Free The Butcher of Smithfield by Susanna Gregory Page A

spy. ‘You told
me
none of this – and you might have done, given that I went to some trouble to cause a diversion for you in St Margaret’s Church.
     What is it with you and secrets? I am getting a bit tired of them, if you want the truth.’
    ‘You did not ask,’ said Chaloner, startled by his vehemence.
    ‘Would you have confided, if I had?’ demanded Leybourn. ‘You will not even tell me where you have been for the past few months,
     and we are supposed to be friends. In fact, I know very little about you, although you know an inordinate amount about me
     because
I
am not secretive.’
    ‘I do not know your wife,’ hedged Chaloner, amazed that Leybourn should expect him, a professional spy, to be open about his
     life and his work.
    ‘Mary is
not
his wife – they are living in sin,’ saidThurloe disapprovingly. Chaloner tended to forget the ex-Spymaster was a devout Puritan, and was often taken off-guard when
     prudish principles bobbed to the surface. ‘He should either marry her properly or end the relationship.’
    Leybourn glowered at him. ‘I am going home. At least there I am respected. Trusted, too.’
    He stalked away, leaving Chaloner staring after him in astonishment. He had never seen him so angry, and the provocation had
     been very slight. He turned to Thurloe. ‘What is wrong with him?’
    Thurloe’s expression was deeply unhappy. ‘He has not been himself since that dreadful woman appeared and began to corrupt
     his mind. I wish they had never met.’
    ‘Mary? But he said she makes him happy.’
    ‘So he claims, but he does not seem happy to me. She is turning him against his friends – she has fabricated all manner of
     lies about me, and it will only be a matter of time before she begins a campaign of slander against you, too. Further, she
     encourages him to forget his principles and become something he is not. For example, he is constantly asking me to break the
     law.’
    ‘In what way?’
    ‘By forging him a marriage certificate or writing letters purporting to be from the Earl of Sandwich, which will see him awarded
     a lucrative surveying contract. I suspect Mary urges him to resort to dishonest methods, and he does it to please her. I am
     very worried about him.’
    ‘Who is she? Do you know her family?’
    ‘Her name is Mary Cade, and she claims to hail from Norfolk. I have made enquiries, but have learned nothing so far, although
     there is certainly something suspect abouther. Go to meet her, Tom, and then come back and tell me what you think.’
    Chaloner nodded. ‘Very well. And while I am there, I shall tell Will what I have been doing in Portugal and Spain. He has
     a fair point: there is no need to keep secrets from him.’
    ‘From him, no, but I would not confide anything you do not want Mary to know, too. He tells her more than he should about
     his business, and I do not like the company she keeps.’
    ‘What company?’
    ‘Men with a felonious look about them. I was Spymaster General, so I know a scoundrel when I see one. William has no idea
     what manner of folk he entertains in his house of an evening. Did he tell you how he and Mary met? She went to buy a book,
     and he fell in love the moment he saw her. I suspect she spotted a lonely man, and homed in like a snake to its prey. I was
     delighted at first – he is not successful with ladies and deserves a companion – but then he introduced us and all my instincts
     told me she is not what he believes her to be. You and I
must
find a way to loosen the claws she has fastened around his heart.’
    ‘Not if he loves her. He will not thank us for that.’
    ‘Wait until you meet her before taking that sort of stance,’ advised Thurloe. There was a steely look in his eye that warned
     Chaloner not to argue. He had not been appointed to one of the most powerful posts in the Commonwealth for nothing, and there
     was an iron core in him to which wise men deferred. ‘And
then
we shall discuss it.’
    They