The Marlowe Conspiracy by M. G. Scarsbrook

Author:M. G. Scarsbrook
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: mystery, classics, plays, Shakespeare
Publisher: Red Herring
Published: 2011-03-07T07:00:00+00:00

ACT IV

SCENE ONE

Norton Folgate. Kit’s Lodgings.

Kit woke from a deep, dreamless sleep and rolled over in bed.

Outside, the morning sun lifted over great meadows and crooked lanes. The half-light of dawn steeped everything in a softly vibrating radiance as if all colors, shapes, and textures were newly revealed after the moon had masked the world in darkness. Trees bared their branches. Pebbles exposed their base yellows and grays. Fields unfurled into vast tracts of land spiked with slender blades of grass. The once draughtless air now stirred with tails of wind, the shadows of fleeting starlings, the soft-murmuring of insects.

After Kit had dressed, he left his room and stepped out onto the road. Norton Folgate was a sparsely populated liberty less than a mile from London. Essentially, it was a road leading from the ward of Bishopsgate in London, to the high street of Shoreditch located a short distance to the north. Homes and shops had clustered around the road, but they were so few in number that the settlement felt as free and open as a country hamlet.

His head clouded by worries, Kit strolled up the road toward Shoreditch. He had no idea how to convince Baines against making incriminating charges. It seemed hopeless. Even so, he had to try something – there was nothing else to do. Hogg lane lurked a short distance ahead but he avoided it for now and continued onwards to meet Will at his room in Shoreditch.

Will lodged at a widow's cottage just off the high street. Kit padded inside the cottage, tramped across the hall, found Will's door and knocked. He waited for over half a minute before it finally opened.

Will shuffled to the doorframe, looking utterly disheveled. He still wore the serving man's livery from last night. He squinted up at Kit.

“Pray tell me it’s not that hour already?”

“Afraid so,” Kit replied half-frowning, half-smiling. “I think you look how I feel this morning, Will.”

“Then you must feel like a cowpat – because that’s probably what I look like.”

“Didn’t you sleep?”

“I can sleep later. I had more important issues to contend with.”

“Like what?”

“I needed time to write. The last few days exhausted me more than I thought possible... I hoped seeing the palace and the Queen might give me some level of inspiration.”

“And did it?”

Will blinked dismally. He didn’t answer. While rubbing the tiredness from his eyes, he beckoned Kit into his room.

From their recent travels, Kit had often seen Will in the morning, but he had never appeared as sallow or sickly as he did now. The last few days had aged him dramatically. His limbs seemed thinner. Bags hung under his eyes. A certain vigor had waned from his movements. In comparison, Kit bristled with energy as he strode into Will's room.

Weary and half asleep, Will changed into a fresh shirt and breeches while Kit spoke about how they would confront Baines today. They shared halves of a biscuit – the only food Will had to offer – and finally set out to find Baines.

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