He did not realise she knew of his love for Mary, but to tell him would, she considered, be pointless, for he would simply deny it. So she shook her head, and shrank away from him when he tried to take her hand again.
'I cannot marry you!' she gasped. 'Please, Sir Randal, do not persist. There is a reason, a compelling reason, but I cannot – will not – tell you!'
*
At her physical avoidance of him he had drawn back, hurt and puzzled. Although she had never sought his caresses, she had not previously flinched from any contact, and had never rebuked him or struggled on the few occasions when he had been unable to restrain his ardour and had kissed her or held her hand. What could have changed in the short time since he had last seen her? Why should she regard him with such aversion now?
'Do you no longer trust me?' he asked quietly. 'I had thought we were friends, besides hoping we might become lovers. Can you not tell me what is troubling you? I might be able to explain it if, as I hope, there is some misunderstanding. At least give me the opportunity of trying, my dearest one.'
'No, I cannot! Oh, pray, do not beg it of me! I shall always be grateful to you for the help you have given me, and think of you kindly, but there must not – I cannot – see you ever again, and as for marriage! It is unthinkable!'
He made another attempt to persuade her to reveal what was troubling her, but she became so distressed he desisted, and said he hoped to speak with her father later in the day, then, Drusilla having regained enough control to bid him farewell and a safe journey, he left the parlour.
One of the maids was hovering about outside, and he asked abruptly where he could find Mr Matthews.
'Oh, sir, he's gone to visit someone. I cannot say who. Mr James has also come home today! He came after you left before, sir, and now he has gone off with the master!'
'Mr James? Do you know when your master will have returned?'
'He didn't say, sir.'
'Then I will come this evening. Pray tell him I desire to speak with him, and will return this evening.'
He left the house, for he did not consider it would advance his cause to speak with Drusilla's mother. Her father had seemed in favour of the match, yet had told her Randal was in honour bound to make his offer. He must attempt to remove that impression, and at the same time discover what it was Drusilla was so concerned about. Until he knew that, it did not seem anyone other than Mr Matthews would be able to assist him.
Thoughtful, speculating on what Drusilla's reason could be, he crossed the market place and walked slowly along St John's Street until he came to the Crown. Turning into the main entrance, his abstraction left him suddenly as he came face to face with Jacob Blagrave.
*
'You!' exclaimed. 'What in the world do you do in Devizes?'
Jacob smiled unpleasantly.
'I have more right here than you, Sir Randal Thornton, and more success! I cannot imagine you will wish to remain when you learn what brings me!' he sneered.
'Explain yourself!' Randal snapped.
'Here? In a public room? You would not care for that, Sir Randal, for what I have to say is not to your credit!'
'Say what you will! You have no power to discredit me! What mischief do you intend?'
'No power? Have I none, indeed? Very well, then, and do not complain I did not give you the opportunity to hear this in private!'
Randal glanced about him contemptuously. Apart from an old man snoring on a settle at the far end of the common room where they stood, there was no one in sight.
'I prefer not to be any more private with such as you,' he said softly, 'since that might lead people to believe we entertained feelings of friendship. Let all our dealings be public! I have no shame in them!'
Jacob flushed at his tone.
'You'll regret that,' he promised, 'when you're charged with murder!'
'Murder! What madness is this?' Randal asked with a surprised laugh.
'No madness.' Jacob was beginning to enjoy himself. 'I have obtained a confession from one of the fellows you wounded on the night Mistress Matthews died that it was you who caused her death!' he announced triumphantly.
'Mistress Matthews? Are you deranged? She died after a premature labour!'
'Contrived by the affray in her house.'
'Caused by that, possibly, but how does that condemn me, apart from the mischance I was the object of that cowardly attack?'
'You paid them to pretend to attack you, so that you might, in the confusion, murder Mistress Matthews, Jacob accused.
Randal stared at him in complete astonishment.
'You truly are insane,' he commented, and turned to walk away.
Jacob was by now in full flow, however, and stepped hurriedly in front of him.
'No, you shall not escape until I have told you all we know! He – the man you wounded – says you wished to have poor Drusilla at your mercy. That was the reason you gave them.'
'And the reason I killed or wounded them, too, I suppose,' Randal said contemptuously.
'Of course, that was to destroy them for fear they gave witness against you, as they have. You were not clever enough, Sir Randal! They escaped! But that is not all!'
'Indeed? What other fairy tale have you concocted?'
'No fairy tale. You prevented the midwife from attending Mistress Matthews. She swears that when she came, having been summoned by Drusilla, you threw her out of the house, and so Mistress Matthews died, as you had intended in the first place! Having failed to kill her in the fracas of the attack on the house, you saw to it she did not receive the attention she needed!'
'You are being utterly ridiculous!' Randal exclaimed. 'The midwife was a drunken, filthy wretch, and Mistress Matthews had better attention from the garrison surgeon than any she might have received from that old harridan. Whom do you think to convince with your ravings?'
'The surgeon, being in your pay, could easily have hastened Mistress Matthews death, which the midwife, a respectable woman, would not have done,' Jacob continued, determined to have his full say.
'Pray take your story elsewhere!' Randal said impatiently. 'Only a fool, knowing the facts, could give credence to it!'
'James is no fool!' Jacob said triumphantly.
'James Matthews?' Randal said, his eyebrows snapping together.
'Aye! That concerns you, I see! No doubt you were unaware of the fact he is here in Devizes! You hope to entrap Drusilla, having compromised her by your stratagems in pretending you were rescuing her from Parliament's army. Poor child! How could she, alone, resist you when you had her at your mercy, with another surgeon bribed to frighten her into remaining with you after she had been wounded – a mere scratch – by a stray bullet aimed by highwaymen.'
Randal looked at him closely.
'What do you know of that business and Mistress Drusilla's injuries?' he asked sharply.
'I have heard it all! Never mind how I know! James has seen her! When she was inveigled away from Reading and I learned where she was being taken, I went to fetch her brother, and he is here now. He is with her.'
'You knew I proposed to bring her here, to her own parents, and say she was in my power?' Randal asked mockingly.
'You could hardly keep her at your own home!' Jacob said quickly.
'Pray why not, if I had so desired it?'
'Because,' Jacob paused, and then continued, blustering, 'your family, your neighbours, would not have countenanced it. So you had to contrive to keep her elsewhere!'
'And arrange to shoot her, no doubt!'
'You would have invented some excuse. It is fortunate for you James did not meet you in the street, for he is hot for vengeance. He would have raised a hue and cry!'
Randal surveyed him coolly, then turned on his heel and went up to his own bedchamber, leaving Mr Blagrave muttering triumphantly to himself at the thought that he had routed the enemy.
So that was the explanation of Drusilla's attitude when he had made his offer! thought Randal grimly. James
had been to the house and must have told her of the false confession, and she had believed him! No wonder she had been so disturbed, had shrunk away from his touch. It was scarcely surprising she would refuse to explain her reasons, if she truly believed him to be a murderer who had plotted to kill Elizabeth. The only wonder was that she had received him at all, and alone.
He wondered whether it would serve if he attempted to see her again, but came to the conclusion she would most probably refuse to see him, or her parents, having learned of James' accusations, would forbid it. At last, he called for paper and writing materials, and wrote a short note saying he had discovered the reason for her refusal and hoped, if he were permitted to see her again, to be able to convince her it was not true. He could not bring himself to set down in writing even the mere suspicion she might think him a murderer, for it was too painful to believe, and ended his brief epistle with the assurance that he loved her truly and always would.
Calling for a maid, he gave instructions for the immediate delivery of the sealed note, and by presenting her with a golden angel ensured her prompt compliance with the order. Randal waited impatiently for half an hour, and when the reply was brought to him tore open the missive.
*
Drusilla, weeping in her room, had been tempted almost beyond endurance to agree to see him again, but she knew if she did she would weaken and accept his assurances he did not love Mary Percy. Since she still believed he would be denying his true love for a sense of honour which she could not think important, and making a sacrifice he would always regret, she had forced herself, after destroying two attempts which had been ruined by tell-tale tears falling on them, to write a brief refusal.
Thank you for all that you have done to help me, she wrote. I understand why you would seek to convince me, but my decision is made, and I cannot alter it. Please do not attempt to see me again, for that would give me too much pain. There is nought more to be said.
Grim-faced, accepting that for the moment he had lost his love, Randal gave orders he was to be roused early on the following morning, and had supper sent to him in his room. He was determined he would return to Devizes and lay siege to Drusilla, but it seemed for the moment she was so shocked by what she had been told that no good could come of forcing her to listen to him. In that event, he might as well travel on to Cornwall, and complete his mission there. Some time in the future he would return, and when the first shock and hurt was done with, Drusilla would begin to perceive the nonsense of the accusations against him, and he might yet win her.
Chapter 8
Exhausted by both the physical and emotional strains she had undergone, Drusilla pleaded illness and remained in her room. Apart from genuine weariness she feared that Randal, despite her note, would contrive to speak with her. Coming to see how she felt and tell her of James' arrival at suppertime, Mistress Matthews found her fast asleep, and left her in peace, so it was morning before she learned of James' presence. Then, waking early, and despite her misery, feeling hungry, she descended to the dining parlour to find him and her father engaged in an acrimonious discussion.
James turned to her as she entered the room, and when she would have embraced him, exclaiming at his presence and telling him of her sorrow at Elizabeth's death, he thrust her away from him.
'Do not be a hypocrite!' he snapped. 'You contributed to her death by your behaviour over that plaguey Royalist!'
'I?' she said, aghast. 'James, what are you saying?'
'Do not pretend you did not conspire with him so she did not receive proper help!' he flung at her. 'It was your doing he ever came to the house, and I'd like to know more of that, too, for you do not appear to have been discreet! That a sister of mine should flaunt her association with the enemy disgusts me!'
'Sir Randal is not my enemy!' she protested, taken aback at his words.
'Are you now a Royalist?' he demanded.
'I am neither Royalist nor Parliamentarian!' she said angrily. 'Sir Randal did his utmost to help Elizabeth, and but for him she would have been in greater distress!'
'Faugh! But for him she would not have suffered premature labour, when he deliberately feigned that fight, hoping she would be killed in the fracas!'
'Deliberately? No, James, that is untrue!' she protested, shocked.
'I have ample proof, evidence from one of the men he hired to pretend that attack. It was his misfortune he did not kill them all, and they escaped to witness against him.'
'I do not believe it!'
'You are besotted. He wanted you in his power, and thought that by disposing of Elizabeth while I was absent he would achieve it. The first attempt having failed, he sent away the midwife so that Elizabeth would have no help.'
'That is untrue! The garrison surgeon attended to her, and was a deal more competent than that old hag who refused at first to come when I went to seek her help! As for the fight causing the premature labour, that may be true, but it was not Sir Randal's fault! He was the victim of it. Besides, Elizabeth had miscarried before – '
'As he knew!' James interposed. 'You should have had more care for her, but you were so bent on your own grandiose plotting she was a hindrance to you. And now I find that after all I have told him, father is still bent on your marrying the wretch!'
'But, James, you are distraught! What you say has not been proved!' his father said, distracted. 'You were not there! It may be as Drusilla says! The confession may be false, a means of extorting money by a rogue who admits he is for hire to anyone who needs him!'
'I was not there, but my friend Blagrave was! He bears out what I have said. Indeed, but for him I would not have known the truth, but he sought out the rogue and forced him to confess! It cannot be a false confession since no money has been promised!'
'Jacob Blagrave!' Drusilla exclaimed. 'He would do all he could to blacken Sir Randal's name, for his animosity is great!'
'He is jealous, I admit, for he knew you favoured him until this Royalist came on the scene and bedazzled you with his Court manners and his title!'
'His title, yes,' Mr Matthews said reflectively. 'Indeed, James, it would be wrong to accuse him of this until he has had an opportunity of explaining it. He might be offended, and if in the circumstances he withdrew his offer for Drusilla, I doubt if I could bring him round to renewing it. He would consider it an adequate reason for evading such an unequal match.'
'I am amazed you could still contemplate marrying Drusilla to him!' James said in disgust. 'The man's a murderer!'
'It is not proved, and it is an opportunity she would never have again!' his father pointed out. 'Fancy my grandchildren having titles! A few generations ago we were simple yeomen, but my grandfather and father, and I myself, have laboured to amass riches and to rise in the world. Think what this would mean!'
James glared angrily at him. 'Father, you speak foolishly! What is a title? They can be bought if that is what you care for! For my part, I'd rather Drusilla wed an honest merchant like Blagrave than a titled rogue!'
'We do not have proof,' Mr Matthews said pleadingly, clinging to his dreams of grandeur. 'At least we should ask Sir Randal.'
'There is proof enough for me, and Blagrave is here to tell you of it.'
'Blagrave in Devizes?' Drusilla exclaimed in dismay, but James ignored her.
'We are fortunate that after all the scandal Drusilla has caused such a man is still willing to take her. He is wealthy, and will rise far. Already he has won the respect of the leading Parliamentarians in Reading, and since the outcome of the war is now certain he will rise even higher, while your precious Sir Randal is like to lose his title as well as his lands!'
'I will never wed Jacob Blagrave!' Drusilla announced loudly. 'And you need not quarrel over Sir Randal, for I have seen him and told him I cannot accept his offer. There is no fear I will marry either of them!'
'Not accept? What is this? You wicked girl, why?' her father demanded, astounded.
'I saw him yesterday afternoon and told him.'
'You must have come to know his character better,' James commented slowly, ignoring his father's lamentations and looking with more favour on Drusilla. 'No doubt you discovered his real disposition when he thought he had you in his power. Thank your good fortune you have escaped, and that Mr Blagrave is prepared to overlook this escapade.'
'Why did you refuse?' her father demanded.
Goaded into a truthful reply, Drusilla said, through gritted teeth: 'Because he does not love me! He loves someone else, and was forced to offer for me because of the misfortune we met with on the journey here! But for that he would never have considered it!'
'Loves someone else? What is that to the point?' Mr Matthews demanded. 'So you still have your romantic notions? I do not understand you, but it appears you have wilfully thrown away the best opportunity you are likely to get! And if it becomes generally known you spent a week alone with him you will receive no more offers! You had best be thankful Mr Blagrave is willing to overlook it. Oh, well, I suppose it was ridiculous for me to dream it could possibly happen!'
*
For some time longer Drusilla had to endure her father's lamentations and her brother's predictions of what would happen to her if she again repulsed Mr Blagrave. James had still not entirely absolved her from blame in Elizabeth's death, and when he saw that further argument about Drusilla's affairs was at the moment unproductive, he turned to questioning her closely about the events in Reading during the siege, and particularly how it had affected Elizabeth. It seemed he had a morbid fascination in lingering over all the distressing details of Elizabeth's death, and in having to recall them and describe them to him again and again, Drusilla suffered intensely during the next few weeks.
She had heard no more of Randal. He had disappeared completely the day after having made her the offer and been rejected.
Runaway Hill Page 11
