Treason
Love
Assassination
The young and handsome, James Thornton joins a venture to put a Catholic Queen on the English throne. He is also deeply in love with Cathy Cordiner. However, she is a merchant's daughter betrothed to a noble advisor to th...
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"Does James Thornton have any association with your family?"
***
The High Steward of Kenilworth Castle welcomed the Cordiners. He explained that Sir Robert Dudley and the Earl of Suffolk were out hunting. The servant's obsequious manner tinged with contempt made worse this social snub.
And so, with little graciousness on both sides, they preceded to their accommodation in Leicester's Gatehouse. Despite its name, this was an elegant lodge built by the Earl of Leicester close to the medieval fort.
Hardly had they settled in when a maid knocked and said there was a man below wishing to see John Cordiner.
On entering the lodge's main chamber, he found a nondescript clerk who smelt of horse sweat suggesting a rapid arrival. He invited the merchant to sit down. Cordiner stood to display his importance and his impatience.
"Master Cordiner, my name is Norris, Charles Norris, and I work for the Secretary of State."
Suddenly, Cordiner became concerned. Why should this seedy little man working for Robert Cecil, the most powerful man in the realm, want to speak to him?
"What can I do for you?" he replied accepting the authority of the figure before him.
"A few weeks ago, a young man came to our attention at Tilbury. He suggested he was a member of your family. Do you have a relative who that might be?"
"No" Cordiner replied more confidently.
"You see, he then sailed for the Netherlands." He paused for effect, "the Spanish Netherlands. Do you trade there, by any chance?"
Less certain now yet he denied it. Some of his goods may come from there. You know how it is...
"Do you trade through the docks at Tilbury?"
" Not much... no... most of my goods come through Bristol and the northern ports."
The interrogator looked through the dusty leaden windows towards the castle.
"Why do you think someone would use your name?" The clerk was using his threadbare sleeve to polish a spot on a pane.
"I have no idea at all!" Cordiner felt on firmer ground.
"Anyone locally or in your trade who has a connection with Spanish territories?" Breathing now on the glass, Norris was enjoying mentioning 'trade'.
"No... well..." Cecil's man turned looking sharply at the merchant.
"Yes?" he encouraged.
"Well, there's James, Sir John Thornton's boy of Coaton Hall. Gossip has it, he skipped the country and went there..." Cordiner couldn't resist scoring a point, "after the raid that found the Jesuit priest".
The clerk came away from the window towards a table with his quills and paper. An idea came to him; here was a kite worth flying.
"And does this James Thornton have any association with your family – your daughter perhaps?"
With the colour draining from the tradesman's face, he continued, "Please sit down Master Cordiner and tell me..."
A sudden thundery shower swept over Leicester's Gatehouse washing its window crystal clear.
