‘Indeed – a great beauty, too,’ her companion agreed warmly. ‘Sadly not all those who found favour in the last reign enjoy the same in this one.’ A pause. ‘I believe you know Sir Walter.’
She looked at him sharply. Raleigh?
Many times in the past Frances had wondered at the intricate web of friendships and family ties at court. It seemed impossible to pull at one thread without becoming entangled in a myriad of others. Not for the first time, she found herself wishing she could escape the web altogether. But it was more than friendship that bound her to Raleigh. Together, they had plotted treason.
‘A little,’ she replied. ‘Are you well acquainted with him?’ She pretended to study a tiny bud she had plucked from the earl’s neatly clipped hedge as they walked on.
‘Indeed – more so than most of my fellow courtiers are aware. I would not wish to enlighten them.’
The silence that followed was so prolonged that she was sure he would say no more on the subject. During the many hours they had spent together, their conversations had tended towards nature, philosophy or other subjects upon which Bacon had written. To Frances, they had provided a welcome relief from the endless intrigues and gossip of court and she had assumed the same was true for her companion.
He stopped walking now and gently laid his hand on her arm. When she turned to face him, she saw that his expression was grave.
‘Raleigh and I were not always so well acquainted as we are now,’ he began in a low voice. ‘Indeed, we were rivals for the late Queen’s favour and could hardly bear to be in each other’s company. But with the accession of King James, we found our interests became more . . . aligned.’
Frances’s pulse quickened but she held his gaze steadily.
‘You are wise to keep your counsel, Lady Frances,’ he murmured. ‘These are hazardous times for those of the Catholic faith. It is more than ten years since the Powder Treason, but the King still sees traitors everywhere – though he looks in the wrong places. Poor Somerset is no more capable of such devilry than my pretty young wife.’
Frances felt the chill she had experienced upon first learning that the Somersets had been indicted for murder three weeks before. ‘Are they to be tried for treason, as well as murder?’
Bacon nodded grimly. ‘It is rumoured that the earl was in league with Spain, that he put Overbury to death because his old friend knew he was plotting to destroy James and make himself king in his stead. Nonsense, of course,’ he went on, noting Frances’s astonishment, ‘but the King loses all sense of reason in such matters. Sir George was able to whip up his fear as easily as a nursemaid might terrify her young charge into obedience with tales of goblins and sprites.’
Frances had long suspected Villiers was using the Overbury scandal to blacken the name of his rival, but could not have guessed that he would venture so far.
‘The King has instructed me to look closely into the matter,’ Bacon continued. ‘I am applying all of my efforts, of course.’
‘Have you discovered anything?’ Frances whispered.
Her companion looked scornful. ‘Of course not. Neither is there any prospect of finding any evidence that would be admissible in court. But that matters little. For as long as His Grace’s attention is focused upon his former favourite, he will be blind to a threat that is at once more real and more deadly.’
Frances had to remind herself to breathe. She knew even before he spoke the words that he was referring to the plot Raleigh had hinted at.
‘You have heard of Sir Walter’s plans, I think?’ His dark eyes never left hers as he waited for her to respond.
‘To find El Dorado?’
His flicker of a smile showed that he was not fooled by her feigned innocence.
‘As you wish, my dear,’ he said quietly. ‘I will speak the treason that your discretion keeps hidden. If the King agrees to Sir Walter’s release, then he will assemble as large a fleet as he and his supporters can afford and set sail for Cádiz. The King of Spain will be waiting for him there. Their combined fleet will sail for Guiana, plunder the famed City of Gold, and return with riches enough to invade England. James will be ousted and his son Charles set upon the throne.’
It was exactly as Raleigh had told her – Thomas too. But despite his support for the scheme, her husband had been unable to persuade his royal master to look favourably upon Raleigh’s petition for release. Villiers had made sure that none of the King’s attendants was afforded more than the most fleeting of moments alone with him. Clearly Raleigh’s plans to secure the support of Villiers himself had amounted to nothing.
‘That is an ambitious plan,’ she observed, ‘and it rests entirely upon the King’s willingness to release a prisoner who has been in his custody for thirteen long years. Surely even the dazzle of gold is not enough to blind him to Sir Walter’s alleged treachery.’
Bacon took a small step closer. ‘You think too highly of our king, my dear,’ he said slowly. ‘He made friends with the woman who had ordered his mother’s head smitten off – and for less gain than Raleigh now offers. Besides, Sir Walter has been an exemplary prisoner, never railing against his confinement or attempting to escape. That has made my task a great deal easier, I can assure you.’
Frances regarded him closely. ‘You have already petitioned him, then?’
Her companion inclined his head. ‘For many weeks now – though gently, of course. A hint here, a mention there. Any more and His Grace would have grown suspicious, even though his dear Steenie’ – his voice was laced with disdain – ‘has facilitated my access to the royal presence.’
‘Villiers?’ She had been right: her friend had courted him for political rather than personal reasons.
‘Do not look at me so, I beg you,’ he countered. ‘If it were not to serve a greater purpose, I would strive to avoid that devil’s company even more than your good husband does. But a man as vain and ambitious as he is easily won over with the promise of riches. He spends far more than he could ever hope to gain at his master’s hands.’
‘He is not aware of the real motive behind Raleigh’s voyage?’ she asked, suddenly doubtful of everything – and everyone – she had thought she knew.
‘Of course not,’ Sir Francis said earnestly. ‘Even he would not be fool enough to bite the hand that feeds him – or strike it off altogether.’
‘Why are you telling me all of this?’ Frances asked. ‘You have lived at court long enough to know it is as dangerous to speak of treason as to execute it.’
‘Indeed it is,’ he replied peaceably. ‘And I would not have uttered a word of it had I not been assured that you already knew – and could be trusted. Sir Walter esteems you highly, for reasons he would not divulge.’
That at least was a blessing, Frances thought. Despite everything, she had always instinctively trusted Raleigh. Besides, he was as much at risk as she if their plot to poison Prince Henry ever came to light. She waited for her companion to continue.
‘I have succeeded in persuading His Grace to look favourably upon Raleigh’s proposal. But while he has agreed to his release – in theory, at least – he refuses to fund the expedition from his own coffers. Only when our friend is able to gather a fleet to match that of King Philip will he give the order for him to be freed. I have already pledged a large sum from mortgaging my estates. It is now beholden upon all faithful subjects to do likewise.’