One of the mercers' wives looked as though she would have, but when she glanced at her husband he shook his head.
'I'll join you, Lady Honor,' I said.
She smiled. 'Excellent. Company would be pleasant.'
Marchamount shook his head. 'Surely you don't prefer the companies of ladies over manly sport, Brother Shardlake?'
'When has the company of ladies not been preferable to that of bears and dogs?'
Lady Honor laughed. 'Well said! Lettice, Dorothy, come along.' She turned and began walking upriver along the Bankside path. I stepped to her side. Her two women walked a few paces behind, with the pair of sword-carrying servants.
Lady Honor's wide skirt brushed against my legs and I felt the wickerwork frame underneath, which held the farthingale out from her legs. I thought of the legs underneath the frame and blushed momentarily.
She made a moue of distaste as another loud roar came from the stadium. 'A manly sport indeed. It'll be manly when they set a man on the bear instead of dogs.' She turned to me with a wicked smile. 'Gabriel Marchamount perhaps, how d'you think he'd fare?'
I laughed. 'Not well. I do not like bear-baiting either. The taking of pleasure in another creature's suffering.'
'Oh, it's the noise I can't stand. You sound like one of those extreme reformers, sir, that would ban all pleasures.'
'No, I have always felt thus.'
We walked slowly on. 'They're naught but dumb brutes.' Lady Honor sighed. 'But no, you do not see humanity at its most edifying at the baiting. To be honest I was afraid I might faint, it would be so hot in there today, and smelling of blood. Ah, this is better. Goodwife Quaill looked as though she'd have liked to join us, but she wouldn't speak unless her husband allowed her.'
'The advantages of a widow's independence,' I said.
She smiled broadly, showing her white teeth. 'You remember our conversation. Yes indeed. I am widening my business interests, you know. I have bought a workshop for the sewing of silk garments down by St Paul's. Gabriel helped me, he's good at that sort of thing.' She smiled again. 'But I dare say you are too.'
'I could do with some new clients,' I said ruefully. 'Mine are abandoning me.'
'More fool them. Why is that?'
'I do not know.' I changed the subject. 'You hire women to do the sewing?'
'Yes. Silk is such a difficult material; many ladies prefer to have their clothes made up for them now. I have six seamstresses working there, all ex-nuns.'
'Really?'
'Yes. From St Clare's, St Helen's, Clerkenwell nunnery. Some of the nuns were happy enough to leave the cloister, I've heard one or two of them have ended up down there-' she nodded back at the Southwark stews – 'but my women are older. Pitiful creatures, afraid to walk in the streets. They're happy enough to work at sewing.'
'It must be hard for them,' I said.
'The poor old things like working together again. I feel it is important the ex-religious are found places where they feel secure. Everyone should have their settled place in society. If proper attention was given to that, we should not have all these masterless men roaming the streets.' She shook her head. 'It must be a troubling thing to have no place. One must feel very insecure.' For the first time it struck me that for all Lady Honor's sophistication there were whole areas of the world, indeed of the very city in which she lived, of which she could have no conception.
'It is better that people should have the chance to rise if they have the merit.' I said.
'But so few have, Matthew, so few.' Her use of my Christian name gave me an unexpected frisson. 'I think you do, but you are not ordinary.'
'You compliment me, Lady Honor,' I said, bowing hastily to cover my confusion.
'There is such a thing as natural nobility.'
I blushed, and thought suddenly: I must not let my feelings get the better of me. I must not. 'The king's government is full of new men,' I said hastily. 'Cromwell. Richard Rich.' I dropped that name to see how she would react, but she only laughed.
'Rich. A cruel brute in a velvet doublet. Did you know, his wife is a mere grocer's daughter?'
'She is mistress of Barry's now.'
By now we had walked some distance up the bank, as far as the Paris garden, the houses starting to give way to open countryside. Lady Honor stopped and looked across the river at the bulk of Bridewell Palace. Her ladies and servants halted at the same moment, ten paces behind. A cloud passed across the sun, softening the light and easing the heat.
She looked at me seriously. 'Matthew, I do hope I am not in trouble with Lord Cromwell. It preys on my mind. Did you talk with him?'
'I repeated what you said. He spoke of you admiringly.'
She looked relieved. 'Yes, they all like coming to my banquets, Lord Cromwell and the duke and all the courtiers. But in these times – well, I know each side wonders if my sympathies lie with the other. When in truth-' she gave a little laugh – 'I am with neither. I know if the duke learned I was helping Lord Cromwell in connection with secret enquiries, he would not be pleased.' She smiled sadly. 'You see how I am trapped. Yet I only ever wanted good conversation round my table.'
I grimaced. 'In these times it is hard to avoid getting caught in the tangles of the great. Often I think I would like to retire to the country.'
'I am thinking of escaping to Lincolnshire, to my family estates. Though I love London, unlike my nephew. But I suppose the earl would want me to stay while this business is on.'
'Yes. I think he would, my lady.' I hesitated. 'I spoke with Serjeant Marchamount in the boat coming over.'
'I saw your heads together.' Her eyes were suddenly watchful. 'Were you checking what I had told you?'
'Yes, I had to. You must understand that.'
Her face reddened. 'And I thought we might relax today, have a pleasant day out.'
'Come, Lady Honor, you know better than that.'
Her lips set. 'Do I? Is it so strange I should hope for a little converse with a congenial companion, having answered all his enquiries?'
I was not to be distracted. 'Marchamount appeared surprised when I said the Duke of Norfolk was after your lands.' I hesitated. 'My impression was that that was not the subject the two of them were discussing at the banquet, when he spoke of getting Marchamount to press you.'
'Am I to have no peace?' she asked softly. She closed her eyes a moment, then met mine again, fiercely. 'Matthew, I swore on the Bible that Norfolk has asked me no questions about Greek Fire and I swore truly. And it is true that he is after my lands. That is how it started.'
'How what started?'
'Something that became more complicated. A family matter that is none of your business. It has no connection with your wretched papers and formulae.'
'Can you be sure of that?'
'Yes.' She sighed wearily. 'I am going to say no more, Matthew.' She raised a hand. 'If you want you can tell Cromwell and he can have me brought before him. He will get the same answer. Some matters are private.'
'The days of private matters among aristocratic families are gone, my lady. Such matters led to the wars of Lancaster and York.'
