The Danbury Scandals (20 page)

‘And did you?’

‘In the end,
all of a heap with three dead Frenchmen. I knelt beside his body, not knowing
what to do, just sat there wishing that I would wake up from that terrible
nightmare and find myself at home. It was growing dark and I had just roused
myself to make my way back to our own lines when I was captured by half a dozen
French soldiers. They decided to have some sport with me.

‘Oh, no!’

‘Michel came
along and stopped them. He was a sergeant. He took me to the French women’s
camp.’ She smiled. ‘It was no different from the English, except I couldn’t
understand the lingo.’

‘He married
you?’

‘Not straight
away, but he gave me money and came every day to see how I fared, and later he
brought the captain to translate for him.’

‘You spent the
rest of the war with them?’ Maryanne asked.

‘With Michel.
Captain Choucas was not always there; he had other duties. Next to Michel, he
is the finest man who ever breathed, and what he wants he shall have, if I have
anything to do with it.’

‘Even to giving
him up?’

‘To the law?
No, I’ll never do that.’

‘No, I didn’t
mean that. If you love him.’

‘If you mean
why haven’t I married him, then why not say so? Because he hasn’t asked me, for
one thing, but even if he had it wouldn’t do. He’s a gentleman and, besides, he
does not love me.’

‘Does that
signify?’

‘Certainly it
does. It’s only you aristocrats who marry with such calculated coldness.
‘Twouldn’t do for me.’

‘Then why are
you so against me? I thought...’

Jeannie looked
sideways at her and laughed aloud. ‘You thought I was jealous. No, it is what
you are doing to him I’m against. The risks he is taking...’

‘I know,’
Maryanne said miserably. ‘But he won’t give himself up.’

‘I should think
not! But what he’s doing now will put a rope round his neck just as surely.’
She reached across and seized Maryanne’s arm. ‘Tell me this, and tell me true.
Do you love him?’

Maryanne did
not answer immediately and the girl shook her roughly. ‘Don’t you know?’

‘Yes.’ The word
was a whisper. ‘I love him, but...’

‘There can be
no buts. I’m going to tell you something now, though he’ll half kill me for
it.’ She paused, then lowered her voice. ‘You don’t think he means to drag you
across the Channel whether you will it or not, do you? He’s let that devil know
he’s got you. He’s going to stage a little play for the benefit of Society, to
stop the gossip and save your reputation.’

‘I don’t
understand.’

‘He’ll make it
look as though he is forcing you to go with him and then he’s going to allow
Mark Danbury to free you.’ She laughed suddenly, but it was an empty sound.
‘After a suitable struggle, of course. And then he’s going to rely on his
friends to get him away safely.’

‘Without me?’
Maryanne whispered.

‘Yes. That way
honour is satisfied. The new Duke - the devil rot him - will be able to marry
you and your fortune, and, if God is on our side, the Captain will get clean
away.’

Maryanne could
picture the scene quite clearly. It was Adam’s answer to her refusal to perjure
herself. Did he care that much about her? Or was it his way of ridding himself
of the encumbrance she had become? Did the foolish man not realise that she
would not go back to Mark whatever happened? She was so deep in thought that
she did not hear Jeannie speak to her until she shook her again.

‘I said, is
that what you want?’

‘No, but how
will Mark know where to find us?’

‘I told him.’

‘You?’ She
didn’t try to hide her astonishment.

‘Yes, the
captain sent me to inform on him while you were resting.’ Jeannie gave a cracked
laugh. ‘The bugger paid me well too. I gave it to a beggar on my way home.’ She
paused. ‘Well, are you going to let the Captain put his head in the noose for
you?’

‘No,’ said
Maryanne.

‘What, then?’

‘I’ll leave on
my own when we stop for a change of horses. You’ll help me, won’t you?’

‘He’ll come
looking for you and put himself in even more danger.’

‘What else can
I do?’

Jeannie
laughed. ‘You are a muttonhead, aren’t you? You admit you love him. Don’t you
want to go with him, of your own free will I mean?’

Maryanne smiled
wryly. ‘Would he have me, after all this? I practically accused him of the
murder myself and...’ she paused ‘... of wanting to marry me to stop me giving
evidence against him.’

‘You said that?
No wonder he prefers to ride on the box with the driver.’

‘I was
confused, I still am. Oh, I don’t know what to think!’

‘Stop thinking
and obey your heart.’ Jeannie gave her another little shake. ‘You must make him
abandon that lunatic plan before Mark Danbury kills him, for he surely will.
What you do with your life after that is your affair.’

Maryanne
attempted a smile; it was as if she were just seeing the light at the end of a
long, dark tunnel. ‘I’ll think of something.’ She saw the expression of doubt
on Jeannie’s face, and smiled. ‘Don’t worry, I will do it somehow.’

They stopped
twice to change the horses and take some refreshment, but Maryanne found every
attempt to speak to Adam alone was balked. Either he had to see to the horses,
or pay the innkeeper, or see to the luggage, which was no more than a
half-empty trunk put there for appearances’ sake, and had slipped loose and he
must tighten the straps which held it to the roof. It was almost as if he knew
what she wanted and was avoiding talking to her.

They arrived in
Dover the following morning just as dawn lightened the sky and lit the cliffs
with a pink glow, and Maryanne had still not spoken to Adam. She sat with her
hands clenched and her heart in her mouth as they made their way down the hill
towards the harbour. If Jeannie was right and Adam had planned a confrontation
with Mark, it would come soon, and her nerves were as tight as drum skins, the
hairs on her neck tingling with apprehension. She found herself fervently
praying that Jeannie had been wrong, that Adam had no plan, that he really did
intend to take her to France. But the more she thought about it, the more she
knew he did not intend that, and the nearer the time came, the more she
realised she did not want to be left behind.

Workers were
coming out of their doors as they turned along the coast road, and women began
hanging bedding out of upper windows to air. Children and dogs and the smell of
cooking breakfasts brought the town to life. On the water, fishing boats were
bringing in their catches and, nearer at hand, swinging on its moorings at the
end of the jetty, was a cross-Channel packet. They stopped just short of it and
Adam jumped down and opened the door for Maryanne, holding out his hand to help
her down. She pressed herself further back into the cushions and dug her feet
into the floor, ready to resist.

‘Come, madam,
there isn’t much time.’

‘I refuse to
budge until we have settled something between us.’ Maryanne was aware that
Jeannie had slipped out of the coach on the other side, but she did not think
she had gone far away.

‘I haven’t time
for any more of your foolishness,’ he said. ‘Do you want me to pick you up
bodily and carry you on board?’

She tried to
laugh but the sound that came out was more like sob. ‘That would suit you,
wouldn’t it? It would make your little charade more convincing.’

He looked
swiftly up and down the street and climbed in beside her. ‘Maryanne, what are
you plotting now?’

‘I am not the
one who plots, I leave that to you. You have no intention of taking me with
you, have you?’

He sighed. ‘Sometimes
Jeannie exceeds her duty.’

‘Don’t blame
her. She loves you. She is afraid for you.’ Maryanne paused, watching his face.
‘As I am.’

He opened his
mouth to make some cutting retort but decided against it when he realised she
was serious. Her face was deadly pale, but there was a sparkle in the depths of
her violet eyes which made him catch his breath. If only he could trust her!
‘It’s too late.’ The words were wrung from him.

‘You would
return me to a man I cannot love?’ Her lovely eyes brimmed with tears. ‘You
want that for me? Can you imagine what my life will be like?’ She lifted her
face to his, searching it for reassurance, for a sign that what she was doing
was right.

He groaned and
lowered his face to hers, finding her mouth in a kiss whose sweetness filled
her with unbearable yearning. As the pressure of his lips deepened, she was
swamped by an emotion so powerful that it swept away all notion of time and
place, all fear, all guilt, and because, at that moment, time stood still,
there were no yesterdays, no hate, no intrigue, no murder, and because there
were no tomorrows there could be no revenge, no retribution, no decisions to be
made. While his arms were about her, his mouth on hers, there was only the
present, and she felt secure, untouched by evil.

He released her
at last. ‘Maryanne, in God’s name, what would you have me do?’

She did not
answer, remembering Jeannie’s words - that if she truly loved him she would
have no doubts - and just now, when he had kissed her, there had been none, only
the longing to stay with him forever, for without him she was incomplete. She
did not hear him repeat his question, she heard only a small voice inside her
telling her that her living and dying were inexorably linked with his. ‘Take me
with you,’ she said.

‘Where?’

‘Wherever you
go. I don’t care.’

He laughed and
shook his head. ‘I’m blessed if I understand you, Maryanne. Why, when you tried
so hard to persuade me to trust in the law, are you swinging to the opposite
view?’

‘I don’t know.
Maybe Mr Rudge was right and Mark is not interested in justice.’

‘I know he is
not,’ he said grimly.

‘Then we have
no time to lose, have we?’

‘No, by God!’
He called to Jeannie, who returned to the carriage. ‘Change cloaks with
Maryanne.’ While the girls did as he asked, he took off his pelisse and threw
it up to the coachman. ‘A guinea if you wear this for the next half-hour. And
you can keep it afterwards.’ The man took it eagerly and Adam turned back to
Jeannie. ‘Take the coach right up to the loading-point and go on board as
quickly as you can. Get the driver to carry the trunk; it might fool Danbury
long enough for us to escape attention. Come off just before she sails.’

Jeannie smiled.
‘That I will, and God be with you, Captain.’ She turned to Maryanne. ‘If you do
anything to make him unhappy, I’ll haunt you forever, do you hear? You will
never know a moment’s peace.’

Adam smiled and
bent to kiss her cheek. ‘Michel would be proud of you.’ He turned to Maryanne.
‘I had other plans for my own departure. Come.’ He held out his hand and she
put hers into it and stepped down beside him. The die had been cast; whatever
happened from now on, they were in it together, puppets of fortune, and he
prayed that fortune would favour them.

He hurried her
through the crowds gathering to board the packet, towards a spot on the beach
where two men were busy launching a small fishing boat. They had covered half
the ground when they heard a shout behind them. ‘Halt!’

Maryanne
glanced over her shoulder, though she did not need to look to know that Mark
had found them. He was standing with two burly men higher up the beach. The men
held sporting guns and Mark had a pistol which he was levelling at Adam. ‘Stop
or I fire!’

‘Run!’ Adam
commanded, pushing her away.

She hesitated,
then flung herself between Mark and his quarry. ‘Stay where you are, harlot!’
Mark shouted. ‘You need not think I will desist for fear of hitting you. Stand
aside or you will die too.’

She hesitated
only a second, but it was enough for Mark. She heard the crack of the pistol,
saw Adam fall and, in that brief moment, knew with terrible certainty that Mark
did not intend to take him alive.

Chapter Eight

Maryanne gave a
huge gasp of relief when she saw Adam stumble to his feet. ‘For God’s sake, keep
going,’ he said breathlessly, seizing her by the arm and dragging her along, as
another shot sounded loud in her ears. ‘He has to reload.’

‘Fire, damn
you!’ She heard Mark’s voice screaming at his companions. ‘Don’t let them get
away.’

Bullets kicked
up the sand behind them as she struggled through the water towards the boat
with Adam behind her. She felt herself being dragged across the side with her
petticoats up round her waist, as the men in the boat reached out to haul her
inboard. There were more shots as they turned from her to grab Adam by his coat
and pull him in beside her, where he landed in a heap at her feet. The crew
left their passengers to fend for themselves while they set about pushing the
boat off the sand and floating it. Only when she felt the jar as the craft
lifted on the surge of the outgoing tide and saw the sails begin to fill did
she allow herself a peep over the side.