A court formed around the king, and many of the loyal gentlemen dug deep into their own fortunes to support him, and tried not to begrudge the cost of the hunting and the dancing and the music which the king had to have wherever he went. Even so, there were many debts that remained unpaid. Many gentlemen stayed at home, although they were summoned more than once; many did not send money. When the king, tired of provincial minstrels, sent for the court musicians they sent back a polite letter saying they would come if they could, but since they had not been paid any wages for months they could not afford to attend His Majesty without payment in advance. The king had to do without his own musicians for the first time in his life. There was no money to pay them, neither in advance nor in arrears.
John said nothing, and did not remind the king that his wages also had not been paid since the end of last summer when he had been appointed gardener at Oatlands in his fathers place and also given the care of the Wimbledon garden. He was not following the king for gold, after all. He was not following him for love nor loyalty either. He was neither mercenary nor courtier. He was following him because the king refused to release him, and John was not yet ready to insist on his freedom. The habit of obedience was ingrained in him, he was not yet ready fully to rebel. Loyalty to the king was like honoring his father whose loyalty had never wavered; honoring his father was one of the ten commandments. John was trapped by habit and by faith.
He did not cease to try for his release. He spoke to the king in the stable yard of a pretty hunting lodge that they had commandeered for the week. Charles was out hunting on a borrowed horse and was in a lighthearted mood. John checked the tightness of the girth under the saddle flap and looked up at his king.
Your Majesty, do I have your permission to go to my home now?
You can ride with us to Theobalds, the king said casually. It was one of your fathers gardens, was it not?
His first royal garden, John said. I didnt know the court was moving again. Are we going back to London?
The king smiled. Who can say? he said mysteriously. The game is not even opened yet, John. Who can say what moves there are to b-be made?
It is not a game to me, John burst out incautiously. Nor to the men and women that are drawn into it.
The king turned a frosty look down on him. Then you will have to be a reluctant player, he said. A s-s-sulky pawn. For if I am prepared to gamble my future with daring then I expect the lesser men to throw in their all for me.
John bit his lip.
Especially those who were b-born and b-bred into my service, the king added pointedly.
John bowed.
The stay at Theobalds brought them closer to London, but no closer to an agreement. Almost every day a messenger came and went from the palace at Theobalds to Parliament at Westminster but no progress was made. The king was certain that the country was solidly behind him in his journey northward from Dover people had brought invalids to him at every stopping point and the mere touch of his hand had cured them. Every loyal address at every inn and staging post assured him that the country was solidly his. No one had the courage to point out that anyone who disagreed with the king was likely to stay away from his progress, and no one reminded the king that at every major town there had also been petitions from common people and gentry begging him to acknowledge the rights of Parliament and to reform his advisers, and live at peace with the Scots and with his Parliament.
From London came the rumors that the Lord Mayors trained bands were out drilling and practicing every Sunday and they would fight to the death to defend the liberty of Parliament and the freedom of the city of London. The city was solidly for Parliament and against the king and was preparing itself for a siege, entrenching both to the west and north. Every workman was bidden to dig great ditches which would run all around the city, and women, girls, and even ladies saw it as their patriotic duty to ride out on Sundays and holidays and help the men dig. There was a great wave of enthusiasm for the Parliamentary cause against the impulsive, arrogant, and possibly Papist king. There were great fears of an army coming from Ireland to put him back inside his capital city and to force Roman Catholicism back on a country which had only been free of the curse for less than a hundred years. Or if the king did not bring in the Irish then he might bring in the French, for it was well known that his wife was openly recruiting for a French army to subdue the city and its supporters. Chaotic, excited, fearful, London prepared itself for siege against hopeless odds, and decided to choose a martyrs death.
We go to York, the king decided. John waited to see if he would be released from royal service.
The kings heavy-lidded gaze swept over the men in the stable yard, saddling up their horses for the ride. You will all come too, he said.
John mounted his horse and edged it through the courtiers to the kings side.
John mounted his horse and edged it through the courtiers to the kings side.
I should like to go to Wimbledon, he said cunningly. I want to make sure that all is well there. So that it is fit for the queen when she comes home again.
Charles shook his head and John, glancing sideways, saw that his king was beaming. The king was enjoying the sense of action and adventure, the end of the effeminate routine of masques and plays and poetry of the peacetime court.
W-we have no time for g-gardens now! He laughed. M-march on, Tradescant.
John wondered for a moment if there was anything he could say to abstract himself from the small train, and then shrugged his shoulders. The king had a whim that Tradescant should stay with him, but the whim would pass, as did all royal whims. When his attention was diverted elsewhere Tradescant would ask and receive permission to leave.
John pulled his horse up and fell in at the rear of the royal train as they trotted down the great avenue of Theobalds Park, through the sea of golden daffodils between the trees. He thought for a moment of his father, and how his father would have loved the ripple of cold wind through the yellow bobbing heads, and then he realized with a smile that his father had probably had a hand in planting them. As the party trotted out through the great gates John looked back at the avenue of trees and the sea of gold washing around their trunks and thought that his fathers legacy to the country might last longer than that of the royal master he had served.
When they reached York in mid-March the king and his immediate friends settled in the castle, while the other courtiers and hangers-on found billets in all the inns and ale houses in the town. John lodged in the stables on a pallet bed in the hay store. After a few days when he had not been summoned he thought that the king had finished with his service and he might go home. He went to find the king in the main body of the castle. He was in his privy chambers, books and maps all around him.
Your Majesty, I beg your pardon, John said, putting his head around the door.
I did not send for you, the king said frostily.
John came no nearer. Spring is here, Your Majesty, he said. I seek your permission to go and supervise the planting of the queens gardens. She likes the flower gardens at Oatlands to be well planted, and she wants fruits from her manor at Wimbledon. They need to be planted soon.
The king softened at once at the mention of his wife.
I would hate Her Majesty to be disappointed.
You shall go, the king decided. He thought for a moment. After we have taken Hull.
Hull, Your Majesty?
He beckoned Tradescant in and gestured him to shut the door against eavesdroppers. The queen bids me to make the garrison of Hull my own, he said. So that I may have a strong port for our allies to send supplies. She has bought up half the armies of Europe, and her brother the king of France will aid us.
John closed his eyes briefly at the thought of French Papist troops marching against the English Protestant Parliament.
She wants us to take Hull for her and so we will, the king said simply. After that you can go home.
John dropped to one knee. Your Majesty, may I speak freely?
The king smiled his tender smile. Of course, he said. All my people can speak to me freely, and in safety. I am their father, I am their only true friend.
A French army, a Papist army, will not aid your cause, John said earnestly. There are many men and women in the country who do not understand the rights and wrongs of this quarrel between you and Parliament; but they will see a French army as their enemy. People will speak ill of the queen if they think she has summoned the French against her own people, English people. Those that love her and love you now will not accept a French army. You will lose their love and trust.
Charles looked thoughtful as if he had never had such counsel before. You believe this, Gardener Tradescant?
I know these people, John urged. They are simple people. They dont always understand arguments, they often cannot read. But they can see the evidence of their own eyes. If they see a French army marching on the English Parliament they will think we have been invaded and that their right course of action is to fight against the French. My own father went with your friend, the Duke of Buckingham, to make war against the French. They have been our enemies for years. Country people will think that the French have invaded us, and they will take up arms against them.
I had not seen it that way. Charles looked undecided. But I must have an army and I must have munitions and H-hull has the mightiest store of weapons outside of London
Only if you have to fight a war, John said persuasively. You only need arms if you fight. But if you could come to an agreement
I l-long to come to an agreement, the king said. I have sent them m-message after message offering talks and concessions.