‘You found van Leyden?’

‘Aye, he was in Parker’s house, both of them sleeping the sleep of the just while their men carried out their traitorous business. I expect they would have left soon for the Spanish Netherlands themselves, had we not caught them in time. A good night’s work, Kit.’

‘Aye.’

I was glad they had caught the men and saved the arms from reaching Parma, but I could not rid my mind of the tragedy of Mark Weber, a man I had never known. It was not an uncommon fate for one of Walsingham’s agents, but that did not make it any easier to bear.

In the event, Andrew and I were kept chafing in Amsterdam for days, while the slow processes of the law ground on. I managed to despatch a coded report to Walsingham, detailing all that had happened, by the good offices of Ettore Añez, who was able to send one last ship across the Channel as the Spanish fleet drew nearer. I also entrusted to Ettore’s courier the signet ring I had taken from Mark Weber’s hand.

At last we were free to go. All this time the Good Venture had waited in the Amsterdam docks and Andrew’s recruits had kicked their heels in camp. When we were not being questioned or writing out our accounts of what had happened for the Dutch lawyers, Andrew put in a few hours of training with the men. It was hardly enough to turn them into troopers, but they might prove useful as mounted messengers. I also persuaded him to teach me how to mount by vaulting on to a horse from the rear. It was not difficult with one of the quiet pack ponies and I even tried it once or twice with a larger horse, but I was uncertain how Hector would respond to the shock if I ever attempted it with him. Someday I would need to train him, if I ever had the opportunity to ride him again. It would overcome my need to find a mounting block whenever I rode him.

On the day we left Amsterdam Andrew marched his men down to the Good Venture, while I followed some way behind, reading a quickly scribbled letter from Ettore Añez, whose ship had just returned from England.

The two fleets engaged off Plymouth near the Eddystone rocks on the twenty-first, with no great losses on either side. The English ships kept their distance, bombarding the Spanish with their guns and manoeuvring around the larger enemy ships. Medina Sidonia tried and failed to get close enough to grapple and board. Then all was thrown into confusion. Drake, whose ship was meant to be leading the fleet, went off on a raiding expedition for plunder, leaving the English fleet in disarray. There was a further skirmish off Portland two days later. The Armada is now said to be making for Calais, ready to escort the barges of infantry across the Channel. If your ship leaves immediately, you should reach Dover clear of the fighting.

Ettore, however, was to be proved wrong.

Chapter Fourteen

We were somewhat crowded aboard the Good Venture, with the addition of Andrew’s twenty recruits as well as a full ship’s crew, but I cared little for that. I was on my way home to England at last, on the twenty-ninth of July, and that was all that mattered. I smiled to myself at the thought, leaning on the stern rail and watching Amsterdam disappearing as we set off down the waterways that would take us to the German Ocean and the Channel. It was true. I did indeed feel as though I was going home. Although I had lived in England for more than six years now, I had never before thought of it as my home. Amongst my fellow Londoners I was still viewed as one of those they dubbed ‘Strangers’ – foreign immigrants and refugees who were not full-blooded Englishmen. We had fewer rights than true citizens, were restricted in our businesses and ownership of property. Those with wealth enough could, like Ruy Lopez, compound for a form of limited citizenship by making a substantial payment, but I could not envisage such a thing for my father or myself. Nonetheless, as I turned my back on Amsterdam and watched the sailors plying their oars, my heart lifted at the thought of London and even poor, dirty Duck Lane. Soon I would sleep in my own bed and take up my rightful work in the hospital.

‘You are looking very cheerful, Kit.’ Andrew leaned on the rail beside me, watching the dip and thrust of the oars. We were making good time, though the wind was not in our favour at the moment.

‘It’s good to be going home,’ I said simply.

‘Aye. I’ve had my fill of Amsterdam.’

‘I liked the Hollanders.’ I wanted to be fair. ‘Apart from van Leyden and Parker. They are not so different from the English.’

‘Perhaps. But you cannot say you liked that gaggle of lawyers, picking over the evidence like crows over a dead cow.’

I laughed. ‘I suspect lawyers are the same the world over. The longer time they can take over their business, the higher the fees they can charge! At least Norreys outwitted them in the matter of the muskets.’

‘Aye.’ Andrew grinned. Norreys had firmly taken possession of all the muskets, gunpowder and shot, carrying everything off with him as he returned to England, well ahead of us.

‘If we have to row all the way,’ Andrew said, with a jerk of his head toward the sailors, ‘we won’t be home for a week.’

‘I expect they’ll hoist sail once we reach the sea. It’s so narrow here that there’s no room to tack. They can move faster under oars.’

‘You sound very knowledgeable in the ways of ships.’

‘I made a long voyage by sea from Portugal to England. I came to understand a little then.’

‘Why do you never speak of Portugal, Kit?’

He asked without any intention of probing unkindly, I was sure, but I stiffened.

‘Because I do not choose to. That part of my life is over. I choose to forget it.’

I knew that I sounded rude and ungracious, but what else could I be? It was impossible for me to say to him, truthfully, ‘I was the daughter of a distinguished professor, and lived a privileged life amongst the Portuguese aristocracy and intelligentsia. My grandfather is one of the greatest landowners in the country. I did not even dress myself or brush my hair in those days – my every need was met by servants. Despite being a girl, I was taught by some of the great scholars of our country. Until it all ended in blood, fire and horror.’

No, I could say none of these things, but I was sorry that Andrew looked offended, for he had been a good and trustworthy ally on more than one occasion now, and I did not want to lose his friendship. Let him think of me only as a young man like himself, an assistant physician and a code-breaker for Walsingham, and forget my Portuguese past. I began to talk of the Good Venture, its sleek lines and manoeuvrability., and the difficult moment passed.

We had been unable to set out from Amsterdam until late afternoon, but Captain Faulconer was confident we would reach the coast in time to catch the tide, though it would mean night sailing in order to reach Dover. Before we left, a message had reached him that the Spanish fleet was now anchored off Gravelines, not far from the French border and the nearest point in the Spanish Netherlands to the English coast. Thanks to Admiral Justin’s squadron of vlieboten, the fleet could not – for the moment, at least – move further along the coast of Flanders to rendezvous with Parma and his barge-borne troops, for these were the shallow waters where the great warships could not venture, unless the shoals were clearly indicated, and the Dutch sailors (who knew the waters intimately) had removed all the sea marks.