The Green Man Read Online Free Page A

me that Berwick is under siege.’
    â€˜So it is,’ he answered crisply. ‘It’s all right, Roger. Don’t look like that. You’re not going to be asked to do any fighting.’
    I laid my knife down very slowly and deliberately in order to disguise the fact that my hand was shaking. Adela stood up and began pouring ale for us all: some of it was spilled on the table. Timothy smiled understandingly. It was as much as I could do to stop myself from leaping up and rearranging those smugly sympathetic features.
    â€˜Perhaps,’ I said carefully, ‘you might like to explain what this is all about, before we go any further.’
    The Spymaster General lifted his horn beaker to his lips. I could tell that he was savouring not just the ale, but the moment, as well.
    â€˜I’m very much afraid, Roger, that this is a predicament for which you have only yourself to blame; a situation which has arisen – as far as you are concerned – because of your inability to keep that nose of yours out of affairs that aren’t your business.’
    â€˜I knew it!’ my wife exclaimed furiously. ‘I knew this would happen one day!’
    â€˜Knew what would happen?’ I shouted, as angry as she was. For Adela to turn on me in front of a stranger was an unaccustomed betrayal.
    Timothy waited patiently for us both to calm down. In the interval, I sent the children to play upstairs, and the thud of their feet was soon to be heard overhead – rather like an army on the march, I thought with renewed dismay.
    â€˜So?’ I asked our unwelcome guest, once I had my voice under control. ‘Perhaps you would care to explain how I’ve brought this on myself – whatever “this” is.’
    Timothy sipped his ale thoughtfully for a moment or two before replying, then picked his teeth again. At last, he asked slowly, ‘What do you know about the present situation north of the border?’
    I could see by his expression that he wasn’t expecting much of an answer. I intended to surprise him, thanks to my friend, the mummer, whose appearance in the Green Lattis this afternoon had been so peculiarly fortuitous.
    â€˜Well, I know, for instance that Lord Howard sailed up the River Forth last summer and burned a Scottish town called Blackness. I don’t imagine the locals were too happy about that, so I would assume that there has been some retaliation in the form of border raiding.’
    Timothy’s eyebrows shot up until they almost disappeared into his receding hairline.
    â€˜My, my!’ he remarked, demonstrating exaggerated surprise. ‘Don’t tell me that there is someone in this benighted city who actually knows what’s going on beyond its walls.’ I shrugged, but said nothing, waiting for him to continue. The bastard was enjoying himself hugely. ‘As a matter of fact,’ he went on, ‘the Scots have been giving us trouble for the past two years. More trouble than usual, that is,’ he amended. ‘Which is why His Grace of Gloucester was made Lord Lieutenant of the North, and why he personally oversaw the rebuilding and repair of Carlisle’s walls the winter before the one just gone. And why he and Percy of Northumberland have been raising the border levies.’
    â€˜And why, I suppose, he and King Edward met at Nottingham last autumn to discuss plans for a full-scale invasion,’ I put in, and once again had the pleasure of seeing Timothy both astonished and disconcerted.
    â€˜Roger, you astound me,’ he admitted with a rueful grin. ‘You have had your ear to the ground.’
    â€˜This is a port and, moreover, the second city in the kingdom,’ I pointed out. ‘It’s always full of sailors and itinerants generally, all bringing news of the outside world.’
    â€˜Which is mostly ignored by your fellow citizens,’ was the immediate riposte, not without some justification. The