The Princess of Denmark by Edward Marston

he turned on his heel and stalked off.
    Dart was distraught. ‘Did you hear that, Nicholas?’
    ‘I’ve heard it all too often.’
    ‘He means to evict us. We have nowhere to perform.’
    ‘Yes, we do,’ said Nicholas, ‘we have the castle in Elsinore and other places in Denmark. That is all that concerns me at the moment, George. Pay no need to the landlord. When we are gone, he will rue his harsh words. Now,’ he went on briskly, ‘let us carry on. Read out the next items on the list.’
     
    Turning it gently in her hands, Anne Hendrik examined the hat with an expert eye. Light green in colour, it was round with a soft crown and a narrow brim. Twisted gold cord surrounded the crown. An ostrich feather sprouted out of the top of the hat.
    ‘This is good,’ she said with admiration.
    ‘It will pass,’ said Preben van Loew. ‘It will pass.’
    ‘It will do for more than that. Are you sure that Jan made this?’
    ‘Quite sure.’
    ‘He has improved so much in the last year, Preben.’
    ‘Apprentices must work hard if they are to master their trade.’
    ‘Jan has certainly done so. You must be proud of him.’
    ‘I am teaching him all I know,’ said the Dutchman. ‘I showed you this latest example of his craft to prove thatyou need have no fears while you are away. The business will continue. Jan is now able to make hats that are worthy of sale. The lad is no longer a burden on you. He is helping to earn his keep.’
    ‘And maintaining the tradition that Jacob established.’
    ‘That is very important.’
    Anne had invited him into her house so that they could discuss how the business would be run in her absence. There were enough commissions to keep them busy for months and there was always the possibility that more might come in. She had no worries about the making of the hats because Preben van Loew would oversee that. Where he needed advice was in the areas that she usually reserved for herself – the buying of the materials and the pricing of the finished article. What the Dutchman and the others made, she then sold. Her side of the operation was one in which the old man did not excel.
    ‘We will get by somehow,’ he assured her.
    ‘I know, Preben.’
    ‘How long will you be away?’
    ‘I’ll not stay much more than a week in Amsterdam.’
    ‘I still have many friends there. Will you carry letters for me?’
    ‘I’ll insist upon it.’
    ‘Thank you, Anne.’
    It was early evening and they were seated in the parlour where candles had already been lit to dispel the shadows. Anne had no regrets about marrying into a Dutch family. She had not only acquired some charming relatives, she had also made many friends from the Low Countries and beenimpressed by the diligence and simplicity of their lives. She did not merely keep in touch with her relatives by marriage out of a sense of obligation. It was a pleasure to make rare visits to see them. Unwilling to return to his homeland himself, Preben van Loew valued her excursions there because she always brought back news and letters for him.
    ‘I feel that I can leave with a clear conscience now,’ she said.
    ‘Conscience?’
    ‘Nick did what he vowed to do.’
    ‘Ah,’ he said, realising. ‘The Dutch Churchyard.’
    ‘He and Owen kept vigil there for three nights in a row before they caught that young man.’
    ‘I know, Anne. I’m very grateful.’
    ‘He was the same person who threw the stone at you that day we were there. He admitted as much to Nick.’
    ‘But he did not write those cruel verses about strangers.’
    ‘No,’ she agreed, ‘but he endorsed every word of them. He’ll be punished severely for his part in the outrage. He’ll not be able to hang any more libels on the wall of the churchyard.’
    ‘Somebody else will do that.’
    ‘I doubt it.’
    ‘They will, Anne,’ he said with an air of fatalism. ‘He can easily be replaced. The only way to stop these attacks is to arrest the men who write and publish them.