Georgette Heyer (25 page)

  'There's a lusty young gamecock for you!' remarked one of the men. 'Now, who would ha' thought to meet such a rare, pretty lass in these miserable parts?'

  Jane blushed faintly, but said in her quiet way: 'Please to let us pass, good fellow!'

  Several of the troopers had strolled up to her: one of them said with clumsy gallantry: 'You don't need to be in such haste. Where might you be off to, mistress?'

  At this moment, an officer came out of the ale house. He was a stern-looking man, very neat and soldierly in his bearing, and as soon as he perceived the travellers, and the uncomfortable situation they were in, he rapped out a sharp order. The troopers gathered round Jane's horse drew back in a hurry.

  'Clear a way there for the lady to pass!' commanded the officer. 'Your pardon, madam; I am sorry for it if you have met with any discourtesy.'

  'Thank you, sir, but I think none was intended,' she replied, smiling faintly at him.

  'I am obliged to you, sir,' said Lassels, doffing his hat. 'Go on, Jackson! The road is clear now.'

  The horses moved forward, the officer taking off his hat and making Jane a bow as she passed him.

  She did not speak until they were out of the village, but as soon as they emerged again on the open road, she said with a note of bewilderment in her voice: 'He was very civil to us!'

  'Ay, we were lucky to chance upon a gentleman in command of that troop,' said Lassels. 'He looked to be a good sort of a fellow.'

  'But, Harry, a rebel! A traitor!' she said.

  The King laughed. 'Did you think there were no decent, gentlemanly fellows amongst mine enemies, Jane? Alas, I fear there are many!'

  'Yes, sir, and the more shame to them!' said Lassels roundly. 'I pray God I may live to see them come by their deserts!'

  'Why, what a fierce fellow you are!' remarked the King.

  'Shall you punish your enemies, sir, when you come to your throne?' asked Jane.

  'What, to be revenged on every poor devil that had the bad taste not to like me? No, child: if I could do it, which I am very sure I could not, I would not.'

  'I hoped you would say so,' she replied. 'If your enemies knew you as I do, I think they could not be any longer your enemies.'

  'Those are very comfortable words, Jane, but at this present I am giving thanks that my enemies do not appear to know me at all. I think this disguise of mine must be better than I had hoped. We have now only one care left, and that is how to come up with poor Mr Petre again.'

  'For my part, sir, I think we shall be well rid of him,' said Lassels.

  'Yes, you are a very ruthless man, my friend. I promise you, I fear you!'

  A laugh quivered in Jane's throat.

'How now, Jane?' promptly demanded the King.

  'Sir, placed as I am between one ruthless man and one reckless King I must wonder at it if I find not myself clapped up presently in prison.'

  'Why, what have I done?'

  'Sir, you chose to ride straight through that troop of rebels, and you did not even make shift to hide your face from them, for I watched you, and saw you looking the soldiers over as though they had been your own.'

  'There was nothing reckless in that. They were not paying any heed to me. Their eyes were fixed on that face which I cannot see, and small blame to them! If we find not your sister and Mr Petre in Stratford, we had best await them at a decent inn there. I suppose they will look for you in the town.'

  This suggestion, however, Jane rejected, nor could any argument advanced by the King in favour of his plan induce her to change her nay to yea. She thought that the Petres would very likely catch them up on the road to Long Marston, and begged the King not to court discovery by lingering in a disaffected town. Accordingly, they passed through Stratford without a halt, and, having crossed the Avon, proceeded by the Pebworth road towards Long Marston.

  It was agreed between them that although Mr Tomes was a man of undoubted loyalty he should not be admitted into the secret of Will Jackson's identity, and so, when they drew rein at last outside a half-timbered manor-house, standing a little retired from the highway, only Jane and Lassels alighted, the King remaining in the saddle to lead both horses to the stables.

  His appearance excited no curiosity there, for however unhandy he might be in helping ladies into pillion-saddles, there was very little he did not know about the care of horses. When he presently shouldered the baggage, and made his way towards the house, he had rubbed both nags down, assisted by one of Mr Tomes's grooms, had watered and fed them, and seen them bedded down for the night. He had also enjoyed a desultory conversation with the groom, who ascribed his voice and accent to his supposed Staffordshire breeding, and thought him a very pleasant fellow.

  He entered the house by way of the kitchen, where a harassed and consequently short-tempered cook maid was preparing dinner for her master's unexpected guests. She looked at him with disfavour, and upon his asking her to direct him to Mr Lassels's chamber, told him that it was not for the likes of him to go traipsing about the house unbidden.

  'But I must carry the baggage up, must I not?' said the King.

  'Set it down: there's others as'll 'tend to that. A nice thing it would be if every great overgrown gowk out of the stables was to go where he pleased in a gentleman's house! And don't stand about there in my way, and me with dinner to get, and not so much as half an hour's warning of company!'

  'It smells very good,' remarked the King, putting the saddle-bags down by the door.

  'It may well! And me withouten any to give a hand! Company! Ay, it's always company when that lazy slut Joan's ill a-bed. Do you do somewhat to earn your dinner, and wind up that jack, 'stead of standing there like a great may-pole!'

  'Why, with good-will!' said the King, stepping forward, and grasping the handle.

  He found, however, that there was more to this seemingly simple task than he had supposed, a certain knack, which he did not possess, being required. His efforts exasperated the cook-maid. She thrust him away, and winding the jack up herself, demanded scornfully: 'What kind of a countryman are you, that you know not how to wind up a jack?'

  'I am a poor tenant's son, of Colonel Lane in Stafford shire,' replied the King meekly. He added with a heart rending look: 'We seldom have roast meat, but when we do, we don't use a jack.'

  She subjected him to a sharp scrutiny, but answered in a mollified tone: 'Ay, and you look as though you'd never seen a good dish of meat, that I will say! Well, you can eat your fill here: there's no stint, and all of the best.'

  The butler came into the kitchen at this moment, and, at sight of the King, said: 'You're to take up the baggage. It seems nothing will do for your master but he must have his own servant to wait upon him. I'm sure it's naught to me, and he may have it as he pleases, for all you look to me more fit for the stables than a gentleman's bedchamber.'

  'Mr Lassels can never bear to have a stranger near him,' explained the King. 'I'd best go to him at once, or he will fly into one of his passions.'

  'I warrant he will!' said the butler. 'A mighty high stomached young gentleman, so full of fads and fancies as I never did see! Well, pick up the bags, and I'll lead you to him before he can come down shouting for you himself.'

  The King once more shouldered his burdens, and followed the butler out of the kitchen. When they reached Lassels's bedchamber, that young gentleman, who had evidently flung himself into his part with a good deal of zest, greeted them with an exclamation of pent-up impatience.

  'The devil! What have you been about all this while? Set the bags down, and unstrap them! I want a clean handkerchief directly.'

  'Yes, master: at once!' said the King.

  The butler withdrew. Lassels waited until the sound of his footsteps grew faint upon the stairs, and then said: 'Forgive me, sir! I knew not how else to bring you away from the kitchen.'

  'A mighty high-stomached young gentleman!' mocked the King. 'I think you have made an enemy for yourself in that poor butler. As for me, I fell into very ill-odour in the kitchen. How do you wind up a jack?'

  'I don't know, sir.'

  'Nor I. I thought the cook-maid would have boxed my ears. But she has promised me a good dinner, which I shall eat in the buttery.'

  'We must contrive!' Lassels said, beginning to pace about the room. 'You cannot dine with the servants, sir. It is not to be thought of!'

  'Content you, I shall fare excellent well. I shall divulge to the butler what an ill master to serve you are, and for very pity I daresay he will cut me some slices of the mutton you are going to have for your dinner.'

  Lassels stopped his pacing, and said with a grin: 'Are we going to have mutton, sir?'

  'To be sure you are. Also Joan is ill a-bed.'

  'Good God! Who is Joan, sir?'

  'I know not, but she is always ill when there is company.' He lunged across the room to where a mirror stood upon a chest, and meditatively studied his own reflection. 'She said I looked as though I had never seen a good dish of meat. Would you say I was an overgrown gowk, Lassels?'

  'No, sir, I would not!' replied Lassels emphatically.

  'That is because you know your duty,' said Charles. 'But I am hearing some home-truths from those who know me not.'

  A soft scratching upon the door made him turn his head. Lassels went to the door and opened it. Jane Lane stood upon the threshold, and said in an anxious whisper: 'The King?'

  Lassels stepped back to let her pass into the room. 'He is here, Jane. All's well!'

  She came in. She had shed her cloak, and tidied her ringlets, threading a ribbon through them. She curtseyed to the King. 'Sir, I came to consult with my cousin how we may contrive to have you fittingly bestowed this night. You must not sleep in the servants' dormitory.'

  The King moved towards her, and as she rose from her curtsey, took her face between his long, brown hands, and held it tilted a little upwards. 'Now at last let me look at this face I have yet seen so fleetingly,' he said.

  She stood perfectly still, looking gravely up at him, not afraid to meet his gaze, but with a suggestion of humility in her quiet.

  Something glowed behind the smile in his eyes. 'Such a pretty face!' he said under his breath. His hands seemed to her to harden; he bent his head and kissed her.

  Colour leapt up under his fingers; still holding her, he had an odd fancy that she had sprung suddenly into life. He looked up and saw Lassels watching him, a little trouble in his face. He laughed, and let his hands fall on to Jane's shoulders. For a moment they rested there; then he slid them down her arms to her wrists, and lifting her hands, carried them one after the other to his lips. 'My Life!' he said, caressing her with the careless magic of his voice and smile. 'I shall hereafter call you so, since you hold it between these little hands.'

  'It is a proud title, sire,' she said. 'Indeed, I am proud to bear it.' She slightly bowed her head as she spoke, and drew her hands out of his hold.

  'Touching this question of where your Majesty is to sleep,' began Lassels, 'I have been considering that I should request Mr Tomes to set up a truckle-bed in this room.'

  'Well, you have made yourself so troublesome to the household already that I daresay no one will be much surprised,' remarked the King, moving away to lean his elbow upon the mantelpiece. 'I think I must not go to bed with the servants, for, as I remember, Richard Penderel told me that I called out in my sleep.'

  'Of course your Majesty cannot go to bed with the servants!' said Lassels. 'Upon all counts it would be unthinkable! I will tell John Tomes that I am used to have my man sleep in the room with me.'

  'It were better you should tell him what my sister already knows, that his Majesty is suffering from a tertian ague,' said Jane. 'He will not think it odd then that you should desire better accommodation for one whom he believes to be but a poor man.'

  'And if he should object that I seem not to have any fever, you will say that it is in the intermission today,' interpolated the King. 'Is your sister come yet, Jane? I hope Mr Petre fell not into another ambush upon the way to Stratford!'

  She shook her head. 'They did not meet any soldiers. I think Mr Petre is a little ashamed that he did not go along with us. We shall part from their company tomorrow.'

  'I am right glad of it,' said the King, 'for you will thus be able to talk to poor Will Jackson. I thought myself sadly neglected upon our ride today, I can tell you.'

  Her gravity was dispelled by a sudden smile that gleamed in response to the teasing light in his eye. 'Comfort you, sir! If I did not talk to you, for very fear, at least you were not once out of my thoughts – nor out of Harry's, either, I dare swear.'

  'I care nothing for being in Harry's thoughts,' said the King. 'But I am certainly much comforted to know I live in yours. Tell me, what sort of a fellow am I there?'

  'My liege,' she said, in a low voice.

  'Alas! As well say a crowned puppet! Mr Lassels, I am well aware that I do not fill your notion of what a king should be, but for all that I am one, and I will not brook being frowned upon.'