Read Online The Mad Courtesan by Edward Marston - Free Book Online

tactful silence while his employer vented his self-pity. They then strolled back together along Bishopsgate Street towards the city walls. Firethorn had been sobered. Instead of cantering in through Bishopsgate itself in search of his first conquest, he was leading his horse somnolently along and wondering how he would face the barbed gibes of Barnaby Gill. When his fury had blown itselfout, he turned as ever to Nicholas for counsel. The latter argued that their first priority was to contact Andrew Carrick to inform him of the death of his son. Firethorn agreed at once and undertook to solicit the help of their patron, Lord Westfield, to gain admittance to the Tower. He offered to visit the prisoner with Nicholas but the book holder insisted on going alone. Out of consideration to the bereaved father, he would keep a vain actor away from him and save an already painful situation from becoming an agony.
    As they merged with the jostling crowd which pressed in through the gate, an immediate problem exercised Firethorn.
    ‘What of
Love’s Sacrifice?
’ he asked.
    ‘It will have its hour at The Rose.’
    ‘Sebastian was to have played Benvolio.’
    ‘Assign the role to someone else.’
    ‘Edmund has written the part with him in mind.’
    ‘A good actor will trim the role to suit himself,’ said Nicholas, ‘and we have the ideal substitute in Owen Elias.’
    Firethorn was dismissive. ‘He is not competent.’
    ‘He proved his mettle in
Marriage and Mischief.
’
    ‘A harmless romp of no consequence.
Love’s Sacrifice
is richer material. It is drama in a tragic vein.’
    ‘Then Owen elects himself. Tragedy is his strength.’
    ‘I beg leave to doubt that.’
    ‘Put him to the test, sir.’
    ‘We will look elsewhere for our Benvolio.’
    ‘Against the wishes of the author?’ said Nicholas. ‘I have it from Edmund Hoode himself. He told me that Owen would be a wiser choice for Benvolio than Sebastian. Yourworthy poet will confirm that opinion and Master Gill will lend his authority to it as well.’
    ‘Ha!’ snarled Firethorn with a contemptuous snap of his fingers. ‘What do playwrights know of true players? What do mincing comedians know of real men? Edmund and Barnaby may say what they wish. I am proof against their folly.’
    ‘But I share it, Master Firethorn.’
    ‘You side with them against
me
!’ accused the other.
    ‘I support Owen Elias to the hilt.’
    ‘Treachery!’
    ‘No, sir. Fair dealing.’
    Firethorn turned an apoplectic stare on him but Nicholas met it without flinching. A silent battle of wills took place. Without his book holder’s support, Firethorn would have enormous difficulty in getting his way against the combined determination of Hoode and Gill. He tried to cow Nicholas with a growl of disapproval but the latter stuck bravely to his guns. Few people dared to obstruct the freewheeling tyranny of Lawrence Firethorn. Fewer still could do so with such audacity and composure.
    Nicholas was adamant. ‘Owen Elias is your man.’
    The actor-manager put all his anger into another long stare but it lacked the power to frighten or subdue. He was up against the one person in the company whom he could not bully into submission, the one person who was a match for him. He eventually accepted it. Stamping his foot hard on the cobbles, he capitulated in a pained gurgle.
    ‘So be it.’
    The decision would have dire repercussions.

Chapter Four
    W hitehall was the biggest palace in Christendom. Covering some twenty-four acres, it incorporated all the grandiose extensions and refinements that Henry VIII had bestowed upon it with such kingly zeal. Like Hampton Court, it was one of the rich spoils of Wolsey’s fall, but every sign of the Archbishop’s occupation was ruthlessly swept away to be replaced by the distinctive symbols of the Tudor dynasty. In its decorative solidity and its sprawling wonder, it embodied the pomp and circumstance of the new monarchy. By the time that Queen Elizabeth