The Point of Death Read Online Free PDF Page B

chance to become a sharer in the finest enterprise that any man could dream of.'
    It was only later, after the farewells, under the wide sunset at the end of another long ride, in the first camp on the way south that Tom pulled off his gauntlet to see a little piece of paper come fluttering out into the firelight. Wearily, he picked it up and looked at it. It was the sheet that had belonged to Will, the Master of Cyphers. On one side it was covered with a series of calculations proving with mathematical precision that 'aaabe' could be the same as 'iiiv'. With a grunt of satisfied amusement he began to fold it, ready to put it away. Then he noticed that there was writing on the other side as well. In a neat, clear, firm hand, it said:
     
    THE FIRST PART OF THE CONTENTION OF THE TWO FAMOUS HOUSES OF YORK AND LANCASTER
     
    by
     
    WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
     
     

 
    Chapter Four - Three Deaths
     
    September 1588
     
    Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was tired. He had been utterly tired when he set out for Buckstones to try and repair some of the exhaustion of arranging the celebrations at Tilbury to mark the defeat of the Spanish Armada. He was still tired now; tired and lonely. Almost, in fact, alone. His retinue was small - certainly for the most powerful man in the country, the power behind Queen Elizabeth's throne. He was old, too fifty-five now. The tall vigour of the 'Sweet Robin' that Elizabeth the girl had fallen so deeply in love with was stooped and white haired portliness now. The year that had passed since the siege at Nijmagen had treated him badly. It was as though the slipping away of power and popularity had broadened his belly and hunched his shoulders and badger-striped his beard.
    But he was beginning to marshal his resources. Once he had finished taking the waters at Buckstones, he was sure, he would be back in the saddle and back in power. Then let those puppies Essex, Southampton, Cotehel and their circle look to their laurels. Then let the strutting popinjays Drake and Raleigh dancing around Lord Howard of Effingham try to stand so tall. He'd be back in the Netherlands again, wielding power like the almost-King he had become.
    For a moment he dreamed of the walls of Nijmagen and the bright-eyed, excited young man with the message who had allowed him to snatch one final jewel-bright victory out of the dark jaws of defeat.
    Then, coming back to the more painful, less glorious and much less clear-cut present, he looked down at the papers he was working on. Most of them were reports to the Council urging that Essex and his faction and Raleigh and his 'School of Night' needed closer watching than ever now that the Earl was approaching his majority and the bluff West Country sailor, Elizabeth's 'Shepherd of the Ocean', was shining so brightly at Court.
    There was a gentle tap at his chamber door. He looked up and called, 'Enter.'
    A servant entered with a tray that bore a package and a tall goblet made of green Venetian glass full of the thick claret wine he liked to sip in the evenings. Robert Dudley accommodatingly moved the papers he was working on to one side, making room on his table for the tray.
    The package was from the Queen. He recognised the wrapping and the seal. He had written to her a couple of days ago and she had answered by sending him medicine. He tore open the package with a smile. It contained a little vial of liquid. From any other source he would have tested it or disposed of it, but the Queen was always so careful herself - all her food and drink was tasted by at least three separate people before it even approached her table, let alone her lips. He broke the seal and threw the medicine back, following its oily foulness down his throat with a good draught of the wine.
    He knew at once he had been poisoned. The concoction hit his belly with a wrenching twinge like an assassin's knife - which, he wryly thought, it probably was. He tried to get up but his legs had already betrayed him. The