what you may yet do that matters. I will not toy with your patience any longer, Lady Tyringham – we are too old for such games.’
Frances stopped herself pointing out that Lady Vaux was almost twenty years her senior.
‘My proposition is simple. I will help to settle your debts if you agree to embrace our cause once more.’
Frances did not try to hide her disdain. ‘What cause, Lady Vaux? The Catholic – or your own?’ She saw that her words had hit their mark.
‘They have always been one and the same.’
‘And they have always come to nothing,’ Frances countered. ‘You embroiled me in your schemes once before, and I found to my cost that they were as insubstantial as air. I have a good deal more to lose now than I did then.’
Lady Vaux gave a snort of derision. ‘I would have thought you had a good deal less. Why, your financial ruin is the talk of the county!’
‘I do not speak of material possession, Lady Vaux,’ Frances replied, her voice low, ‘though, as a spinster, it is perhaps natural that you should misunderstand. My loyalty lies entirely with my husband and sons. I would not hazard their reputation – their lives, even – by involving myself in a cause that was lost many years ago.’
‘You are too hasty, Lady Tyringham. You have not asked what our plans are – what role you would play in them.’
‘I do not care!’ Frances’s cry echoed into silence. ‘It does not matter,’ she continued, once her breathing had calmed. ‘How many times has a Spanish invasion been mooted? A huge army of Catholics to oust the King from his throne? It is nothing but words, Lady Vaux – Raleigh and numerous others besides paid the price for believing them. Even if the Powder Treason had succeeded, the King and his government blown to the heavens, what then? Nothing but chaos and division. This kingdom would have been plunged into civil war. No. I will keep my faith in my heart and urge you to do the same.’
‘I see that sixteen years of marriage have not diminished your stubborn nature,’ the older woman observed. ‘But neither has it enhanced your wisdom – or your courage.’ She held up her hand to silence Frances’s protests. ‘Your pride has blinded you, Lady Tyringham. You cannot see that by accepting my offer, you will be protecting that which you hold so dear.’
Frances stood abruptly. ‘Our conference is over, Lady Vaux. I will ask that your carriage be brought from the stables.’
Her guest showed no inclination to move, though Frances glared down at her.
‘Very well.’ Lady Vaux rose to her feet. ‘But you are a fool.’ With that, she began to walk slowly from the room. When she reached the doorway, she stopped. ‘Of course, if you should change your mind . . .’
CHAPTER 47
4 November
‘God’s wounds, have a care, man!’
Frances watched as Lord Bacon limped after a thickset young man, who was dragging a fine writing desk over the threshold. He took a silk kerchief from his pocket and rubbed at a scratch on the gilding. ‘I am no longer so rich that I can replace such treasures . . . unlike your master,’ he muttered, under his breath, as the man quickened his pace. As he walked back into the room, a loud bang echoed along the corridor beyond. He winced.
‘This will be the death of me, Frances,’ he grumbled, sinking down next to her on one of the few pieces of furniture that remained in his once magnificent hall.
It occurred to her that he was not the first owner of York Place to find himself thrown out of office. Almost a hundred years earlier, King Henry VIII’s once-powerful cardinal, Thomas Wolsey, had been stripped of all his great titles and forced to hand the keys to his rival, Anne Boleyn. She had not enjoyed her triumph for long. Frances hoped the same would be true of Buckingham, whose residence this now was.
‘Perhaps the place is cursed,’ Bacon remarked, echoing her thoughts. ‘It was always too grand for a poor philosopher like me anyway, so I will not mourn its loss too greatly. It is far more suited to my former patron.’
Frances forced a smile. ‘Where shall you go?’
‘I have some rooms close to the Temple Church. They will suffice for now – though Alice does not agree. She has gone to stay with relatives in Suffolk. Perhaps it is for the best.’
Frances regarded him sadly.