I found Berden in the room where we had eaten the night before, talking – or rather listening – to a group of men who had also come off night guard.

‘Nearly froze our balls off,’ one them was saying, and he spat on the floor before burying his nose in a tankard of beer.

‘Aye,’ another grumbled. ‘Don’t see much point in having us patrolling the ramparts during a blizzard. Nothing to be seen through the snow, and nobody – friend or enemy – fool enough to go out in it anyway.’

‘That’s Torrington for you,’ the first man said. ‘It isn’t him standing up there dead of the cold. Oh, no! Sir Anthony is tucked up in his warm bed, thank you very much.’

I noticed that the servants had laid out food and drink on a table against the wall, so it seemed that as the men came off or went on duty they could help themselves. I filled a plate with cold meats and bread, and poured myself a modest beaker of small ale. I would have been glad of some of Joan’s lumpy porridge on this cold morning, but I carried my food over to the table and sat down next to Berden. He grinned at me but said nothing, jerking his head to indicate the soldiers, who were still complaining.

On my way downstairs I had passed the window where I had tried to look out the previous evening. The shutters were still closed but they rattled in the wind.

When I had taken the edge off my hunger, I said to Berden, ‘Have you looked outside this morning?’

He nodded. ‘Still snowing, and still that foul wind, though perhaps not quite as bad as last night. When we’ve eaten, we’ll ask about a ship.’

‘I’ve seen the naval commander,’ I said. ‘Andrew pointed him out last night after you left. Did you do well at cards?’

He smiled blandly. ‘Not bad. Came away the richer by five shillings.’

I didn’t ask whether he cheated. Perhaps he was just skilful.

‘He is called Sir Edward Walgrave,’ I said. ‘The commander in charge of the Dover squadron. Andrew says he is a different type from Torrington.’

‘It is men like Torrington who will lose us the war against Spain,’ Berden said bitterly. ‘Gentlemen put in command of soldiers who have no army experience themselves.’

‘That’s not so unusual,’ I said, tearing a chunk off my bread and eating it. Freshly made this morning. The army cooks had been up betimes. I thought of Leicester, in charge of the army in the Low Countries. He did have some experience in war, and all of it disastrous.

‘At least our sea captains are the best in the world,’ I said.

‘Aye, aye, they are, even though most of them are pirates half the time.’

‘Don’t you mean privateers?’ I asked with a laugh. When a captain was licensed by the Queen to seize Spanish ships, he was transformed by royal magic from a pirate to a privateer, and so – nominally, at least – much more respectable.

When I had finished eating, I brushed the crumbs off my doublet and we went in search of Sir Edward Walgrave. He received us courteously, but shook his head when Berden explained that we had urgent despatches for the Earl of Leicester and needed a ship to take us to the Low Countries.

‘You can see what the weather is like,’ he said, gesturing towards his window, where the shutters had been folded back. There was glass in the window and it admitted some light, but it also revealed a prospect of driving snow, which had piled up on the outer sill and rose halfway up the window. ‘I cannot risk one of my ships in this. It would be madness to attempt it.’

‘Sir Francis Walsingham has commanded us to leave England immediately,’ Berden said. He sounded remorseless, but I hoped Sir Edward would prevail. The thought of setting out on a sea voyage in that blizzard was enough to frighten a seasoned sailor, and I myself had only once travelled by sea. I had no wish to drown for the sake of a short delay.

While they argued, I walked over to the window, which looked out over the courtyard where, I was sure, the men would normally be drilling. It was deserted. I saw the head groom come out of the stables, struggle to bolt the door, and then run across to the shelter of the keep, slithering and sliding in snow up to his knees.

‘Nicholas,’ I said, without turning round, ‘you can see for yourself that we cannot sail in this blizzard. Sir Francis himself would not expect it.’

I walked back to the desk where Walgrave sat, fiddling anxiously with a quill, Walsingham’s orders lying in front of him.

Berden shrugged. He had tried, but of course he knew that it was impossible. At least he could honestly report to Sir Francis that we had done our best to leave Dover immediately. He picked up the papers from Walgrave’s desk. The commander sat back with a look of relief on his face.

‘I promise you, Master Berden,’ he said, ‘the moment I feel it is safe for you to sail, I will have one of my fast pinnaces made ready. They are much smaller than our warships, but less apt to be top heavy in rough seas, and they are newly built, sleek and fast. A pinnace will take you across to the coast swiftly and will also be able to sail up the canal to Amsterdam, which a larger ship could not do.’

‘Will it be large enough to take our two horses?’ I asked.

‘Certainly. And it would have been madness to take horses to sea in this storm. They would have panicked and kicked the sides out of the ship.’

I thought this might be an exaggeration, but I let it go. This man understood far more of the sea than I could ever hope to know.

‘Sir Edward,’ I said, ‘I have been told that the Dutch canals freeze over in winter. When we need to return to England, is the canal running up to Amsterdam likely to have frozen?’

‘They do their best to keep the waterway open, breaking up the ice as it forms. But in a really bad winter, it will freeze, do what they will. In that case you will need to ride to the coast and take ship there.’ He looked at Berden. ‘Does Sir Francis wish my ship to wait until you are ready to return?’

‘No. Come back for us in three weeks. All the way through to Amsterdam if you can. If you cannot, we will meet you on the coast.’

When we had made what arrangements we could, we left Walgrave’s office. He told us to come back the next morning and we would take stock of the weather then.

‘Well, I suppose we must kick our heels for another day,’ Berden said, as we walked back to the great hall. ‘I realise it would not have been safe to have made the journey today.’

‘No doubt you can find another card game or two,’ I said with a grin.

‘No doubt I can. Perhaps not with the same soldiers. What will you do with yourself?’

‘I will see if Andrew is about. Perhaps he will show me more of the castle. There is little else to do. I’ve no skill with cards or dice, so I won’t bother you.’

In the hall we parted company and I did not see him for the rest of the day. After some time I found Andrew and he readily agreed to show me around the castle. It was a strange rambling place, but clearly located here for its strategic importance.

‘It was the Romans who built here first,’ Andrew said. ‘The lighthouse near the church is part of their original fortress.’

‘I can understand why they would want this vantage point,’ I said. After our tour of the castle we had donned our cloaks and boots and stepped out on to the ramparts overlooking the sea. Snow was still drifting down, but not as heavily as yesterday, though the wind whipped our cloaks so that they cracked like ship’s canvas.

‘The Romans would have been able to keep watch over all the sea traffic moving up and down the Channel, wouldn’t they?’ I said. ‘Particularly when the Saxons started to come sniffing round the shores of Kent.’

‘Aye,’ Andrew said, ‘and it would have been important in the later days of the Empire, when everything was falling apart. Whoever was in command in Britain would be able to guard against rivals preparing an attack from over there.’ He waved a hand out in the direction of the sea. ‘On a clear day you can see France from here.’