The Butcher of Smithfield Read Online Free PDF

Bristol would mean one fewer
     enemy for him to worry about when he resumed the business of protecting his Earl.
    ‘My fortunes are on the rise again, thank God,’ Clarendon went on. ‘But unfortunately, my
other
foes – namely the Duke of Buckingham and the King’s favourite mistress – wait like vultures for me to make a mistake.’
    Chaloner was not surprised; the Earl’s aloof manners had earned him a lot of enemies in White Hall. ‘I am sorry to hear that,
     sir.’
    ‘Today, however,’ said the Earl with an unfriendly look, ‘we had better talk about you. You abandoned me shamefully in June.
     The Queen summoned you to meet her, and you accepted the assignment she offered without once asking
me
whether it was convenient for you to go.’
    Chaloner was taken aback by this version of events. ‘That is not quite true, sir. I told Her Majesty that I was not the right
     man for the task she had in mind, and pointed out that I had duties here in London, but you ordered me to do as she asked.’
    The Earl glared at him. ‘Well, of course I did when she was there, man! She asked if she might borrow you, and I could hardly
     refuse the request of a queen, could I? I am the Lord Chancellor, for God’s sake – a servant of the Crown. However, you should
     have thought of a reason to decline, and I am angry that you did not bother. I feel it was a betrayal.’
    Chaloner suspected the Earl saw betrayal everywhere after what he had been through with Bristol. But what had happened in
     June was not his fault, and he felt he was being unfairly accused.
    ‘I did not ask to be summoned by her. I did not ask to go to Lisbon, either.’
    Clarendon continued to glare. ‘She noticed you because you had the audacity to smile at her on an occasion when she felt the
     city was hostile towards her. She asked your name, and I just happened to mention that you knew Portuguese – her native language
     – as a point of conversation. I did not imagine for a moment that she would demand your services. It was not what I intended
     at all.’
    ‘No, sir,’ said Chaloner, thinking the Earl should havekept his mouth shut about his servant’s skills, if he had not wanted him poached.
    ‘And then news came about a fierce battle between Portugal and Spain, and she decided she needed intelligence from her own
     agent, a man she could trust. So off you went. She was pleased by what you did, by the way – uncovering that treacherous duke,
     who was undermining Portugal by feeding secrets to Spain – and I confess your reports were useful to me in determining certain
     points of foreign policy. But you should not have gone.
I
needed you here.’
    Chaloner recalled the speed with which he had been dispatched – less than an hour to return to his lodgings, pack a few essentials
     and board the Lisbon-bound ship. He had rushed his preparations, because he had wanted a few moments to scribble a brief message
     to John Thurloe at Lincoln’s Inn – what the Queen had asked him to do was fraught with peril, and he had wanted
one
friend to know what had happened to him, in case he failed to return. He had been right to take such a precaution, because
     the escapade had transpired to be one of the most dangerous things he had ever done. And in an occupation like his, where
     risk was an everyday occurrence, that was saying a good deal.
    ‘You arranged my passage on that particular boat, sir,’ he pointed out, stubbornly refusing to accept all the blame. ‘Had
     you chosen a later one, we could have discussed—’
    The Earl’s scowl deepened. ‘Lord, you are insolent! I am angry with you, but do you attempt to placate me with some suitable
     grovelling? No! You antagonise me with impudent observations about my past actions. I imagine you expect me to employ you
     again, but I amnot sure I want a man who so eagerly races off to do the bidding of someone else.’
    ‘But you
told
me to go,’ objected Chaloner, becoming alarmed. Because he