Susanna Gregory: The Piccadilly Plot

‘All those greedy people who hoped to profit were hit where it hurt them most — in the purse. The Piccadilly Company lost all the treasure they had spirited to Clarendon House after Jane docked — it was confiscated by the government. And it was decided that the Adventurers should pay for the repairs to Katherine , because they were fooling about on her when Jane exploded.’

‘I suppose so,’ said Chaloner. ‘But most of them are so rich that they will barely notice the loss.’

‘Well, we should not be too downcast. Fitzgerald murdered all those members of the Piccadilly Company who were involved in the plot, while the remainder are too relieved by their narrow escape to dabble with dubious characters again. And war with the Dutch will destroy the Adventurers — their ships will be unable to trade, and their venture will go bankrupt.’

‘Temporarily perhaps. Do you know, when I scuttled the slave-ship Henrietta Maria in Tangier, I believed I had made a difference — that it might make these unscrupulous merchants think twice about the trade. But the reality was that it accomplished nothing at all.’

‘It enabled dozens of people to escape life on the plantations,’ countered Thurloe. ‘ They will not think it was nothing. But you are right in that the filthy business will flourish. You may have to hone your scuttling talents. Let me know if you ever need an accomplice.’

Chaloner gave him a wan smile.

Thurloe sighed. ‘Fitzgerald may have bested me yet again, but at least some of the villains met a fitting end. Brinkes and his louts are in Williamson’s tender care, while O’Brien, Harley, Brilliana, Cave, Meneses and my brother-in-law are dead.’

‘Harley was the worst. He murdered his friends and Reyner’s mother.’

‘Fitzgerald was the worst,’ corrected Thurloe. ‘He brained two men in front of you, and he was responsible for Turner, Lucas and even children burned to death, as well as Proby being hurled from the roof of St Paul’s Cathedral, Congett poisoned and Meneses trampled by a horse.’

‘It was O’Brien who issued those orders.’

‘Perhaps, but the wicked imaginativeness tells me that Fitzgerald decided how to execute them. He ordered Brinkes to kill Captain Pepperell, too, before his report on the three Tangier scouts could be delivered to Williamson.’

‘Poor Pepperell,’ said Chaloner. ‘I doubt he knew much that could harm Harley, Newell and Reyner, and there was no need to kill him. However, I think you will agree that the slaughter of the garrison on Jews Hill was by far the worst outrage in this miserable affair, and while it was O’Brien’s idea, it was Harley who put it into action.’

‘True,’ acknowledged Thurloe. ‘Of course, the Teviot affair has been vigorously suppressed. The government does not want it known that its own scouts brought about that tragedy.’

Chaloner was not surprised, being well acquainted with the fact that governments all over the world had ways to keep people from finding out about their mistakes.

‘But Pratt was not guilty of anything except making bad friends,’ he said. ‘And of naively believing that members of the Piccadilly Company would hire him to design houses for them once Jane had made them rich. He was so shocked when he learned he had been used in a plot against the Queen that he has retired from public life. He has gone to live in Norfolk.’

‘That is extreme: I have been to Norfolk.’ Thurloe sighed again. ‘However, we saved the Queen from embarrassment and persecution. That was worthwhile.’

‘It was, but she remains vulnerable until she produces an heir.’ Chaloner glanced at Thurloe. ‘I am sorry about Lydcott, by the way. He was not a bad man, either. Just lacking in judgement.’

Thurloe pursed his lips. ‘I beg to differ — he sacrificed you and me to Fitzgerald without a second thought. I was wrong about him, just as I was wrong about Lester, although Ann mourns his loss, of course. Still, at least I did not underestimate Fitzgerald, so I have not lost my touch completely.’

‘Far from it.’ Chaloner stood. ‘I had better go. The Earl asked me to meet him in Clarendon House this evening, and he will be angry if I am late.’

‘I have no desire to set foot in that place ever again,’ declared Thurloe with a shudder. ‘I shall always associate it with evil dealings.’

So would Chaloner, but he did not have the luxury of declining the Earl’s summons.

Clarendon House stood silent and imposing in its sea of mud and winter-brown trees. The site was deserted because the Earl had dismissed all the workmen, being uncertain which ones were involved with Oliver, and unwilling to take chances. More had yet to be recruited, although it would not be long before the place rang with the sounds of industry again.

As Chaloner walked up the drive, he regarded it with dislike, and began to formulate plans to burn it down. No one would miss it, except the Earl — even Hyde would be grateful to lose this monumental reminder of his gullibility. It took considerable willpower to open the door and step inside, and he could not repress a shudder as he passed the stairs that led to the basement.

He found the Earl standing in his Great Parlour, which was still scarred from Brinkes’s efforts to escape. He looked short and insignificant in its lofty grandeur, more like an interloper than its owner.

‘Hah!’ he exclaimed as Chaloner approached. ‘There is an unforeseen advantage to this place.’

‘What is that, sir?’

The Earl grinned. ‘You cannot mask the sound of your footsteps in this echoing chamber, so you will never be able to creep up on me. I am safe from frights at last.’

Chaloner had made no effort to approach quietly, but was sure it could be managed, especially in the dark. The Earl’s grin faded as he looked around him.

‘It was a pitiful business,’ he said softly.

Chaloner nodded, and stared at the floor. Lester had died saving people who continued to profit from the slave trade, and one of the greatest villains he had ever encountered was currently sailing down the Thames on his way to a new and prosperous life. Even Kitty, whose role in the affair was far from certain, was happily married to the man she had taken as her lover while her husband still lived.

‘I am sorry so many people died,’ he said quietly.

The Earl stared at him. ‘Actually, I was thinking about my stolen bricks. The other business was far from pitiful, because you presented me with four gold bars that the King’s treasurers had neglected to find.’

‘Oh,’ said Chaloner. ‘I had forgotten about those.’

‘You are a curious fellow! Anyone else in my household would have kept one for himself, but you gave me the lot.’

‘I did not want anything to do with them.’

‘Luckily for me.’ The Earl cleared his throat. ‘Henry has shown me every one of these sly secret passages, but they are all in the wrong places.’

Chaloner frowned. ‘I do not understand.’

The Earl waved a sheaf of papers at him. ‘They are in the main reception rooms, but these are large chambers, and experiments have shown that if you stand in the middle and mutter seditious remarks, a spy cannot hear you.’

Chaloner took the plans and studied them. ‘There are no devices in the bedrooms — other than yours — either. That is where most confidences will be whispered. You are right: I doubt they will serve you very well. Hyde … whoever designed them did not know what he was doing.’

‘Speaking of my son, Williamson came to see me yesterday. He had information that indicates Henry lied — that it was one of my enemies who arranged to have these spyholes installed, not him. I asked Henry about it, but he says Williamson is mistaken. What do you think?’