‘But I never...’

‘I’ll give you to Janet Dodd.’

‘Yes sir.’

Scrope disappeared, muttering about arrangements for the funeral. Carey barged Bangtail up the stairs of the Queen Mary Tower, followed by the Dodds. Once into his second chamber, he ordered Richard Bell the clerk out, pulled up a stool for Janet to sit on, kicked the door to the stairs shut, dropped Bangtail in a heap on the floor and then sat at his desk. The others stood looking at each other.

‘Barnabus!’ Carey roared.

The servant’s ferret-like face poked nervously round the door.

‘Fetch wine and four goblets. Send Young Hutchin to bring in Mrs Dodd’s horse and have him rubbed down and settled with some fodder in the stables.’

It was interesting to watch how they waited. Janet ignored the proffered seat and stood with her arms folded and her hip cocked and her long wiry ginger hair adrift from its pins down her back with a colour on her cheeks that the Court ladies spent hours in front of their mirrors to achieve. Dodd simply stood in a lanky slouch, his fingers tapping occasionally on his belt buckle. Bangtail had the sense to stay where he’d been dropped, pinching his nose to stop the blood.

Barnabus came in with the wine and four silver goblets from Carey’s own silver chest. He had a napkin over his arm and at Carey’s imperceptible nod he poured, bowed and removed himself.

Carey rose, passed around the goblets as if he were hosting a dinner party in London. Bangtail took his with considerable surprise and some gratitude.

‘Sergeant Dodd, Mrs Dodd, Mr Graham,’ said Carey formally. Bangtail blinked, seemed to get the message and scrambled to his feet. He quailed at Janet’s glare but remained standing. ‘I give you the return of the Sergeant’s horses and confusion to Jock of the Peartree.’

‘Ay,’ muttered Dodd. Bangtail coughed, Janet said nothing. They all drank.

Carey seated himself once more, cleared some bills of complaint away and looked up again.

‘We will never again have a scene like that in public.’ Janet took breath to speak but Carey simply carried on. ‘I don’t care if King James is hammering over the border with the entire Scots lordship at his back and Bangtail is to blame, it will not happen again. Is that understood?’

Dodd nodded, Janet simply pursed her lips.

‘Please, Mrs Dodd, be seated.’ She sat. ‘Now give me the story.’

He heard the tale in silence, turned to Bangtail.

‘Mr Graham. You were not with us on the hot trod as your duty was, where were you?’

‘I was sick,’ Bangtail said full of aggrievement, ‘I was sick in my bed with an ague...’

Bangtail reddened and looked at the floor.

‘Somebody told the Graham family who had this horse Sweetmilk rode,’ said Carey reasonably. ‘Who else knew you had the animal, Sergeant?’

Dodd counted off on his fingers. ‘Me, my wife, the lousy git that sold him to her—Reverend Turnbull—anyone who was in Bessie’s courtyard last night.’

‘You saw Courtier,’ said Janet accusingly to Bangtail, ‘you came in from the midden while I was talking to Dodd.’

‘Ay,’ growled Dodd, ‘and then you were off somewhere in an almighty hurry. Ye left the game.’

‘But I didna, I swear it on my oath...’ Janet looked as if she was about to interrupt. Carey glared at her and she contained herself. Bangtail was waving his arms and clearly winding himself up for a magnificent weaving together of diverse falsehoods.

‘Bangtail Cuthbert Graham,’ said Carey very quietly, ‘I take very seriously any man who forswears himself to me. I don’t care who else you lie to, but not to me. Do you understand?’

‘Ay sir,’ mumbled Bangtail.

‘Now, I ask you again and for the last time. Did you tell anyone of the Sergeant’s new horse?’

Bangtail’s boot toe scraped in the rushes and kicked a flowerhead into the fireplace.

‘I might... I might have mentioned it by accident to Ekie last night—that’s my half-brother—I think I was talking of... of well, fine horseflesh and where you could get it and I might have said the Sergeant’s wife had a stallion that was as fine as the King of Scotland’s own. And that’s all.’

Dodd remained ominously silent, while Janet simply snorted. Carey let the silence run for a bit. Bangtail flushed, looked at the floor, squashed a stray rush with his other boot toe, coughed and added, ‘I might have said I thought it was Jock’s new stallion, Caspar, but I asked him not to tell.’

Janet let out a single derisory ‘Ha!’ and subsided again.

‘How many men would we need to take your horses back from Jock of the Peartree?’ Carey asked Dodd. The Sergeant considered for a minute, his considerable military sense at last beginning to work.

‘It’s well too late to stop him reaching Liddesdale, especially with only horses to drive,’ he said mournfully. ‘And to pry him out of Liddesdale with the notice he’s had—I wouldna like to try it with less than a thousand men, sir.’

Privately Carey thought that was optimistic. ‘Bangtail, how many men can your uncle have in the saddle by this afternoon?’

Bangtail looked shifty. ‘I don’t know...’

‘I think you do know, Bangtail,’ Carey said with quiet venom, ‘and I’m waiting to hear it from you if you want to keep your neck the length it is now.’

‘What would you hang me for, sir?’ demanded Bangtail. ‘I never did...’

‘March treason, what else?’ said Carey, smiling unpleasantly. ‘For bringing in raiders.’

‘Oh.’ Bangtail thought for a little longer. ‘By this afternoon he’d have 800 men or so, plus however many Elliots felt like turning out, and another 300 in the morning, if he calls in the Debateable Land broken men or the Johnstones. If Old Wat Scott of Harden comes in for him, well, it’s another 500 at least and...’

‘Going into Liddesdale on a foray with Jock warned and his kinship behind him...’ Carey shook his head.

‘I can bring in a hundred Dodds myself,’ said Henry, ‘and Janet’s brothers and father can call on another two hundred, all English Armstrongs. And Kinmont Willie would listen to her, he’s an uncle and he likes her and he can have a thousand men in the saddle by morning if he wants...’

‘Are ye saying it’s too hard to go and fetch Courtier back from Jock of the Peartree?’ asked Janet. Carey felt his temper rise again, she was near as dammit giving him the lie. He took a breath and held it, let it out again.

‘No, Mrs Dodd. I am saying that to go into Liddesdale bald-headed and crying for vengeance is simply stupid, since Jock will have laid an ambush and called out every man he could last night in the hope that you and the Sergeant would do precisely what you wanted to do. He’ll cut all your kin to pieces, take prisoners for ransom and go off laughing to run Dodd’s horse at the next race he can.’

They exchanged glances and looked at the floor.

‘So there’s nothing ye can do,’ said Janet.

‘On the contrary, since your husband is my man, there is a great deal I can and will do. In fact, I give you my word on it. You’ll have your horses back.’

They took the hint. ‘Thank you, sir,’ said Janet. Dodd grunted assent, and Carey ushered them to the door. ‘Send someone to Janet’s father and your brothers, Sergeant, we don’t want them wasting their time.’

‘Ay sir.’

‘But I thought...’