that I harbor some doubt.” He looked at his pipe and carefully knocked the ash out of it before continuing. “Am I correct in assuming your survival has nothing to do with our studies?”
“No, nor yet with my—how did Baines put it? My atheism, my blasphemies, or my monstrous opinions, Wat,” I reassured him. His eyebrow raised at the fond name as I continued. “It had more to do with a misplaced, and later regretted, act of compassion—toward me, not by me. Sowing good intentions reaps but a deadly harvest, or so it often seems.” Sir Walter did not meet my eye.
“You are very much changed, Kit,” he finally said, his voice soft with sorrow and distress. And pity, too, the most pernicious of all.
“I would have expected you to be off to your beloved Americas,” I said lightly, changing the subject.
“Aye, and so I would be, save that her majesty ordered me not to leave her,” Sir Walter said. “Her majesty cannot do without her lap dog, some say. Lap dog!” he repeated fiercely, and I laughed.
“So they call me, as well, and any that she favors,” I told him. “And if you’ll notice, Wat, the very ones who say it loudest would be the first to leap up if the lap were but offered them!” He laughed at that, and we fell into silence, contemplating the fire. I brooded over Walsingham, and the Earl of Northumberland. Percy had helped me in the past, but we had fallen out long before. He was not a passionate man, but cold and vengeful, and one who would wait years if need be to exact that revenge—“I must speak to Geoffrey,” I said abruptly, pushing myself out of the chair and through the door, returning a few minutes later with Geoffrey in tow. Ralegh quickly recapped what he had told me earlier, and waited patiently while we contemplated the problem. Geoffrey was the first to speak.
“And was it only this warning that brought you here tonight?”
“Not entirely, your grace. Her majesty bade me come and assess the extent of her Shadow’s injuries, and to hear from his lips what befell him on the road from Nonsuch. What answer must I make, do you think?”
“And if I should say that I rode home by a different way and know nothing of these things?” I inquired, a smile tugging at my lips. Ralegh shook his head regretfully.
“Much as I should like to see the reactions to that, I fear that hound won’t hunt, Kit. Too many saw you go in that direction, and too many are prepared to swear it.”
“Then say to her that I was beset on the road by what I took to be thieves and brigands, who made no answer when I asked their business, thus forcing me to fire upon them in effecting my escape. Tell her Majesty that I took no serious hurt, and, with her permission, will wait upon her two nights hence,” I replied, and Ralegh nodded thoughtfully then took his leave, saying that he would return the following evening, having some business to attend during the day.
“Well, Kit,” Geoffrey said quietly.
“I bade Tom not to speak, and bound him with a compulsion. I can only suppose,” I added wryly, “that the blast of the gun, the smell of the powder, and not least the fear for his life has whelmed my suggestions. I shall take care, and I shall visit him again some night, and renew the bonds he has broken.”
“That, I think, would be most unwise until we see what his grace of Northumberland purposes to do with his information. But what of Ralegh?”
“Sir Walter is a man of both honor and discretion, and fosters a healthy concern for both his dignity and his neck. He will not, I think, risk either by supporting, or even seeming to heed, Tom’s ravings. I was a part of his so-called School of Night, you know, and we often spoke alone together until dawn, after the others left. He will not betray me, I’d lay my life.”
“As indeed you do,” Geoffrey retorted. “And ours.”
The next night, true to his word, Ralegh returned. The Queen had sent a gift of game and her joy in Ralegh’s tidings. She looked forward to seeing her Shadow the following afternoon, for she would attend the inquest upon the death of William Baskerville. After this brief unpleasantness, it would give her great joy if Prince Geoffrey and Prince Kryštof would attend the masque