I read this when I was a boy and it is a boy's own yarn of derring do in Elizabethan England. It was first published in 1936 by the author best known for The Four Feathers.
Robin Aubrey, English through and through and a schoolboy at Eton, is recruited by Sir Francis Walsingham to travel to Spain as a spy to find information about the imminent Armada. Privately, he wishes to find his father who was tortured by the Inquisition and may or may not be dead. But in this world of cross and double cross, Catholics in England are stalking Robin as he goes about his espionage. His enemies include a rival for the hand of his beloved Cynthia and his old Eton tutor, nicknamed Mr Ferret and a stage villain who makes Uriah Heep look subtle.
A brilliant adventure story, carefully plotted, with some well-drawn characters and breathlessly written. Should be reprinted please.
May 2014; 316 pages
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