Arabella (32 page)

             
'That was brave of you, ma'am.  I am not sure that I should have consented to such a journey had I been given a choice.'

             
Susan looked at her gravely.  'If the journey has been hard for me it must have been so much harder for you and the others.  I do feel for you, though I may not have shown it earlier. John told me I must not think about the prisoners or I should be ill and so I have tried not to, though sometimes it is impossible to forget.'

             
'It is not your fault that we were treated so harshly.  It is a system of justice that should be reformed, but while those in power abuse their privilege it may never happen.'

             
'You are an educated girl, Arabella.  Is it true that your father was a country squire?'

             
'Yes, ma'am.  We were happy until my mother died and then poor Papa lost his money through gambling and bad investments.  He took us to London to find husbands and then…'  She shook her head.  'It grieves me to speak of it, ma'am.'  She dare not tell this good woman the whole truth for she would find herself being sent back to the hold before she knew what had happened.

             
'That man who tried to take advantage of you – did you hit him or was it really an accident?'

             
'He was in a rage, ma'am.  I picked up a poker and dealt him a slight blow, but it did not fell him.  He ripped the bodice of my gown and I pushed him.  He staggered and fell, hitting his head on the iron fender.  My maid came in and screamed for help and everyone was outraged.  They all believed I had killed him and I was taken to the magistrate.  He was annoyed because he was eating his supper and had me committed to prison without listening to my story.  The judge came to the prison a week later.  He wanted men and women to fill this ship and apart from two men he ordered hung, we were all sent here.'

             
Susan shook her head.  'Yours is a terrible story of injustice and I am sure it is not the only one.  That is the reason John was determined to make a new life for us in America.  He believes that things may be different there, that the ordinary man may be offered opportunities that could not be found in England – at least he hopes that will be the case.'

             
'I fear that I know little of the country, ma'am…'  Arabella broke off as a wailing sound came from the cot.  She saw the look of pain in Susan's eyes and turned quickly to the child, lifting him out and holding him up so that she could look at him.  'What is it my, little one?' she asked.  'Are you hungry?'

             
'I gave him his food only half an hour ago,' Susan said.  'It is probably the wind – or he may need changing again.'

             
'Yes, I can feel that he is wet,' Arabella said.  'Where do you keep his napkins, ma'am?'

             
'In that wicker basket by the cot,' Susan said.  'There are special creams that my mother made for me in her stillroom.  If applied regularly they keep him from becoming sore. Mary used to do it for me…' She looked at Arabella helplessly, as if the thought of changing her son was almost too much for her.

             
'I shall change him while we talk,' Arabella.  'You must tell me all the things you would like me to do for you, ma'am, so that I can look after you and little Johnny properly.'

             
'Oh, how thoughtful you are,' Susan Baxter said and gave her a weary smile.  'I shall lie down on the bed while you take care of the boy, and then you may come and sit next to me and I shall tell you what else needs to be done.'

             
'I can see that there are some clothes needing to be washed,' Arabella said.  'And the cabin would look more comfortable if it were tidy – but perhaps there is something I could do for you personally, ma'am?  Do you have the ingredients to make a tisane – or shall I rub your shoulders to ease them?'

             
'Oh no,' Susan said, looking shocked.  'Nothing like that – but a tisane would be delightful.  You would need to fetch hot water from the galley.  Do you think you could do that?'

             
'Oh yes,' Arabella replied.  'It would be a pleasure, ma'am.  I shall go as soon as I have done what is necessary here.'

             
Arabella nursed the child, who had stopped crying as soon as she made him dry and comfortable.  He smiled up at her and patted her face with his tiny fists, before yawning and closing his eyes.

             
Once he was back in his cot, Arabella tidied the cabin, putting all the stained clothes to one side.  Then she found a pewter water can and left her mistress to rest while she went in search of water.

             
Oh yes, she could manage this very well, she thought, feeling the wind in her face and breathing in the salt air.  After so many weeks shut away in that dark hold it felt wonderful to be on deck again.  Susan Baxter was clearly delicate and tired easily, but treated gently she would be easily pleased – and the child was a delight.

             
Arabella felt herself smiling as she lifted her face to the sky, the warmth of the sun lifting her spirits to new heights.  If she was lucky and worked hard, the Baxters might buy her bond when they reached America.  She prayed that they would, because then her life in this new world would not be so very terrible.

             
It would be good to have the care of a child.  She could almost pretend he was her own, Arabella thought, and her mistress seemed kind enough if easily shocked.

             
For a moment she thought of the life she had left behind.  She had been the mistress then, wealthy and protected – but that had ended when Gervase left her.  If only she had not provoked him into that last quarrel!  She had been so foolish and her regret was bitter indeed.

             
For a moment tears stung her eyes but she blinked them away.  She could not afford to be sentimental.  From now on she must accept that she was a servant.  Yet there was a part of her that clung to her memories, the regrets that had so often assailed her during the darkest moments of this dreadful voyage, returning.

             
She would not think of her old life or of Gervase.  No doubt he had forgotten her in the arms of his latest mistress.

'Is the boy well, Isadora?' Gervase looked at the young woman standing beside him as she held the child.  She was pretty though not beautiful, a little plumper than he preferred in a woman, but she had a generous nature.  He had been glad of her help on the voyage. 'You do not think you should take him below to the cabin?'

             
'If it is your wish I shall do so, of course,' Isadora replied.  'But it makes me feel better to breathe in the fresh air, and I think the child must feel the same.'

             
'Yes, perhaps you are right,' Gervase agreed.  'I dare say I worry too much.'

             
'The boy means a great deal to you?'

             
'Yes…' His eyes darkened.  'I have come to feel deeply towards this child, my dear.'

             
'You knew the mother?'

             
'Arabella was my mistress for a time.'

             
'Ah, I see.'  She smiled at him.  'Then he is your own.'

             
'Not of my blood – but yes, the child is mine now.'

             
'And what of the mother?'

             
'Who knows?'

             
Gervase turned his gaze seaward.  He was standing in the prow of his fastest ship.  The
Helen
was his pride and joy, and her captain one of his closest friends.  They had been trading with the East Indies for some years now, and Gervase's small fleet of ships was the source of his vast wealth.  He had kept it a secret from almost everyone, but he believed that Jack Meadows had guessed his secret.

             
If it were not for Jack he would not feel this tearing anxiety inside, Gervase thought ruefully.  He had believed they were friends, though Jack sometimes took advantage of the debt he owed him.  He would never have imagined that he would try to physically abuse Arabella once his back was turned.

             
He had pieced the story together through other friends, men who had also asked Arabella if she would consent to become their mistress and been refused.

             
'Jack boasted that he would have her,' Ralph Sommerton had told him – and repeated it to Judge Harding.  'He told us when he was in his cups that she would not refuse him.'

             
Arabella's pardon was in his cabin.  Gervase prayed that he would be in time to save her further humiliation.  If her bond had been sold to someone else it might take months to track her down, and to force her owner to give her up.

             
They were making good time.  The ship carrying Arabella to America was old and hardly seaworthy.  Gervase's ship should reach Chesapeake Bay almost as soon as the prison hulk, or perhaps even before it if they had fair winds.

             
He could only pray that it was in time.

The Chesapeake was like a huge lake served by so many tributaries that it was impossible to make them all out, and the water looked blue.  Arabella stared at the beauty spread out before her, wondering if she had died and woken in Paradise.

             
'I never imagined anywhere could be this lovely,' she breathed to Susan as she stood nursing the child.  'Oh, do you see those fish?  See the way they leap out of the water – they flash like silver in the sunlight.'

             
'See the mountains, Bella,' Susan said, as bemused as her servant.  'They are so majestic.  The mist above them looks nearly as blue as the water.'

             
'It is all so colourful,' Arabella sighed, awed by the luxuriant vegetation on the shore.  'I can see houses now.  For a start I thought there was nothing but forest -– but now I can see buildings and people.'

             
She was aware of excitement.  Until now she had been afraid of what they would find in this new land.  She had heard vague stories of savage Indians who sometimes attacked the settlers, and of wild beasts that roamed the forests, but seeing the lush greenery and catching the smell of flowers, she realised that it was going to be an adventure such as she had never imagined.

             
'Are you excited?' Susan asked and smiled as Arabella held her son up to look at his new country.  'Yes, take a good look at your new country, Johnny darling. I feel excited now.  I was nervous, afraid of whether I would be able to cope, but I have felt so much better since you have been looking after me.'

             
'I have tried to do whatever you want,' Arabella said giving her a look of gratitude and appreciation.  'Are you certain your husband will buy my bond?'

             
'He has already tried to,' Susan confirmed.  'But my uncle abides by the rules – and they say that he must allow others to bid for you.'  She reached out to touch Arabella's hand.  'Do not worry.  I am sure it will be arranged as soon as the bidding opens.'

             
Arabella nodded, but she was watching the boats being rowed towards the ship.  There were men in those boats and they were coming to take their pick of the new arrivals.  Suddenly she could not bear to be paraded before them like a horse or cattle.

             
'Would you mind if I went to the cabin until it is all over, ma'am?'

             
'No, of course not.  Perhaps it might be best if you were not seen,' Susan said a slight frown wrinkling her brow.  The last few weeks had seen a vast improvement in Arabella's looks and she did not wish to lose her.  Anyone seeing her and then looking at most of the other women on board would not hesitate to pay more for her bond.  'It cannot matter since John has already spoken to my uncle and gained his promise that you shall go to no one else. I shall come and tell you as soon as John has secured your bond.'

             
Arabella thanked her and took the little boy back to the cabin.  It was warmer than on deck, where they'd had the benefit of a breeze, but she felt safer.  A feeling of impending doom had suddenly come over her as she saw the small boats heading towards the ship.

             
Supposing John Baxter didn't manage to buy her?  She shivered as she imagined what might happen to her.  It was unlikely she would find a mistress as kind and gentle as Susan – or be employed simply to take care of a child.  If the wrong type of man bought her, she might suffer a worse fate than the one Jack Meadows had planned for her.

             
Arabella sat nursing the child for what seemed an age, her fears growing as the time passed.  She knew that the prisoners had started to leave the ship, because she had heard loud cries and some screaming as the women were dragged away from friends and lovers.