HF - 01 - Caribee (27 page)

'With me?
’

'Aye, to see the King.
To put our position squarely b
efore him. He'll understand. But you'll forgive me, dear friend, this is not a ma
tt
er that can be illustrated by means of a le
tt
er, or by the advocacy of the best friend any man could ask. It must be done by me alone.'

'Now there is true statesmanship, Tom,' Mr Mailing said.

Jefferson nodded, slowly.
‘You
'll understand that Charles is not like his father, Tom. Nor is England still the country you left.'

'He can be no more difficult than James, to be sure. And with Villiers in his grave, England must be a be
tt
er country. And to say truth, I long to see Framlingham again, and Jane and Edward, before they the. And I have another problem on my mind. Sarah. This climate plays the same tricks
with
her health as
it did with her mother's. I’ll
take her with me, and well see if an English spring cannot put the bloom back into her cheeks. There. The decision is done. I'll communicate it to the colony tomorrow.'

'And appoint y
our deputy,' Mailing said, quietl
y.

Tom glanced at him, frowning. 'Aye. To solve one problem we must create another. It will have to be Hal Ashton. He has the seniority and the experience. And if perhaps he suffers from pessimism and stolidity, well, as the least I'll be sure that there will be no wild flights of fancy in my absence.'

'Yet did not he and Berwicke all but cost you the colony, in the
old days?' Jefferson asked. 'An
d if there are differences between your people, will Hal . . . well, has he not
with
drawn from public life these last few years?"

That is to the good,' Tom asserted. 'Hell not have been too i
ntimate with the layabouts, eith
er. Oh, he's a disciplinarian, Hal is.'

'Well, of course, the decision is yours.' Jefferson watched Mailing.

'But you'd have taken another one in my circumstances, eh?" Tom said. 'You do not know my circumstances, John. Nor would I wish them on you.' He inhaled, found the cigar to his satisfaction, and sighed.' 'Tis ever a mistake to paper over cracks, or to a
tt
empt to do so. Edward has not lived beneath this roof since his mother died. He has built himself a house, if you can call it that, for it possesses but a single room, on the other side of Brimstone Hill, and lodges there. By himself.'

'He takes no part in the life of the community? I do not see how you can permit that.'

'He works. Oh, we'll have no beachcombers here. He takes his turn at the duties of constable, and is a good one. Perhaps his a
tt
endance at church is not so regular as we would wish.'

‘
You’ll
not find his name in the book more
than
five times this year, Tom,' Mailing said.' 'Tis a problem we shall have to face. Should anyone else take it into his head to dissent. ...'

'We'll have him in the stocks. It is something winch is continually on my mind. I dunk the time has come, indeed. To make an example of my own son, by God. And yet....' he sighed.

‘I
can see the difficulty,' Jefferson remarked.
‘In
operating one law for the Governor and his family and another for the colonists. That can only breed discontent'

Tom got up, violently, walked the porch. "You'd not understand, John. You do not live here. You do not know. In any event, that law we made amongst ourselves has long gone by the board; this was agreed before . . . well, you may as well know the story. By Christ, man, you know me for what I am. There has been no more faithful husband in my experience, I'll swear to that. But since arriving here, Rebecca was always different. She did not enjoy the heat. Like Sarah, she suffered from it. Her health, I mean. And then, she did not enjoy the responsibilities I was, and am, forced to undertake. It began with the Irish girl, Tony Hilton's wife. She formed an a
tt
achment to Edward, and
they
sought to elope. It was necessary to make an example of the girl.'

'Of the girl,' Jefferson said softly.

'She was an absconding servant. But it caused dissension. Her mind could not stand the pain. By Christ, I was not to know
that
. She was nothing more than an Irish whore, so far as I could see.'

'You mean she became mad? Where is she now?'

'She lives with Mr Hilton, on the north coast' Mailing explained. 'As for being mad, Mr Jefferson, perhaps a be
tt
er word would
be dull.' 'And this was . . . ?’

'Four years ago,' Tom said. 'But it is not her I'd discuss. I do not regret ordering the punishment, only the outcome. Y
et the punishment was necessary
, or we'd have no order amongst our domestics. And now, well, she seems to satisfy Hilton well enough, and between them they fill a necessary role. I must have at least one plantation on the windward coast, to insure that the French do not spread themselves too far, and Tony is the only man willing to undertake such a lonely and uncomfortable vigil. They suffer more from wind and rain over there, you'll understand. But still we stray from the point. Rebecca would not take my side in the ma
tt
er, and we quarrelled. And while we quarrelled, I found myself beside Yarico. Christ, it was a bad time.'

‘I
'd argue with no man for taking a mistress,' Jefferson said.
‘I
do not see the reason for your apologia. Although . ..'

'You do not see how she achieved her present position, either,' Tom said. 'She brought news of an intended massacre by her people, of the French and ourselves, and Belain and I decided to anticipate the event. There was naught else we could do.'

'Ah,' Jefferson said.
‘I
do
ubt I would have acted differentl
y. Mr Mailing?'

‘I
can but thank God I have never been in such a position, Mr Jefferson,' the parson said.

'Aye,' Tom said. 'But the whole of it is not clear. The Caribs are a vengeful people. It was necessary to do the job completely, you'll understand. Except where wives were needed. And by God I swear that every woman taken was in due course lawfully married.'

‘In
due course?"

'Christ, man,' Tom shouted.
‘It
is not a deed of which any man on this island can be proud. Any part of it. It haunts us, every one of us. But the worst was later. I repeat, it was necessary to destroy the entire tribe. There was no time or room for parley, for ascertaining the truth. And when it was done, it was discovered that Yarico was pregnant.'

‘
With the boy?'

‘
You'll see at a glance he is my son. You, and everyone else. Her own people, had they survived. Now there is something to haunt a man.'

'Good God,' Jefferson said. 'You mean you think she fabricated the entire plot in order to save herself from the vengeance of the Caribs?'

‘I
do not know,' Tom said. 'Christ in Heaven, I do not know. Perhaps, had I certainty ... no one knows. Only Yarico, and her mind is her own.'

'And yet....'

‘
Yet she now lives as my mistress. She mothered my son. I could not turn her away. Nor could I allow her to be married off to s
ome layabout who'd beat her ever
y dusk.'

'And Rebecca?"

'Accepted the situation.'

'As you would have it so. And died'

Tom turned. 'You accuse me?'

'No,' Jefferson said.
‘It
is not my place, and if indeed your marriage was finished, it might have happened anyway. But Edward holds it so. That is why you do not punish his misdemeanours. Why you cannot.'

Tom Warner's entire body seemed to sag. 'Aye,' he said.
‘I
am the guilty one. There is none other.'

There was a movement from the far end of the porch. Their heads turned in alarm, and Yarico glided up to where
they
sat in front of the doorway. Here she hesitated. 'War-nah, go?" Her voice was soft.

'Only for a season, sweetheart. I have been before. And come back.'

'With Re-becca,' Yarico said, and disappeared into the house.

'By Christ.' Jefferson wiped his brow. 'Do you think she was there all the time?
’

'Undoubtedly,' Mailing said. 'Now she ... I'd not offend the Governor.'

'Aye,' Tom said. There is a total heathen. She merely laughs when I try to speak to her on such ma
tt
ers.'

‘I
'd not have thought laughter was a part of her character,' Jefferson observed.

‘It
's there,' Tom said. 'But what laughter. She laughs at death itself.'

'By Christ,' Jefferson said. 'You're all afraid of her, Tom.' Tom glanced at him. 'So might you be, if you knew her as I do.'

O'Reilly played the flute and Connor danced. The pair were friends, and they were accomplished. The notes filled the night, gentle and haunting, and Connor, although he was a big man, revealed a remarkable lightness of foot as he piroue
tt
ed and leapt, crossed his legs and stretched them wide —without ever a stumble, although he had drunk as much as anyone.

The others lay around the sand, clapping their hands, drinking and singing, laughing and telling interminable stories. Theirs was a closed world. No labourer was allowed inside Jarring's General Store, unless he carried a note from his master. And celebrations of this sort were seldom allowed. Nor would it go unpunished, should any man be too drunk to work, come sunrise. Yet with their national carelessness of the morrow they were able to enjoy themselves, even lacking female companionship.

And with the enormous good nature which controlled even their hatred, they welcomed into their midst the Governor's son. Not that he shared their merriment. The more he drank the more silent and morose he became, staring into the flames which gu
tt
ered in th
e night breeze, holding the bottl
e by the neck and scorning the cup, careless of slaps on the back or sca
tt
ering sand across his legs. Like them he wore only breeches. Like them
his
body was a mass of hardened muscle. Only, unlike them, it was not scarred. No whip had ever fallen across his back, and there was not another man present who had avoided a session in the stocks or at the whipping post.

'Yell share the bo
tt
le, Ted, lad.' O'Reilly sat beside him, wiping the back of his hand
across his mouth. ' Tis thirsty
work, ablowing on that flute. Christ, man, ye's the saddest sight I ever did see.'

'Leave the boy be,' Yeats said. "Tis upset, he is.'

'Aye,' O'Reilly said.
‘I
've a mind ye once said ye'd not stay here a moment after the ships came, Edward, even if ye had to stow away.'

'You'd not understand, Paddy. I've changed my mind.'

'Well, 'tis to be hoped for sure ye know what ye're at,' O'Reilly said. 'Tell us, Jimmy, boy.'

Creevey scratched his head. He was reputed to be a trifle daft, and scarcely worth his while in the field. Thus he worked for Mr. Mailing, and swept out the church. ' Twas examining the book, he was, your honour, and grumbling.'

'Who?' Edward asked.

'Why, the Reverend, may God heap curses on his soul.'

'Now, there's an un-Christian th
ought,' O'Reilly pointed out. 'Ye may be sure that the rascal is going to the fiery place in any event, as he is as protesting a dog as ever knelt before an altar.'

‘I
wish I could understand,' Edward said, 'why you hate Mr Mailing so much, for being a Protestant, and yet welcome me into your company.'

'Ah, but ye see, Ted, lad, ye're not a Protestant,' Connor said. 'Ye're a heathen, so ye've still hopes of salvation.'

' 'Tis this we're speaking about,' O'Reilly said.
‘If
ye'd let us get a word in. Go on, Jim.'

'Grumbling, he was,' Creevey said. 'About non-a
tt
endance. Oh, 'tis a serious crime, non-a
tt
endance. I'll have to speak with the Governor, he was saying, even if it is his son.'

'Aye, non-a
tt
endance, 'tis a ma
tt
er for the stocks,' Connor said.

'He'll not put me in the stocks,' Edward said.
‘I
care not a fig for his laws. He made them, and he breaks them, as he chooses. Well, one day, the laws will be mine, to make or break as I choose. You'd not realized that, Paddy O'Reilly.'

'On the contrary, Ted, lad
, I've had it much in me mind th
ese last four years, or I doubt I'd have survived them. I doubt I'd wish to. But I'd thought to see ye in power before
now. Creevey has a point. 'Tis your non-a
tt
endance made the Governor put that dry stick Ashton in your proper place.'