At the House of the Magician (11 page)

‘What you seek is forbidden,’ said Dr Dee after a moment.

‘But I know that you’ve raised spirits in the past. I’ve heard that you can speak with angels, so mayhap you can speak with my Alice.’

‘But
this
…’ ‘

I’m willing to pay twenty gold coins if I can speak to Alice again!’

I was startled enough to sit upright, wondering if I’d heard correctly.

Dr Dee made no reply.

‘Thirty, then! Thirty gold coins for just two minutes with my daughter.’

My mouth was agape with wonder at this.
Thirty
gold coins. I could hardly envisage such a sum, or what might be purchased with it.

There was a long pause before Dr Dee asked, very low, ‘Where is she buried?’

‘She died when the Court was at Richmond. She’s buried in the churchyard next to the royal chapel,’ came the reply.

‘In the
churchyard
?’ Dr Dee enquired.

The other said, ‘I had her death recorded as an accident to enable her to be buried close to the queen’s apartments.’

‘I will consult my charts and see if such a thing is
possible,’ said Dr Dee after a further pause. ‘I can make no promises.’ He moved to a table and there came the scratching of a quill pen on parchment. He asked, ‘What date did she die, sir?’

‘’Twas the fifteenth of September.’

‘And what was the date of her birth?’

‘The twenty-first of April.’

My heart gave a little jump at this, for it was my own birthday.

‘I will contact you,’ said Dr Dee. The two gentlemen bowed to each other and then came the jingling of spurs as he walked back to the far end of the room.

I don’t think the queen had uttered a word all this time, but after the man retreated she said pleasantly to Dr Dee, ‘May we set eyes on the contents of your box today?’

‘Your Grace …’ came the reply, and he crossed my line of vision once more and, I believe, went to the table on which rested the little chest. He then walked back to the queen and I heard a faint squeak as a key turned and an exclamation from the queen. ‘Oh, such pretty things,’ she said. ‘And so potent in the right hands.’

How my curiosity burned! How I longed to see what it was that she was seeing. But I sat, utterly immobile, until she, after laughing a little and making small exclamations of delight, said, ‘Thank you, Dr Dee,’ and the chest was returned to the table.

***

Shortly after, the queen and her attendants left to go to the nearby Walsingham household. I never found out how many servants were with her that day, but I judged them to be about ten in number, and from the crack in the fireplace wall saw them leaving in a blur of brilliant-coloured silks and braiding, plumes of feathers, ornately decorated hats and starched white ruffs.

I listened to Dr Dee at the front door bidding them farewell – for they did not visit Mistress Dee in her chamber – and then, the room being perfectly quiet, judged it to be empty.

Gingerly, for I’d grown stiff and cold, I began to move out of the fireplace. I thought I’d attend the fire or do some other simple task which was an acceptable reason for being in there. I did not get this far, however, for the moment I peered around the fireplace I looked into the large and whiskered face of a cat. A human cat.

I think I screamed. I certainly gasped with fright and surprise.

‘How now, Mistress?’ it said, grasping my hand in a surprisingly strong, furred grip and pulling me close. ‘I have been a-waiting for you.’

I didn’t speak, for I was frightened out of my wits.

‘And although I may only be a cat, I am tiger enough to kill a traitor!’

I would have cried out that I was certainly not a traitor but was unable to, for my assailant had backed
me hard against the wall and, staring at me with malevolence in his eyes, was gripping tightly around my neck with both hands.

I was terribly frightened, for I knew well that the queen’s person was considered sacred and that spying on her was a treasonable offence.

‘Why were you concealed in the fireplace? Who do you work for? Tell me quickly and I can kill you all the sooner.’

‘I … I …’ I began, but I was, in fact, too frightened to say anything. Besides, his hands were still constricting my throat so that I could hardly draw breath.

‘Speak, or this cat shall have your tongue,’ he said. ‘Yes, and your heart and entrails too, and they shall hang from the chimney of the house so that ravens may peck at them.’

I shuddered. The young man – for I could tell his age from his voice – was not tall for one of that sex, perhaps a little above my own height, but I knew from the sheer force of his grip that he was strong and
well-muscled. He was wearing a black velvet doublet edged with white fur but I could see little of his hair or features, for the cat’s mask covered most of his face, finishing under his nose with a flourish of whiskers.

‘I have met your sort before,’ he said, increasing the pressure on my throat. ‘Prinked up to look like a maid, but with a dagger concealed in your bodice.’

I shook my head violently, indicating with my free hand that he was preventing me from speaking. He loosened his grip on me somewhat.

‘Speak, then, and be quick about it, and let’s get you off to the Tower without more ado.’

I rubbed at my throat, for it was paining me where his fingers had pressed into the flesh. ‘I … I am no traitor,’ I stammered. ‘I merely wanted to set eyes on the queen. I have long admired her.’

He gave a short and scornful laugh. ‘You admire her!’ he said. ‘I have heard many an excuse for being too close to Her Grace, but have not heard this before.’

His eyes were looking at me through the slits in the mask, weighing me up. They were not green like a cat’s, but a silvery grey, and very cold.

‘I swear I meant the queen no harm!’

‘So said the last traitor who crossed her threshold.’

I swallowed painfully. ‘B … but how can I prove to you that … ?’

‘Enough of this! Speak now and tell me who is your master,’ he said, ‘or be taken away and have the truth pressed out of you.’

I felt tears of fear spring to my eyes. ‘But how could I harm her – or anyone? I have no weapons concealed about me.’

His eyes flickered over me as if looking for places in which a dagger might be concealed, and came to rest at my neck. ‘What is that tawdry gee-gaw you wear? Are you a member of some secret society?’

I shook my head. ‘’Tis just a groat. Not a real one, or my needs are such that I would have spent it, but a counterfeit.’

‘And why would you wear such a shoddy thing?’

I flushed pink at the scorn in his voice, for I could tell that the cat’s costume was a rich one, see that he wore a wide gold ring in his ear, that his doublet was edged with costly white ermine and his mask decorated with jewels.

‘I wear it because it bears the queen’s image,’ I said simply.

‘Does it? It also bears such a poor amount of silver that it has gone quite black.’

My hand touched the coin and I ran my fingers over the queen’s profile. ‘But I know that it shows the queen’s face, and that is enough.’

He looked at me deeply, consideringly.

‘I am no traitor!’ I declared again. ‘If you wish, you may search me.’

His eyes flickered over me again and after a moment his mouth curved upwards in a smile. ‘Go to, Mistress,’ he said. ‘That will not be necessary.’ He raised his
eyebrows. ‘Not this time.’

I blushed again, for I took his meaning. ‘You believe me? You believe I am merely a housemaid and nothing more?’

He nodded and removed his hands from my throat. ‘I do. For surely no one would wear such a tawdry object about her neck unless she was devoted to Her Grace.’ He laughed. ‘A cat may know a queen, but he also knows a maid.’

‘I
am
a maid,’ I said, nodding thankfully. ‘I work for Dr Dee and am nurse to his children. My only wish in this life is to serve Her Grace. I’d never do anything to harm her!’

‘I think you speak truly.’

‘I do!’

‘Then we shall be introduced. My name is Tomas.’

‘And mine is Lucy,’ I said, near light-headed with relief. I gasped then, and added, ‘Of course! You are Tom-fool. The real Tom-fool.’

He shook his head. ‘Not today. Today I am Tom-cat.’ He took a step back from me and suddenly flipped himself over twice like a tumbling man at a fair, and I couldn’t do anything but laugh and applaud, for he was deft and neat in his movements and very like a cat.

‘Well tumbled, Sir!’

He bowed. ‘Helter-skelter, hang sorrow, what can we be but merry?’

‘What indeed!’ I replied. I was certainly not able to turn a somersault, so instead I bobbed a low curtsey.
‘But how did you know that I was behind the fireplace?’

‘Where my queen goes, I go,’ he answered. ‘I have the sensibility of a cat and see and hear much that others do not. In short, pretty maidy, I heard you there.’ He smiled at me again, and his grey eyes took on a warmth and a light. ‘So, you would serve Her Grace, would you?’

I nodded fervently.

‘Then you and I are bound to see each other again, and when we do it will be a happy meet.’

There was a short trumpet blast from outside.

‘Her Grace departs,’ he said, and he raised my hand to his mouth, kissed it and left the room, leaving me still quivering with a mix of fear and excitement. But mostly excitement.

I occupied myself by replacing the chairs and stools in their usual positions, thinking on all that I’d heard. And then, Dr Dee not returning to the room straightaway, I cast my eyes about it, thinking to myself how strange and wonderful it was that the Queen of England herself had been sitting there just a moment before. I wished I could have seen her complete, closer, in all her glory, so that I could have admired her jewels the better, seen how she’d dressed her hair, admired her hands – for they were said to be very slim and elegant.

It was then that I noticed something which made
my heart skip a beat: the little chest was without its padlock! I had not, it seemed, learned any lesson on the dangers of curiosity, for within a moment I’d swung the lid back on its hinges and was looking inside.

The chest was lined in dark blue velvet and contained two things: a small glass ball, about as big as a duck’s egg but perfectly round, and a black and silver mirror. At first glance this seemed to be a looking glass on a handle, similar to the ones that great ladies have to apply their rouge, but when I nervously took it up I found that instead of one surface being reflective, back and front were both equally dark.

For what magick could this be used? I wondered. Pondering, alert for any sound from the hallway, I put it down and picked up the glass ball. This was of heavy crystal, a dead weight, beautiful, shining and clear; surely the show-stone which Merryl had spoken of? As I stared into it, entranced, looking deeper and deeper as if into a bottomless pool, I thought I saw blue colours within its depths: sapphire and purple stones, acqua and turquoise, sparkling altogether on a gold flask or bottle.

But how
could
I see such a thing? I looked around me. Was I merely seeing a reflection of something within this room?

But before I could pursue this question further I heard footsteps outside and immediately replacing the crystal within the chest, moved away to the other end of the room.

Mr Kelly came in, his gown and cloak askew, his face red with indignation.

‘I’ve missed her, haven’t I? I just saw her entourage going down the high street.’ He frowned deeply at me, as if I was responsible for his not having been there. ‘Couldn’t someone have been sent to tell me she was coming? Couldn’t you have come with a message?’

I murmured something but couldn’t give a proper reply – for indeed it wasn’t my place to make excuses on Dr Dee’s behalf – and when that gentleman came in a moment later I made myself busy tending the fire at the far end of the room.

‘Did she ask about the elixir?’ Mr Kelly asked after some angry preamble, and Dr Dee murmured something in reply, two words that I didn’t understand, using a strange language.

‘But why didn’t you contact me?’ Mr Kelly asked again.