'They pesky rebels shan't get her, that I vow!'
Supper was as merry as it could be in a large family, overshadowed as it must be by Elizabeth's death, and when it was time to leave, Drusilla kissed her kind hostess warmly, promising she would write as soon as she was able to tell of her safe arrival home.
'Thank you for all the help you have been to me,' she said gratefully, and Mistress Tanner hugged her tightly.
'You'll be happy,' she said obscurely.
'Best go the back way,' one of her sons came in at that moment to say. 'Mr Jacob Blagrave is knocking at your door, Mistress Matthews, and bawling to be let in as if a wolf were at his heels!'
Drusilla giggled, and with the escort of Mr Tanner and three of his sturdy sons, they crept out, trying to stifle their amusement.
The boat had been prepared earlier in the day, and was lying near a small wharf, concealed by a larger barge. Two of the Tanners were to accompany Drusilla and Sir Randal on the first stage of their journey, and bring the boat back, the same night or the next. The approach to the wharf was by a narrow lane, and they went in single file, keeping to the shadows. The lane was steep, and the ground rough, and they were half way along it when Mr Tanner's feet slipped on some loose pebbles and sent some of them clattering away, the noise seeming as loud as cannon fire in the silence of the night. They froze into immobility, and Sir Randal, who had been in front of Drusilla, turned and swiftly put his arm round her shoulders, giving her a comforting hug.
Dick Tanner, in the lead, drew out a knife from his belt as they heard footsteps to the front, and a voice demanding to know who was there. He was about to step forward when Sir Randal, pushing Drusilla back, spoke and moved into a patch of moonlight.
'It'sh me, old fellow,' he muttered, contriving to scatter more of the loose stones underfoot. 'I think I'm losht. Plaguey wench, her wine was bad! Wher'sh - confound it, I've forgot the name of shtreet! By a church! Aye, that'sh right, hard by a church!'
Mr Tanner stifled a chuckle as they listened to Sir Randal, mumbling somewhat incoherently, draw closer to the man who had spoken. Then another voice chimed in, and Drusilla gasped in dismay as she realised there were two of them. Straining her eyes, she could distinguish vague shapes moving in the shadows, and then, where the lane widened at the entrance to the wharf, she saw two men emerge from a doorway and into a greyer, dimly lit area.
Randal had moved quickly over the ground separating him from the two men, apparently unsteady with drink, and as he came up to them he grasped one by the arms, and began to explain at tedious length how he had been cheated and robbed and had now lost his way back to his billet. They were attempting to disengage from his persistence when, so suddenly they did not even have time to cry out, he felled one man with a blow to the head and seized the other, twisting his arms behind him in a vicelike grip, and clamping one hand over his mouth to stifle any sounds.
The Tanners moved swiftly to help, and Dick was about to plunge his knife into the man Randal held when the latter prevented him.
'No, we have no need. Gag them and tie them, and we'll put them where they'll be found in the morning. Quietly now.'
They did as he directed, and then, keeping an anxious watch for fear there were other soldiers about, set about the task of hauling in the boat from behind the barge, and settling into it. The Tanner brothers indignantly refused Sir Randal's offer to row, saying he would be riding for most of the night, most likely, and they could rest when they wished, so he sat with Drusilla in the stern, and under cover of darkness took her hand in his and held it comfortingly.
*
Sonning was less than four miles downstream, and the farm where Sir Randal had left his horses was before the town, so they hoped to complete the journey in less than an hour. Moving cautiously through the town, they soon came into the open, and rowed past the ghostly tents in the river meadows. When they were safely past Dick Tanner whispered there had been a vast amount of sickness in the camp.
' 'Tis said they dug pits at Tilehurst to bury the dead, there were so many.'
'Was that why they took so long to attack?' his brother Walter asked.
'Lord Essex appears a hesitant commander,' Randal said. 'He lost the initiative at Edge Hill, too, by failing to attack.'
'Were you there, sir?'
'Oh, tell us what happened! It has all been rumour.'
He was kept busy answering questions, and when they arrived at the small landing-stage which was their destination, the Tanners said they could have wished for a row twice as long.
'You will find it harder returning upstream. Good fortune to you! Do not run risks, and pray give our thanks to your parents for all they have done. One day we will be able to thank you all properly.'
'Thank you, indeed I am most grateful,' Drusilla added, and stood with Sir Randal to wave until they had pulled out of sight.
'It is but a short distance. I trust my friends will not be too surprised to have me return at such an hour,' Sir Randal said briskly, taking Drusilla's arm and guiding her along a path which led for a few yards along the river bank, and then turned to follow a hedge up a steep slope until they came to a cluster of farm buildings, faintly illuminated by the moonlight.
Quietly, Sir Randal led the way across a yard, halting when a dog barked. Then a window was flung open and a man called to know who was there.
'Sir Randal Thornton, Thomas,' was the reply, and the window closed, a candle was lit, and Drusilla could see its faint glow as the farmer passed down the stairs and through an uncurtained room to open the kitchen door.
'Welcome, sir. I heard you'd left Reading, and was expecting you earlier, but the others said you had been delayed. Nought serious, I trust?'
'It depends on your viewpoint,' Randal replied with a laugh. 'I had to escort the lady. We must leave at once, Thomas, and put as many miles as possible between ourselves and the Roundheads before daylight. Can you ride a man's saddle, Drusilla?'
'Yes, I often did as a child,' she answered, and the farmer regarded her with approval.
'If you'd not think it an impertinence, Mistress, I could find you an old pair of breeches, which would be more comfortable, and also help to hide the fact you're a woman riding so.'
'The very thing!' Drusilla exclaimed, and the gratified farmer bustled off to procure a pair of somewhat tattered, but clean and suitable breeches.
Shown into a small room off the kitchen, Drusilla had soon divested herself of her petticoats and stuffed them into her bundle. The breeches were a few sizes too large for her slim form, but she discovered some twine in one of the pockets and tied it about her waist, then returned to the kitchen, suddenly blushing as she saw the admiration in both men's eyes.
'Here is some ale and bread and cheese,' Thomas said hurriedly, and thankfully she sat down and tried to forget her unconventional attire.
*
They were soon riding away, Drusilla on a small compact mare that had no difficulty in keeping pace with Randal's own horse. The moon had risen, and they were able to make good speed, covering most of the distance towards Oxford before the dawn.
'Are you tired?' Randal asked, as they paused to eat some more bread and cheese Thomas had provided.
'A little. How far is it now?' Drusilla asked, lying back on the cloak he had spread out for them.
'That village to the left is Dorchester. It is about ten miles, slightly less, to Oxford. But my own home is less than five miles away, towards Abingdon, and since Oxford is like to be unpleasantly crowded, I suggest I take you to Thornton Hall and leave you in the care of my sister, who is living there for the moment, while I go into Oxford and discover what I can of the situation, whether it is safe to set out for Devizes after you have had an opportunity to rest.'
'Your sister?' Drusilla queried anxiously.
'Jane is some years older than I, with a daughter of fifteen. Her husband died a year since, and she is living with me until she marries again, which she plans to do this summer. She wil
l make you very welcome, there is no cause to fear her.'
Drusilla smiled tremulously.
'I think I would prefer that to Oxford, especially in these clothes,' she said breathlessly, and Randal suppressed the desire to take her in his arms and tell her just how delectable she was, despite being tired and dirty and attired in ragged breeches much too large for her. Instead, he rose to his feet and attended to the horses.
'You look charmingly,' he said in a neutral tone, 'but mayhap not conventional enough for the Court! Come, we will soon be there, and you will be able to sleep for as long as you wish!'
He lifted her up into the saddle, and they set off again. Drusilla was almost dropping with weariness when they rode into a large stable yard, and she took very little notice of the house or its surroundings, beyond a dim realisation that it was a mellow stone house, perhaps a hundred years old, covered with creeping plants, many of which were beginning to flower and clothe the house in their bright colours.
Randal had to lift her from the saddle, as a startled stable boy came running out of one of the many doorways to take the horses, but she straightened her shoulders and assured him that although she was exceedingly stiff she could walk into the house. She retained a confused impression of a large, somewhat overpowering lady exclaiming in amazement, and then she was led to a pleasantly furnished room by a motherly housekeeper, who bade her not to talk, and ruthlessly stripped off her clothes before tucking her into what Drusilla, on the verge of sleep, thought must be the most comfortable bed in the world.
*
She awoke at dusk, and a maid sitting beside her told her that Sir Randal had given orders she was not to make any attempt to get up, but was to eat and then go back to sleep again. Drusilla chuckled but was only too ready, once her hunger had been satisfied with some delicious veal pie and an omelette flavoured with herbs, accompanied by an excellent glass of wine, to obey the instructions.
The sun was shining through the windows when next she awoke, and she found one of the gowns she had brought with her, a rose coloured one trimmed with blonde lace, had been unpacked from her bundle and the creases ironed out. She got out of bed, rubbing her still aching limbs ruefully, and dressed, tying back her curls with a matching ribbon. Tentatively, she opened the door of the room and found that it led into a wide gallery, at the end of which were some shallow, curving stairs leading down into the great hall, furnished with massive oak tables and chairs, and with a faded but still lovely tapestry hanging on the wall opposite the enormous fireplace.
A large dog rose to his feet as she appeared on the stairs, and moved ponderously towards her, his tail waving in welcome. Drusilla, after her expeditions on the downs with her shepherd friend, when she had watched him handling many wild animals, had no fear of dogs, and came unhesitatingly down the stairs, holding out her hand for the dog to sniff.
'You are a beauty, are you not?' she said, patting him on the head, and then turned suddenly as a laugh came from a doorway on her left.
A girl some years younger than herself, but most fashionably dressed, stood there, looking at her in candid admiration.
'Are you not afraid?' she asked.
Drusilla laughed. 'Should I be? He looks to be friendly enough.'
'Oh, yes, Uncle Randal says Nero would not hurt a kitten, but Mary screamed when she first saw him, and still will not be alone with him.'
'Mary?' Drusilla said, her heart suddenly cold.
'Mary Percy. Mama says Uncle Randal is going to marry her, though I wish he would choose someone less – less beautiful!' the girl said.
'Oh, is she beautiful?' Drusilla asked, her heart sinking even lower.
'Vastly, and it is so depressing to feel people are for ever comparing us! She has big blue eyes, and truly golden hair, not just fair like mine, and a pink and white complexion. She is small, but has a most shapely figure. All the Court are mad for her, and Mama says Uncle Randal is fortunate to have captured her, for besides all that, she has a simply enormous fortune, and important relatives who will be of great use to Uncle Randal when this wretched war is over, and he can be a courtier again instead of a soldier. She makes me feel so big and clumsy. Why should some girls have everything, when I am not even pretty, and have a mere pittance, besides a tendency to freckles!'
'And a tongue which is a deal too busy,' another voice chimed in, and the large lady Drusilla recalled from the previous morning came out of the room, holding her hands out to Drusilla and smiling down at her. 'You poor child,' she went on, drawing Drusilla into the room. 'Randal has said how you have suffered, and we all intend to look after you until you can be restored to your parents. Now come and break your fast.'
Trying to talk sensibly when all she could think of was the lovely, rich, aristocratic and influential Mary Percy, Drusilla did not dare to ask where Randal was, but his niece, who was introduced to her as Barbara, soon informed her he had ridden off to Oxford the previous day.
'He went after dinner, saying he had rested enough, and had much to do,' she explained, and Drusilla wondered if he had been anxious to return to Mary.
She started when she found her thoughts echoed by Mistress Jane Burton.
'No doubt he wished to pay his respects to Mistress Percy before asking audience of the King,' she said, smiling at Drusilla. 'It is fortunate Randal has returned, for Mistress Percy is coming to visit me, and he can escort her here tomorrow. I hope she will be company for you while we are making arrangements to send you home,' she added. 'A charming girl, and considering her advantages, so very unassuming.'
Drusilla muttered something suitable, but it did not appear to matter that she could make so inadequate a reply. Mistress Burton, like her daughter, had a busy tongue, and did not seem to desire answers to her observations.
'Thornton Hall is so lovely in the spring,' she went on. 'I did so want Mary to see it at this time of year, and it is fortunate I can be here to play hostess, for as you may know, I am about to marry again myself, and soon Mary – well, you heard my chatterbox of a daughter, and it is no great secret – we expect she will soon wed my brother.'
Somehow Drusilla endured the meal, and afterwards, pleading she was still tired from her journey and the strain of nursing her sister-in-law, apart from the anxiety of the siege, evaded Barbara's offer to show her round the house and escaped to her room. There she dissolved into helpless tears, weeping both for the loss of the gentle Elizabeth, whom she had grown to love dearly, and even more for the crumbling of the hopes she had rashly permitted to rise again during the past two days.
Chapter 6
It was half way through the afternoon on the following day, and Barbara had been showing Drusilla the knot garden, when the sounds of arrivals came from the nearby stable yard.
'It must be Uncle Randal and Mistress Percy,' Barbara said in great excitement, and picking up her skirts she ran to the archway which led through to the walled kitchen garden and then to the gate opening into the stable yard.
Reluctantly Drusilla followed her, to find Randal in the process of lifting down from her saddle the loveliest creature Drusilla had ever seen. Ethereally fair, with a delicately moulded face and figure, Mistress Percy was incomparable, and it was no wonder, Drusilla thought miserably, that Randal lingered as he set her on her feet, and she coquettishly looked up into his eyes and murmured something.
The visitor then turned with an enchanting smile to greet her hostess, who had just appeared, and Randal strode across to where Drusilla waited a few feet away. He took her hands in his, and then looked searchingly at her.
'My dear, you are pale! Are you well?'
'I am perfectly well, I thank you, but still somewhat weary,' Drusilla replied in a low voice, and there was no time for more as Mistress Burton was calling to Drusilla, saying she wished to present her to Mistress Percy.
Mary greeted her prettily, but shot a quick glance from her to Randal, then gently chided him for having forced Mistress Matthews to ride so far.
'It w
as brutal of you, Randal! Poor creature, she still looks exhausted from it! I do not know how you could have endured it!' she went on, turning back to Drusilla.
'It was not only the ride,' Drusilla said calmly. 'I am accustomed to long hours in the saddle, and it was urgent to get as far away from Reading as we could.'
'Indeed, yes! How did you survive the siege? You must tell me all about it. I long to hear. I know that I should die if I were in such a predicament!'
'You would astonish us all, and yourself, no doubt, by being as valiant as Drusilla,' Randal said with a smile at her, and was then somewhat coldly recalled to his duties as host when Mistress Burton asked whether they intended to remain in the stables all day. He offered Mary his arm, and turned to offer the other to Drusilla, to find his sister already ushering her into the house.
Mistress Burton informed Randal she had left his steward in the small winter parlour, anxiously waiting to discuss several urgent matters since he had been away for several weeks. Having then quellingly asked Barbara and Drusilla whether they could entertain themselves for a while, she escorted Mary Percy to her room. It was suppertime before they met again, and then Randal was able to give them news from Oxford.
*
'The Queen is still in York but plans to rejoin the King soon. Oxford is being fortified, and the meadows of Christchurch have been flooded in aid of this.'
'Poor meadows!' Mary commented. 'They are so lovely in the spring, Mistress Matthews. Mayhap, when this war is over, you will be able to come from Devizes to visit them.'
'We heard Hopton had been routed in the west,' Mistress Burton said. 'Is it true?'
'A minor setback, and the Parliamentarians make too much of it, by all accounts. As they do of Waller's small victory in the Marches.'
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