The poisoned chalice

out who Raphael is. Falconer lost one of his best spies in Paris but not before the name Raphael was handed over. Clinton, with his wife, then left for England.
    'The messengers travelling to and from the English court regularly stop off at the convent where the Lady Francesca was educated. There's nothing suspicious about that. Lady Francesca was apparently devoted to them; they send her gifts and she reciprocates.' Benjamin paused, his quill scratching across the parchment as he listed his conclusions. 'Now,' he looked up at me, 'these couriers are also of interest to us. Two of them were butchered outside the convent on the road to Paris though the diplomatic bags they carried were not tampered with but handed over intact to the English embassy. All became quiet until, just after Easter, Falconer shared some wine with Dacourt. He was then seen happily walking up to the top of the tower but later found dead at the bottom. The wine was not poisoned, Falconer was not drunk, and he was alone on the tower. So how did he die?' Benjamin stared at me but I just shook my head.
    'About the same time,' my master continued, 'a respected priest, Abbe Gerard, was found floating face down in his own carp pond. Abbe Gerard was once confessor to our king and Henry gave him a copy of St Augustine's work On Chastity. That book has now disappeared but Vauban and his Luciferi would love to find it.
    'Finally, we have the business of the ring. Henry has made our task more difficult by demanding its return, but so far we meet with little success in this or anything else. Raphael is still giving our secrets to his masters. You were nearly killed at Fontainebleau whilst both Waldegrave and Throgmorton have died in mysterious circumstances.' Benjamin paused and drew a deep breath. 'What else do we know? That Millet is acting suspiciously. Anything else?'
    'We do know,' I said, 'that the killer must be someone in the embassy here. The secrets appear to be revealed only when despatches arrive at Maubisson or at the embassy house in Paris. But you are right, master, the only clue we have is Millet's suspicious behaviour.'

Chapter 9
    Early the next day, I strapped a money belt round my waist and armed myself with a fearsome sword and dagger. I saddled my horse and, slipping through a postern gate, managed to ride round Vauban's men, along the country tracks, towards the main road into Paris. Millet would have to follow the same route for his nocturnal journey and all I had to do was leave the road, lurk amongst the trees and watch for him to arrive. Naturally, this meant a tedious wait, broken only by the consolation of an occasional sip from a wineskin and tender thoughts of my dear, dead Agnes. I became quite maudlin, so locked in my misery I almost missed the faint clip-clop of hooves on the gravelled track. My long wait was rewarded: Millet, dressed from head to toe like a courtier, was riding into Paris without a care in the world.
    I let him go and, following Benjamin's instructions, waited for a quarter of an hour before I took up a slow pursuit. As we approached the Porte D'Orleans the task became easier as the thoroughfares became clogged with wandering friars, pedlars, tradesmen, country bumpkins, wandering scholars, troubadours, and even a few Egyptians with their gaudily painted caravans and a tame bear which danced to the tune of a reedy flute. Millet was easy to keep in sight. He stabled his horse at a tavern just within the gateway. I followed suit, then tracked him through the winding streets of Paris.
    The city teemed with noise and clamour. Every rogue in Christendom seemed to have gathered to join his fellows and they swarmed like fleas on a turd: musicians; students in their tight hose and protuberant cod-pieces; relic-sellers; rag-pickers with their wheelbarrows full of scraps of cloth; knights; porters; priests; hawkers and beggars; young nobles with falcons on their wrists, riding through all this din in order to train their birds not to stir or flutter at any noise. The gibbets were well hung. Near the Grand Pont the spire of a church had collapsed and was surrounded by a mass of onlookers. Carts full of produce forced their way through from the Seine, jostling with huge carriages pulled by two palfreys which could take six people sitting alongside each other on a bench. The late evening rang with the sound of bells from dozens of churches, rivalled by the shrieks of the urchins who pelted a convoy of carts full of