Rory Clements - The Heretics

The knock at the door came as John Shakespeare unhooked his sword belt from a nail in the wall. ‘Come in,’ he said.

His assistant Boltfoot Cooper limped into the comfortable library of his master’s house in Dowgate, close by the river in the city of London, and bowed. ‘You have a visitor, master.’

‘Not now. I am expected elsewhere.’ He began buckling his belt. ‘Pass me my cloak, Boltfoot.’

Boltfoot picked up the old black bear fur from the coffer where it had been flung and held it up for Shakespeare to pull about his shoulders.

‘It is a man named Garrick Loake, sir. He begs you to spare him two minutes. He says he has most urgent business, of great import to the safety of the realm.’

‘Who is he?’

Boltfoot’s coarse seafarer’s brow twisted in a frown. ‘I know not, but from the varied colours of his attire, I might guess him to be a player or a poet. He did mention that your brother William recommended him to come to you.’

Shakespeare sighed. ‘Send him in. Tell him he has two minutes, no more.’

Loake did indeed wear colourful clothes. They were in the Italian style, including a hat with an enormous feather. Boltfoot was right: he could not be anything but a player.

‘Mr Loake? Is it true that my brother sent you?’

Loake bowed with a dramatic flourish. ‘He did, Mr Shakespeare. And I am most honoured to make your acquaintance for I have heard a great deal of your bold exploits.’

‘ Why did Will send you here?’

‘I took the liberty of confiding in him that I had concerns about a certain matter and he said straightway that you were the man to talk with.’

‘Mr Loake, I have little time to spare you. Perhaps you would return tomorrow when I am less pressed.’

‘I beg you to listen for a brief moment. I know what a busy man you are.’

Shakespeare remained standing. The library fire was blazing away and soon he would overheat in this fur. But he kept the cloak on. He did not wish to give this man the impression that he would stay and talk with him.

‘I know your distinguished brother from the Theatre, Mr Burbage’s fine playhouse in Shoreditch,’ Loake continued. ‘If you are as straight dealing as he is, then I am certain I can trust you.’

Shakespeare, a tall man with long hair, waited, merely smiling. His presence alone was often enough to lure men into revealing their secrets.

‘I sometimes play there myself,’ Loake went on. ‘I am not a member of the company, but there is usually work for me as a hired man in one capacity or another. Yesterday, I was working with the costumes.’ He twirled to display his brilliant outfit. ‘I borrowed this, Mr Shakespeare. It is Capulet’s apparel. Do you not think it becoming? Am I not a noble Veronese gentleman?’

‘The certain matter, Mr Loake-’

‘Forgive me, I shall come to that straightway. I have a secret to impart, you see. A secret involving papist intrigue. I believe young Cecil will pay very well for such intelligence.’

‘You mean Sir Robert Cecil.’ Shakespeare was not about to let his chief man be referred to as ‘Young Cecil’ by a stranger.

‘Indeed, not old Burghley. It is the young Caesar who runs the Privy Council these days, is it not? His father holds the purse-strings, but the boy spends the gold. Your brother mentioned that you might have a pathway to that purse.’

Shakespeare was losing patience. He could not imagine that Will had said anything of the sort. ‘Tell me the matter, Mr Loake. And do not refer to Sir Robert Cecil as the boy .’

‘My information is worth twenty sovereigns, I am certain of it. Twenty gold sovereigns.’

‘I fear you are ill informed.’ The figure was laughable. There were too many snouts in the trough already. ‘Very little is worth even twenty shillings. Twenty sovereigns is out of the question.’

‘Well, that is my price. I have great need of gold, and I need it in haste, which is why I have come to you. I cannot go a penny below my asking price.’

Shakespeare stepped away from the oppressive heat of the fire and moved towards the door. ‘Tell me what you know. And be quick about it.’

‘What I know,’ Loake said, ‘is that there is a most foul conspiracy unfolding. It wafts from the papist fastness of eastern England, gathers force in the seminaries of Spain, but it will blow into a tempest here.’ He lowered his voice for dramatic effect. ‘A conspiracy the like of which England has never seen.’

‘How do you know this?’

‘It is my business to listen well, for I sometimes hold the book and prompt the players.’

‘Names,’ said Shakespeare wearily. ‘Give me names. What manner of plot is this? Tell me the circumstance.’

‘I will, Mr Shakespeare, when you give me twenty sovereigns. For the present, I must hold my peace, for if I say more, then you will know as much as I do, and I will have no power to bargain.’

Shakespeare suddenly caught a whiff of sweat. This man was scared and desperate. ‘You are wasting my time. Say what you know.’

Loake put up his right hand, which had a ring on each finger. It shook. ‘I will tell you one thing, one thing only. The seminary involved is the College of St Gregory in Seville.’

‘The English college of Jesuits?’

‘The very same. So you will tell young Cecil to give me a purse of twenty gold sovereigns, as agreed?’

Shakespeare laughed. ‘Mr Loake, I have agreed nothing. Now I must go. If you have something to tell me, then return in the morning.’ He waved a hand in dismissal.

Many men came to Shakespeare’s door, scratching like curs for coins in return for information; at times of want it was a daily occurrence. Most of the intelligence was worthless, scraps of tittle-tattle overheard in taverns and gaols. But it all had to be listened to and some of it, no more than a tiny portion, had to be investigated. There was something in the demeanour of this man that interested Shakespeare. He would like to see him again, to delve more deeply. But not now.

‘Twenty, I must have twenty. Sovereigns.’

Despite himself, Shakespeare stayed. It was plain to him that Loake had no concept of how to conduct a negotiation; no idea that you must demand a high price so you can meet somewhere in the middle.

‘Even if we could agree a figure, I would need to seek authorisation for the payment, and that would be impossible without first knowing the details of your intelligence. Trust is required on both sides in such a transaction. I promise you this: if you tell me a secret as valuable as you claim, then I shall obtain up to five pounds on your behalf. Is that not fair dealing, Mr Loake?’

‘I cannot go so low.’

Shakespeare rested his hand on the hilt of his sword as if to underline who held the power here.

‘You must bear in mind, Mr Loake, that you have now informed me that you have knowledge of some treachery directed at this realm. If you do not tell me all you know, then you will be laying yourself open to a charge that you are an accessory to that treason.’

Loake drew himself up to his full height, which was not great, and wiped a sleeve of gold and blue across his sweat-glistening brow and prominent nose. ‘Did your brother then lie when he said you were to be trusted?’

Shakespeare shook his head. ‘I will not listen to insults, Mr Loake.’