The Secret of the Rose by Sarah L. Thomson

Author:Sarah L. Thomson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-01-15T22:00:00+00:00

“What wast thou doing downstairs in the black of night?”

“The privy, master,” I said as humbly as I could.

He snorted. “God’s teeth. Next time piss in a pot and spare both of us.” And, turning, he snatched up the lantern from the table. It swung in his hand and made black shadows flail and flare wildly across the walls and ceiling as he strode to his bedchamber. The light disappeared when he shut the door behind him.

“Thou shouldst leave his service,” Robin said the next morning.

“How can I?” I asked despondently. “I’ve a contract with him for a year.”

“But even so—if he knows the truth—”

We sat backstage at the Rose, tucked into a dark corner where we hoped no one would overhear.

“No one would take me for a servant if I’ve broken my last contract,” I pointed out. “And I’ve hardly any money, Robin.” Quarter day, when I’d be paid the first of my wages, had not yet come.

“Thou couldst change thy name again. He would not follow thee.”

“He’d have no need to.” Robin frowned in confusion. “Dost not see? If he knows I am…” I could not say it aloud. “If he knows the truth about me, he knows it about thee as well.”

Robin looked startled, and then ill.

“As long as thou’rt here, Master Marlowe would have no need to pursue me across London. He knows I would not go far from thee. And I do not suppose thou’lt leave the playhouse even now.”

“’Tis my place,” he muttered awkwardly. “I’ve nowhere else—”

“Nor I.”

“But he has known—and for long?”

“I know not. Since early on, I think.” He’d known my lie for what it was, when I said that our father was in Newgate for debt. That must have aroused his suspicions, and then my carelessness had let him catch a whispered prayer and glimpse the rosary tucked beneath my pallet.

“And he has not told. So perhaps…”

“Aye, but we do not know why he has not—”

“Good day, Will!”

My nerves were so bad that I jumped like a startled cat. Will, standing behind me with a tangle of old hose in his hands and a red doublet over his arm, gave me a puzzled look.

“They want you onstage,” he said to Robin. “Good day, Richard. Are you well?”

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