Free The Princess of Denmark by Edward Marston Page B

a new steeple and maypole. He’s been told to bring his tools.’
    ‘I forgot that he was trained as a carpenter.’
    ‘It’s the reason that Oswald was picked to go.’
    Before they could continue, they heard footsteps in the corridor outside then the face of Alexander Marwood appeared in the doorway.
    ‘I want all this taken away,’ said the landlord peremptorily.
    ‘It will be,’ replied Nicholas.
    ‘Every trace of Westfield’s Men must leave my inn.’
    ‘The costumes have already been removed by Hugh Wegges, our tireman. George and I will clear this room today as well. When we have picked out the items that we need to take to Denmark with us, we’ll return with a larger cart and carry everything else away.’
    ‘No, before then!’ snarled Marwood. ‘Since we lostalmost half of the Queen’s Head in the fire, we need to use every room we have.’
    Dart was curious. ‘This will become a bedchamber?’
    ‘It will have to. Eight rooms were lost in the blaze.’
    ‘But what happens when we come back?’
    ‘You will not be allowed on my premises.’
    ‘We do have a contract with you, Master Marwood,’ Nicholas reminded him, ‘and it was signed in good faith. You have no legal right to put us out on a whim.’
    ‘That contract – accepted against my better judgement, I may tell you – stipulates that Westfield’s Men may play in my yard for the next year. But I no longer
have
a yard,’ asserted Marwood, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, ‘and so the contract is null and void.’
    ‘Only until you rebuild the inn.’
    ‘That will never happen.’
    ‘But it must,’ pleaded Dart. ‘This is our home.’
    ‘It was
our
home until it was burnt down, young sir. It was the place that gave us our livelihood. You and the others may sail off across the sea to earn a living. We do not have that luxury. My wife and I are stuck here in the ruins of our inn.’
    ‘Have you spoken to a builder yet?’ asked Nicholas.
    ‘What is the point?’
    ‘The Queen’s Head can arise anew.’
    ‘Only at a high price, Master Bracewell. Where am I to get the money to pay it? I do not have a wealthy patron like you.’
    ‘Come now,’ said Nicholas, ‘you can hardly plead poverty. The weather has been kind to us all year.Throughout spring and summer, we filled your yard with paying customers. They bought your refreshments during the performances and thronged your taproom after it. Six days a week, you made healthy profits.’
    ‘Yes,’ Dart put in, ‘and it would have been seven days had we not been banned from staging a play within the city limits on the Sabbath.’
    ‘We bring in most of your custom, Master Marwood.’
    The landlord sneered. ‘You also bring cunning pickpockets and greasy prostitutes to my inn,’ he said. ‘I watch them mingle with the crowd as they go about their nefarious business. I will be well rid of such vile creatures.’
    ‘You will also lose the gallants and their ladies who inhabit your galleries,’ said Nicholas persuasively, ‘not to mention those members of the court who spend their money so freely here. Great men of state have sat on cushions at the Queen’s Head in order to watch us. Would you spurn them as well?’
    ‘I will spurn anyone in order to keep Westfield’s Men at bay.’
    ‘But we need each other,’ wailed Dart.
    ‘My mind is made up – you are expelled forever.’
    ‘Rebuild,’ advised Nicholas, pointing through the open door at the yard beyond. ‘Rebuild your inn and rebuild your faith in us.’
    Marwood was adamant. ‘The only thing that I will build is a high wall to keep out you and that infernal company of yours. I am sorry, Master Bracewell,’ he went on, ‘you are a decent man and have always dealt honestly with me, but Lawrence Firethorn and his crew have tortured meenough.’ He indicated the wooden tomb at his feet. ‘This is your monument – Westfield’s Men are dead and buried. Away with the whole pack of you!’
    With a vivid gesture,