Once Stokely had reported to Captain Miranda, Thomas drew him to one side and said eamesdy, ‘We must talk.’
‘Yes, we must,’ Stokely replied. ‘But it would be best if it was somewhere more private.’
‘Follow me.’ Thomas led him from the chapel and across the courtyard to the mess room.
‘Not the most commodious of accommodation,’ said Stokely as he glanced round the large chamber that had once served as the garrison’s dining hall. Earlier in the siege Captain Miranda had set up some gaming tables and a makeshift bar where the men could buy the finest wines from the cellar. Now that the men had given up any hope of leaving the fort alive, they no longer tried to win money from their comrades and had abandoned the hall. Instead it served as a dressing station and bloodied rags and baskets filled with strips of cloth littered the floor. A handful of candles provided dim illumination and there were occasional moans and coughs from men lying on biers along one wall. Thomas found an unopened bottle of wine behind the counter and settled at a table in the comer of the hall where he poured them each a cup and pushed one across the table to Stokely.
Stokely hesitated a moment before he picked it up and forced a smile. ‘What shall we toast?’
Thomas raised his cup. ‘Maria.’
‘Ah yes. . Maria.’
They took a sip, each man watching the other warily. Then Thomas set his cup down gently. ‘Why are you here, Oliver?’
‘1 volunteered to join the last effort to reinforce St Elmo.’
‘And La Valette gave you permission to come?’
‘He didn’t know. I suspect he will soon enough. But it’s too late to prevent me. For better or worse I am here.’
‘For better?’ Thomas laughed bitterly. ‘How can it possibly be better here? You are on a fool’s errand, Oliver. There is only death here.’
‘I know that.’ He sipped his wine. ‘That is all I seek, now that I know, and accept, the truth.’
‘And what truth would that be?’
Stokely held his cup in both hands as if his fingers were delicately poised about someone’s neck. ‘Before you left Birgu, you discovered where Maria was living and went to see her.’
Thomas hesitated. He did not want any harm to befall Maria as a result of his need to speak to her, yet what difference did it make now? Stokely was as doomed as any man in St Elmo. ‘Yes, I did.’ Stokely nodded slightly. ‘Thank you for your honesty. The fact is, I saw you leave the house.’
‘I see.’ Thomas felt the dread stirring in his heart. ‘What did you do? Oliver, if you have done her any harm
‘After I saw you leave our house, our home, my mind was filled with the most painful imaginings. Though Maria and I have been married these many years I have never asked her about her feelings for you. Despite her grief at losing you, and her child, she was strong enough to go on. In time she grew to accept what had happened and resolved to make a new life for herself.’ Oliver paused, and then sighed. ‘When she agreed to be my wife, I knew that I was a poor shadow of what she truly wanted but that was enough for me. Besides, we lived happily together, and she seemed content with what fate had left to her.’ He paused and the lightness of tone with which he had spoken his last words suddenly hardened. ‘That all changed the moment she saw you here. Maria said nothing when she returned to the house, but I knew at once. I had tried to keep her away from you, at our estate near Mdina, but from the moment the enemy fleet was sighted, I knew that Maria must take shelter in Birgu and there would come a time when she discovered you had returned. When I questioned her she told me what had happened.’ He glared at Thomas. ‘I cannot tell you how the situation tore at my heart. I demanded that she never see or speak to you. I feared that she might yet want to be with you. I would have fallen at her feet and implored her to stay with me. I wanted to say I would die rather than lose her. Instead I did something more foolish, something so demeaning that I shudder to think of it even now.’ Stokely took up his cup and drained it. ‘I threatened you.’
‘Me? How?’
‘I said I had information that I could use to have you arrested and condemned as a spy. You, and Richard. . her son.’
The earlier sense of dread returned, colder and more dangerous. Thomas leaned across the table. ‘What information?’ he hissed.
Stokely did not flinch. He regarded Thomas with disdain. ‘Did you think I did not know about the locket? The instant I saw Richard I knew exactly who he was. What surprised me was that it quickly became evident that you did not. Of course, I suspected from the first that you answered the Grand Master’s summons for reasons beyond a mere desire to serve the Order. But Richard? The last news I had of him from my cousin was that he had left Cambridge to serve a patron in London, no less a person than Walsingham. It is clear why he is here. Young Richard has sold his soul to the devil and become one of Walsingham’s creatures. The theft of the document from Sir Peter de Launcey’s chest was final proof that he is a spy.’
‘You knew he was a spy?’
Stokely nodded. ‘I suppose I could have had him arrested as soon as I recognised him, but he was Maria’s son. If anything happened to him and she discovered my hand in it, she would never have forgiven me. Besides, I was determined to discover his purpose here. As soon as I heard that an attempt had been made to enter the archive I checked the chest and discovered that the locks had been broken and the will had gone.’
‘The will?’ Thomas tried to hide his surprise. At last the true nature of the document had been revealed. If he played his hand right, Stokely might reveal more. ‘So you know about that?’
‘I have known about it for years. Ever since Sir Peter brought it to Malta. He knew exactly how dangerous the will would be if it fell into the wrong hands. He suspected that he might have been followed from England so he entrusted me with its secret, in case anything happened to him. Alas, it was a simple accident that did for him. Afterwards I arranged for the will to be placed in the chest and stored in the archive where it would be quite safe, and from where it could be retrieved if there was ever a need to use it. When it was taken, I knew at once where I might find it. I searched Richard’s cell while the two of you were on duty. I have to say that I am not very impressed with his choice of hiding place, but then I knew exactly what I was looking for and the space required to hide it. The will is safe again. No one knows where it is but me. There it shall stay. One day it may be discovered but perhaps it is better that it is lost.’ Stokely paused. ‘I take it that Walsingham told you about the will before you left England.’
Thomas hesitated. ‘He discussed it.’
Stokely stared at Thomas. ‘You don’t know the contents of the will, do you?’
‘Walsingham said that it would cause great loss of life if it was misused.’
Stokely laughed bitterly. ‘He only said that? My poor Thomas, you have been little more than their tool.’ He glanced over Thomas’s shoulder at a figure approaching them. He smiled faintly. ‘Why don’t you join us, Richard?’
Thomas turned swiftly and saw the young man watching them with a cold, detached expression. He stood still for a moment before he picked up a stool and positioned it at the end of the table, between the two knights.
Stokely smiled thinly. ‘We were just discussing the will. It seems that you, and your superiors back in England, have not deigned to apprise Thomas of the full details. That hardly seems fair, given that he is soon to die because of it. So, why don’t you tell him, or shall I?’
Richard did not reply.
Stokely nodded. ‘Very well.’
He folded his hands together and collected his thoughts quickly before he began. ‘We were both young men, and you, Richard, were not even born, when King Henry dissolved the monasteries in England and sold, or gave away, their vast landholdings as well as their gold and silver. Many noblemen garnered great fortunes as a result of the dissolution. Another effect was to deepen the division between Catholics and the growing numbers of Protestants, a division that has led to the deaths of hundreds in England and tens of thousands across Europe. It seems that at the end of his life Henry recognised the damage that he had done and sought to return both himself and his kingdom to the Church of Rome. After the great hurt he had done to papal authority the Vatican decided that it would exact a price for its absolution of the King. They would accept England back only if all the property that had once belonged to the monasteries was returned to the Church.
‘All those nobles who had gained so much from Henry’s largesse would be stripped of their fortunes. They would surely revolt against their King and plunge England into civil war. Henry was dying, and his only priority was that he be admitted to heaven. He no longer cared for worldly affairs. But his courtiers did and would have been horrified if they had discovered his intentions. So he wrote his last will and testament in secret. Only his closest advisers knew about it. The will was entrusted to Sir Peter de Launcey to carry to Rome.
‘He duly set off, aware that as soon as he was missed the King’s closest advisers, some of whom would suffer great loss if the dissolution was reversed, would send agents after him to retrieve the will. Knowing that the routes to Rome would be closely watched, he travelled via Spain to Malta where the Order would protect him. By then he had begun to have reservations about his mission. He understood the implications of the will and was torn between the needs of his country and those of his faith. That was when he confided in me and asked my advice. Before I could come to a decision he was drowned.’ Stokely paused. ‘I had Henry’s will in my hand and could easily have turned it over to the Grand Master of the day. But I chose not to. I would not have the blood of tens of thousands of Englishmen on my conscience. So I put the will in Sir Peter’s chest and had it placed in the archive.’
‘Why didn’t you just destroy it?’ asked Thomas.
‘It was too powerful a thing to destroy. As long as it was safe, no harm could befall the heirs of the King. And I was content to leave it be. But since then, I have watched the number of Protestants swell in England, and the persecution of the Catholics increase every year of Elizabeth’s reign. I resolved that if necessary I would find a way to use the will to stay the hand of the Protestants.’ Thomas was astonished. ‘You would blackmail the Queen?’
‘I sincerely hoped that I would never have cause to.’
Richard finally spoke. ‘And you think the will is safe in your hands?’
‘Safer in mine than in Walsingham or Cecil’s. They would use it to protect their position at Elizabeth’s court. She would hardly defy the will of men who could threaten to make public the dying wishes of her father.’
‘Better that my masters have the will than it should remain in the hands of a Catholic or fall to the Muslims, as now seems likely,’ Richard responded bitterly.
‘A Catholic I may be but I am an Englishman before that,’ Stokely countered.
For the first time Thomas’s heart warmed slightly towards Stokely. Then he recalled that this was the man who had made Maria his wife, and done all in his power to prevent them meeting again.
‘One thing puzzles me,’ he said. ‘Why was it necessary for you to threaten Maria with my arrest? She told me that she could not leave you. She said it was too late to change the past. She was your wife now and that was how it would remain.’
Stokely stared at him with a stricken expression. ‘She said that?’
‘Yes.’
Stokely closed his eyes and his face twisted in pain. ‘Dear God, I spoke too hastily. I was angry. After I saw you leave the house I confronted her and said I knew you had been there. I said I knew that she had been unfaithful to me.’
‘No. She was not,’ said Thomas. ‘I would have given anything for that, but she refused me.’
‘She refused you?’ Stokely slowly shook his head. ‘What have I done? Dear God, what have I done? I raged at her. I accused her of faithlessness, of harlotry. She stood there and took it all in silence. Then she said she did not love me. That she had only ever loved you.’ Stokely swallowed. ‘I lost my temper. I struck her. So help me God, for the first time in my life I struck her.’
Thomas clenched his fist and fought to control the rage that welled up inside.
‘She fell back on the chair.’ Stokely trembled as he recalled the moment. ‘There was blood on her lip, and then I saw fear in her eyes. And worse, disgust and pity. I wish she had struck me back, screamed at me. Instead she just looked at me. I walked out and went to the cathedral to pray for forgiveness. When I returned to the house she and her maid had gone. There was no note. She just disappeared. I searched Birgu for the next two days before I realised I would not find her again, and even if I did she would not have me back at her side.’ Stokely smiled weakly. ‘She was all that ever mattered to me. That was when I resolved to come here, and die along with you. Not for any affection I bear you, but for hate. You are the cause of my misery, Thomas. If providence is kind I shall see you die before I fall.’
‘Then I had better guard my back,’ Thomas responded. ‘It seems I have enemies on both sides.’
‘No. You need not fear me.’
‘I don’t fear you, Oliver. I pity you.’
‘And I hate you, I have always hated you. But, as is so often the case with hatred, it was imperfect. I see that now. Before, I wanted to hurt you and then destroy you, as if that would somehow resolve the matter. But it never could. My hatred is unquenchable. Harming you would in no way diminish it.’ He smiled. ‘It is a strange thing, but I feel almost at peace now. I do not fear death. I only ever feared the prospect of a life without Maria. This is where it ends. Here in St Elmo. For me, for you, and for your son. Poor Maria. She still thinks that Richard is safe in England. For her sake, I hope she never discovers the truth.’ He drained his cup and stood up. ‘There, that is all that needs to be said. I shall find somewhere to rest, though I shall not sleep. There is only one release from my torment now.’
Without waiting for a response he got up and walked out into the courtyard.
Richard, his expression dark, made to rise from the table but Thomas grasped his wrist firmly.
‘Leave him be.’
‘You heard him,’ Richard hissed. ‘He harmed my mother.’
‘Stokely has suffered enough. In any case, he is like the rest of us, walking in the shadow of death. It serves no purpose to hasten his end.’
Richard shook his head. ‘Are you so lacking in heart that you are not moved to act?’
‘My heart is replete, my son. Did you not hear him? She loves me, and always has. And you already know that she loves you. I would rather you were with her and spared this death but that is not to be.’ He released Richard’s wrist and took his hand. ‘At least we will be together at the end.’
Richard stared at his father, struggling to control his emotions, and nodded. ‘Together, at the end.’