The Merchant of Vengeance (8 page)

"For a mere tavern keeper, Charles Locke lives in a rather large and handsome home," said Shakespeare, observing the three-story, oak-framed house with its white plaster walls and steeply pitched thatched roof.

The timbers of the house had been tarred, blackening them so that they stood out dramatically against the white plaster of the walls. In between the upright timbers were shorter boards arranged in opposing diagonal directions, resulting in a dramatic herring-bone effect that made the house stand out from all those around it.

"Strange that we never should have heard of him before," said Shakespeare. "I would have thought by now that we knew all of the taverns hereabouts."

"Methinks that he is rather more than a mere tavern-keeper," Smythe replied. "When Ben told us his, name, it seemed somehow familiar to me, although I could not then call to mind just why. Yet now it comes to me at last. If this is the same Charles Locke that I

am thinking of, and not just a coincidence of names, then he also owns a brothel and is a master of the Thieves Guild."

Shakespeare glanced at him with surprise. "Now, how in the world would you know something like that?" he asked.

"Of late, I read it in a pamphlet that I bought in a bookstall in

Paul's Walk," Smythe replied.

"Oh, no," said Shakespeare, stopping in his tracks. "Do not tell me 'twas one of Robert Greene's works about the so-called 'dark and murky underworld' of London!"

"Well…"

"Good Lord, Tuck! You saw the man! He was living in his cups, for God's sake, if you could even call that living. I had heard that he was fallen on hard times and dissipated, but the sight of him alone more than confirmed it, to say nothing of his bilious and caustic disposition. How could you possibly take anything he wrote seriously, considering the source?"

"If we were to dismiss the work of every writer ever known to take a drink," said Smythe, "then there would be no literature left in all the world. And I might add, whilst we are on the subject, that you yourself have been known for your supine presence 'neath the tables in many of the lesser alehouses of the city."

"You infernal bounder!" Shakespeare sputtered. "Do you mention me in the same breath as that hopeless, rheumy-eyed, and bloated souse?"

"Not yet rheumy-eyed and not yet bloated, at the least," said Smythe, "but if there be not a flask of brandy somewhere about your person even as we speak, then I shall herewith eat your bonnet!" He swiped the floppy velvet cap off Shakespeare's head and held it underneath his nose. 'Well? What say you now, Master Shakescene?"

Shakespeare stared at him squinty-eyed for a moment, then flatly said, "There is no flask."

"Why, you saucy, timorous, and motley-minded liar!" Smythe said. "What will you wager that if I picked you up and shook you, one should not fall out from somewhere within your doublet?"

"You would never dare!"

"Oh, would I not!"

Smythe reached out quickly and spun him around, then seized him about the waist from behind and easily lifted him up into the air.

"Gadzooks! Put me down, you great baboon! Have you lost your senses?"

Then Shakespeare yelped as Smythe turned him upside down and shifted his grip so that one hand grasped each of his ankles. "Now," Smythe said, "what shall I do, I wonder? Shake you or make a wish?"

"Tuck! Damn you for a venomous double-dealing rogue, let me down at once, I say!"

"Hmmm, now what was it you said just now?" asked Smythe, holding him aloft. "There is no flask, eh? Was that what you said?" He started shaking the helpless poet up and down.

"Tuuuuuuuuuuck!"

Something fell out of Shakespeare's doublet and struck the damp ground with a soft thud.

'Well, now!" said Smythe, "what have we here?" He turned slightly so that Shakespeare, still held upside down, could see what was lying on the ground.

"Is that a flask, or do mine eyes deceive me?"

"Ohhhhh, I am going to beat you with a stick!" said Shakespeare through gritted teeth as he vainly tried to strike out behind him. Smythe merely held him out farther away, at arm's length.

"Aye, I do believe that is a flask I see down there at my feet. I do not suppose 'twould happen to be yours, by any chance?"

"God's body! You are as strong as a bloody ox!" said Shakespeare. "Let me down, I pray you, the blood is rushing to my head."

Smythe released him. "Very well, then. Down you go."

It was not very far to fall, no more than a foot or so, but from the way Shakespeare cried out, it might have been a precipice that he was dropped from. He fell to the ground in a heap, groaning.

"Now then," Smythe said, looking down at him with his hands upon his hips, "what was it you were saying about not taking seriously anyone who drank?"

"You know very well what I meant, you great, infernal oaf," grumbled Shakespeare, getting up and dusting himself off. "There is a deal of difference between a man who drinks in moderation and a man who drinks to excess."

"Moderation?" Smythe replied. "Compared to you, half the drunks in London drink. in moderation, and the other half are bloody well abstemious!"

"Gentlemen," a deep voice said from behind them, "if the two of you are intent upon a brawl, might I suggest a tavern, or perhaps some wooded place where you could maul each other to your hearts' content?"

They turned to see a tall, gray-bearded, and barrel-chested man with sharp, angular features and thick, shoulder-length gray hair standing between them and the front entrance to the Locke house. In his right hand, he held a stout quarter-staff with one end resting lightly on the ground. "Either way," he continued, "I would much prefer that you conduct your mischief elsewhere, and not at my front door, if you please."

"Master Charles Locke, I presume?" Smythe said. He started toward him, but immediately stopped when he saw Locke raise the quarter-staff and hold it across his body in the defensive posture of a man who was prepared to fight.

"Who are you?" Locke demanded, gazing at him suspiciously. "What do you want?"

Smythe held out his hands, palms forward. "Your pardon, good sir, we mean you no harm. My friend and I were merely having a bit of sport, is all. As it happens, 'tis you we came to see. My name is Tuck Smythe, and this is my friend Will Shakespeare."

Locke frowned and maintained his staff held at the ready. "I know you not. What is it you want of me?"

"'Tis a matter concerning your son," said Shakespeare.

"Thomas?" Locke said, narrowing his eyes. "'What have you to do with him?"

"In truth, not a very great deal," Smythe replied. "We have met him for the first time but this afternoon, at the shop of our good friend Ben Dickens, the armourer."

“I know of him," said Locke curtly. "And yet I still know naught of you."

"We are players, good sir," said Shakespeare, "at present with the august company of Lord Strange's Men."

"And so what is that to me?"

"Indeed, sir, it may be naught to you," Shakespeare replied, a touch defensively, "but the news we bring you of your son may not be naught at all."

"Bah! Do not plague me with your riddles, you mountebank! What news have you of my son? Speak plainly and try not my patience!"

"We believe that your son is planning to elope," said Smythe.

"Elope!" Locke gave out a barking laugh. "What nonsense! What earthly reason would he have to do such a damned fool thing?"

"Because the father of the prospective bride has now withdrawn his consent to the marriage and forbidden Thomas ever to see or speak with her again," Smythe replied.

"And we have heard this from your son's own lips this day." added Shakespeare.

Locke frowned and lowered his staff. "Indeed? And did he tell you why Mayhew has done this?"

Smythe hesitated slightly, then replied, "He said 'twas because his mother is a Jew."

For a moment, Locke simply stood there, saying nothing. His already stormy countenance betrayed little more response. Then he finally replied. "If you are lying about this because you are bent upon some sort of mischief, then so help me Almighty God, I shall have your hearts cut out."

Shakespeare swallowed nervously and turned a shade paler. Smythe merely returned Locke's steely, level gaze. "Sir, I know full well just who you are, and that you are fully capable of making good upon your threat. Given that knowledge, then, consider how foolish we would have to be to play at making mischief for a man such as yourself."

Locke's gaze never wavered. He merely nodded once, then curtly said, "Why do you come to me with this? What concern is it of yours? Did you hope to gain some favour or ask for something in return for imparting this most unfortunate news?"

"Indeed, sir," Shakespeare began, "the truth of the matter is that we had thought the doing of a favour for a man in your particular position could be of some considerable benefit to struggling players such as ourselves, and —"

Smythe interrupted him before he could continue. "Nay, the truth, sir, is that 'twas all my fault and, as such, my conscience did bid me cry to make amends."

"Oh, Good Lord…" muttered Shakespeare, rolling his eyes. "Explain yourself," said Locke curtly.

In as few words as possible, because he could clearly see that Locke would not have any patience for long-winded explanations, Smythe described how it happened that he advised Thomas to dope with Portia if he truly believed that he could not bear to live without her. Locke listened impassively. When Smythe was finished, he took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. He looked down at the ground for a moment, as if digesting everything that he had heard and considering it carefully, then he looked up once again, fixing Smythe with a very direct, unsettling gaze. The wind from the river had picked up, and as it blew the old man's hair back, away from his face, and plucked at his dark, coarse woollen cloak, Smythe thought he looked for all the world like some biblical prophet, an angry Moses about to cast his staff down before the pharaoh.

"Methinks you are a man who does not shy from the consequences of his actions," he said to Smythe. "I respect that. But there is one thing that you have not yet told me, and that is why you saw fit to offer your opinion on this matter to my son, who was essentially a stranger to you."

"I suppose 'twas meddlesome of me," said Smythe, with a self-conscious grimace. "But in truth, at the time we spoke, I did not truly realize why I had done so. My friend here helped me to comprehend my motives, which I myself had not considered. Like your son, I also am in love, but sadly, with one who is much above my station. And whilst my own situation is not quite the same as that of your son, in that this woman's father, owing me a debt of gratitude, does not forbid our friendship, yet that friendship is the only sort of bond he can permit. In hearing your son's anguish over being forbidden to wed or even see the girl he loved so deeply, I took it much to my own heart and counselled him to do that which, perhaps under different circumstances, I wished that I could do myself."

Locke nodded. "I see," he said. "Well… I can understand that, perhaps better than you know." He looked off into the distance for a moment, in reflection, and then continued. "I must ask your pardon, gentlemen. I would invite you both to come inside, but I do not wish to distress my dear wife with this most untimely and unfortunate news."

"We understand completely, sir," said Smythe. "Would there be anything more that we… or that I could do to be of service to you in this matter?"

"I am tempted to say that you have already done more than enough," said Locke dryly, "and yet, young Master Smythe, I shall not hold you entirely to blame, for I know my own son. He is possessed of a passionate temper, much like his mother, and what he feels, he feels most deeply. I believe that had you not mentioned elopement as a possible course for him to take, then he would doubtless have come to it on his own. And knowing what my reaction would have been, to say naught of how his mother would respond, he never would have told us. Nor would Mayhew have sent any word to us concerning his decision, so I would have continued on in ignorance of how things stood until 'twas much too late." He nodded to himself. "There is one thing you can do for me, and I would be indebted to you for that favour."

"You have but to name it, sir, and if 'tis within my power, then it shall be done," said Smythe.

"Find my son," said Locke. "I do not wish to see him throw away everything that he has worked for all these years. In time, I believe, he would regret doing so himself: although now, impassioned as he is, doubtless he cannot think so clearly. There are certain things that I can do to prevent him from making such a costly error if he should choose to continue on this course regardless of my wishes, but I shall need some time to make arrangements. In the meantime, find him for me, and communicate to him my feelings on this matter. Remind him also of my love for him, and in particular that of his mother, and bid him consider the effect that this would have upon her."

"I should be glad to do so," Smythe replied.

"I shall tell you of some places where he may be found," said

Locke. "He is most regular in his habits, and with luck you shall not take long in finding him. The first place you must seek him is the tailor shop of Master Leffingwell…"

"Well, here is another fine mess you have got us into," Shakespeare grumbled, folding his arms across his chest and huddling in his cloak as the small boat bobbed up and down in the choppy current of the Thames. "Pray tell, why is it that you always have to go sticking your nose into other people's business?"

Smythe sighed. "I am sorry, Will. You are quite right, of course. The entire matter was really none of my concern. Thomas is Ben's friend, not ours, and I should, indeed, have kept my foolish mouth shut. I apologise. I truly do."

"Well… we still have some time before our next performance," Shakespeare said, although he sounded a bit dubious. "With any luck, we shall find Thomas at his master's shop, pass on his father's message, and then make it back across the river to the theatre by the first trumpet call."