Andrew Swanston - The King's Return

‘Just as well, Josiah, and I trust the future Lady Hill will do the same.’ The elbow in his ribs did not hurt all that much.

Some time later, Madeleine propped herself up on a pillow and ran her finger along the graze on Thomas’s cheek. She had not asked how he had come by it. ‘Such a pity the king did not see fit to make you an earl.’

‘Madeleine! Is the wife of a knight not good enough for you?’

‘I’m not thinking of myself. Our son would have inherited an earldom.’

‘Our son?’

‘I suspected it after the first time. Now I’m sure.’

Thomas sat up and took her face in his hands. ‘But I thought …’

‘It seems they were wrong.’

‘And your sickness …’

‘He must be strong.’

‘Is it not too soon to be sure?’

‘No, Thomas. I am sure.’

Thomas kissed her. ‘What shall we call him?’

‘My father’s name was Edward.’

‘Then he will be Edward Hill.’

As always, I thank my wife Susan for her patient support. Michael and Tom Swanston offered valuable advice and suggestions for which I am grateful.

Thanks also to my wonderful editor, Emma Buckley, and her colleagues at Transworld. It is a great pleasure to work with them.

And a final thank-you to Penny McMahon at the British Postal Museum and Archive in London.

Iris Brooke, English Costume of the Seventeenth Century , A. & C. Black, 1934

Tim Harris, Restoration , Penguin, 2005

Christopher Hill, The World Turned Upside Down , Penguin, 1972

Alan Marshall, Intelligence and Espionage in the Reign of Charles II, 1660–1685 , Cambridge University Press, 1994

Stephen Pincock, Codebreaker: The History of Codes and Ciphers , Walker & Co., 2006

Simon Singh, The Code Book , Fourth Estate, 1999

Jenny Uglow, A Gambling Man , Faber and Faber, 2009

and, of course, Samuel Pepys, The Shorter Pepys , Penguin, 1985

After reading Law at Cambridge, Andrew Swanstonheld various positions in the book trade, including being a director of Waterstones and chairman of Methvens PLC, before turning to full-time writing. Inspired by a lifelong interest in seventeenth-century history, his Thomas Hill novels are set during the English Civil War and the early period of the Restoration. He lives with his wife in Surrey.