James nodded; it was incredible that the conflict between king and parliament, which should have been resolved on the first battlefield, or at least at Newport, had come so quickly to this unimaginable state. “But suppose they do,” he said. “Have they named a day and a time?”

“Tomorrow.”

“What?”

“Yes.”

“Can I get the names of the judges?”

“You can get the names of those who were called. But nobody knows who will come. They won’t know themselves. More than one will be sleepless tonight, trying to decide what he should do.”

“Is it possible that none of them will come, and the trial collapse?”

James’s guide spat into the frozen gutter. “The devil knows. It’s his idea, surely. But I would think Noll Cromwell will be there, wouldn’t you? And men who are faithful to him, and those that go beyond him?”

“The trial is open to the public?”

“Yes, but don’t think you can burst out of the crowd and save him. He’ll be so closely guarded, no one will get near him. They’ll be expecting a rescue attempt. They’ll take no risks.”

“The best time to get him away would be when he comes from his rooms at St. James’s to here at Westminster.” James was thinking aloud. “Probably by barge . . .”

The man ducked his head. “Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know. And I have no opinion.”

“I have none either,” James said. “I’m whistling in the dark. Let’s get the names of the judges.”

TIDELANDS, JANUARY 1649

At dawn, the late cold dawn of January, Alinor woke to hear the cracking of ice and the sound of horses splashing through the cold waters as a carriage skidded down the wadeway and forded the ebbing tide. She rubbed the frost flowers off the inside of her bedroom window and squinted to her left. In the half-light she could see the lumbering bulk of the Peachey carriage.

“Alys! The Peachey carriage is going over the wadeway,” she said to the girl still sleeping in the bed behind her.

“Doesn’t matter,” Alys replied, unmoving. “He doesn’t pay.”

“I wonder if Rob is with them. And where they’re going.”

“To London, I expect, chasing after the king, like everyone else.”

“They’ll have left Rob at the Priory then,” Alinor said. “Surely, they wouldn’t take him?”

The rattle of the front door answered her. “That’ll be him now!” Alinor said gladly. She called down the ladder stairs: “Is that you, Rob?”

“Aye, Mother,” he shouted cheerfully. “I’m to stay with you till Candlemas and then Mr. Tudeley is to take me to Chichester. I’m to go to Mr. Sharpe, the Chichester apothecary. My term starts with him then.”

Alinor tied her shawl around her thickening waist, and climbed down the stair. She hugged Rob and stepped back to admire him. “I swear you’ve grown again.”

“In the three weeks since Christmas Day?” he teased her.

“You’re becoming a man,” she said. “Think of you going as an apprentice!”

He dropped to his knee for her blessing and when he rose up he asked, “Have you breakfasted?”

“Of course not. Alys isn’t even up yet. Are you hungry?”

“Starving,” he said.

“Sit down then and I’ll light the fire.” Alinor pressed him into the fireside chair, lifted the cover off the embers, and put the kindling driftwood and twigs on the red glow.

“Is Sir William going to London about the king?” she asked.

“Yes, he’s called to be a judge. He’s taking Walter on to Cambridge.”

“Is there really to be a trial of the king?”

“Everyone says so, but I don’t think Sir William’ll attend the court. He’s going to see if he can be excused.”

“How will the king get a fair hearing if the only men who judge him are parliament men?” Alys asked, coming down the stairs.

“That’s it,” Rob said. “He won’t.”

“He won’t?” repeated Alinor.

“He won’t get a fair hearing,” Rob predicted. “That’s what Sir William says. If they can get him into trial at all, there’ll be no justice for him.”

“So the royalists won’t be there?” Alinor asked, thinking of James.

“They’ll stay away.”

LONDON, JANUARY 1649

James, reading the list of the men who had been called as judges, saw Sir William’s name, and went, his hat pulled low over his face, to the Golden Cross, at Charing Cross, the inn that the Sussex gentry favored on their trips to London. The landlord, rushed by the arrival of so many country gentlemen, shouted, “Yes! He’s upstairs in the private sitting room!” and went by without looking twice at James or asking for a name. James was able to go up the stairs and tap at the door without anyone noticing him.

“God bless,” Sir William said shortly as James came in. “I didn’t think to see you here.” He glanced at the closed door. “You’re sure you’ve not been followed? These are terrible times. Every man is a spy.”

“I am certain that I’m not being followed. I pass as a French tutor on this trip, and I’m not visiting any of our old friends. I’m only gathering news on the streets. His wife and her friends—you know who I mean—want to know what’s happening.”

“Damned if anyone knows, do they?” Sir William asked. “Oh, sit down, sit down, we’ll have a glass of something. Walter’s out with my steward, seeing the sights. We’re alone.”

“Did you bring Robert Reekie with you?”

“No, left the lad at Sealsea Island with his mother.”

“Did you see her?”

“No,” Sir William said, surprised at the question. “No, why?”

“Nothing,” James tried to recover. “I just hoped that she didn’t take my sickness.”

“I don’t think so. I’d have heard.” Sir William opened the door and shouted down the stairs for a bottle of red wine and two glasses. “Now,” he said, closing the door carefully, “d’you know what’s going to happen to the king?”

“I think only one man knows, and that’s Cromwell,” James replied. “He’s behind it all. And unless someone does something to stop him, I think it’ll all go his way.”

“He’s a fair man, Cromwell. He wouldn’t be unjust.”

“He thinks this is justice. And he’s got to satisfy the army, as well as the parliament.”

“Can he muster enough judges to find the king guilty?”

James nodded. “That must be his intention. He’s called in more than a hundred gentlemen. Won’t you serve?”

“How can I? As far as anyone knows, I’ve turned my coat. I’m a parliament man now. I’ve paid my fine and promised my son that his inheritance is safe. I can’t now turn again and join the king’s side. I’ve got too much to lose.”

A rap on the door was followed by the taproom boy with a bottle of wine and two glasses. The men were silent as he put the glasses and bottle on the table and went out again.