The Devil's Own

by Christopher Nicole

  'You killed a man over cards?'

  'And have you never killed a man in anger? They wished to bring me to trial. And who knows what would have happened, Kit. I might have been hanged, for it turned out that the fool, as he challenged me, and made some sort of movement for his pockets, carried no weapon. Yet he was drunk, as indeed was I, and how could I wait to be murdered myself? He might have had a knife, a pistol, anything.'

  'Good God,' Kit said. 'And you stand before me, Governor of the Leewards?'

  'I am not so easily brought low. When I learned what they were about, as if every gentleman who picks up a pack of cards does not equally pick up his life at the same time ... 'tis understood by all. 'Tis only the priesthood and the little men who seek to snipe at us. Well. I'd not risk myself in their power, as you did and to your cost. There was a ship in the harbour, bound that night for England. I boarded her.'

  'You fled Virginia?'

  'At the time it was best. I have not finished with them yet. by God. They have not seen the last of Daniel Parke.'

  'But how did you make your way in England?' Kit wondered. 'Had you friends there? Influence?'

  'None, sir,' Parke cried triumphantly. 'Not a soul knew of my very existence. Yet am I not a man, sir? With blood in my

  veins and temper in my steel? I took service with the great Duke.’

  'Marlborough?'

  'Who else? One should serve only the best. I offered him my sword and my brains, and I am not bereft of military experience. There are savage Indians on the borders of Virginia no less than in Dominica, I'll have you know. I have conducted a campaign against them, and successfully. And with no smell of treachery about it either. Churchill was sufficiently glad to have my prowess at his side. I rode with him on the march down the Rhine. I was at his shoulder at Blenheim. Now there, Kit, did I witness warfare on a scale I had not supposed possible. I forget, you were at Panama. But even Panama can have been nothing, compared with a European battle, especially one as fought by Marlborough. More than a hundred thousand men opposed to each other, red coats and blue, green coats and white, rolling clouds of black smoke from the cannon, the unceasing fusillades, the cries of the victor and the screams of the vanquished. I tell you, that day I felt I stood on Olympus.'

  'For you were the victors.' Kit got out of his tub and towelled himself.

  'Aye. And more. When my lord of Marlborough surveyed the scene, and knew his triumph, he resolved that the news of it must be got back to London with the earliest possible despatch. And he called me for that deed, as he possessed no better horseman on his staff. I rode like the wind, Kit, bearing two letters, one to the Duchess, and the other to Her Majesty herself. I was admitted to her own privy chamber, Kit. There was the sum of my triumph.'

  'By God,' Kit said. 'You have spoken with the Queen?'

  'I have kissed her hand, Kit, and been bidden to rise. And do you know what she asked of the Duchess? "Why, madam," she said, "can all your husband's officers be as handsome as this gentleman? Indeed I understand now why no one can stand before him." And then she laughed, and talked with me some more, and told me, as I bore the gladdest tidings ever to enter London since the bells rang upon the defeat of the Spanish Armada, why, I had but to ask of her, and it would be granted to me.'

  'And you wished the Governorship of the Leewards?' Kit asked in amazement.

  Once again Parke checked his perambulation, and turned to face his friend. And now the humour, the excitement, had gone from his face. 'No,' he said. 'No, I did not wish for the Governorship of the Leewards. These are magnificent islands, Kit. And I would have given much, even then, to see your face again, and enjoy a glass of punch in your company. But they are not yet my home. Nor did I ever suppose they would be. I meant to return to my home, in triumph. Then would I have taken those ruffians by the ears. And it was granted to me, Kit. By Her Majesty herself. It was there, and mine.'

  'Virginia?'

  'Nothing less. But this woman who rules our destinies, she is naught but a cipher. She does what she is told, by her women, by the Duchess most of all, by her ministers. Ask, she had said, and you shall have. I asked, and was given. And yet recalled to her presence before I had properly finished celebrating, to be told the Governorship of Virginia was already in the possession of someone else, and could not presently be removed from his care. Oh, those courtiers, clamouring about her ears, whispering that I was not to be trusted with such a post, with such a past.'

  'But ...'

  'But they knew my worth, Kit. Her Majesty sought to soften the blow. "Yet," she said, "you shall have your colonial governorship, Colonel Parke, and one where your own special talents can best be put to my service. What of the Leewards?" she asked. "I have been told you know them, and their people. Then you will know," she said, "that they are an independent-minded lot of rascals, who pay small attention to our wishes here in London, and who have recently had the effrontery to choose a Speaker of their Assembly in a man of whom I hear nothing but ill-repute. There is defiance," she said. "And I know more, that they have a long history of smuggling and piracy and downright criminal activities. There is a position more fitted to your temper, Colonel Parke," she said.'

  'It could be that she was right, Dan. 'Tis certain these islands need a strong hand. Even Stapleton was perhaps not sufficiently capable of dealing with the plantocracy. They know their wealth, and the power it bestows. They conceive Antigua, at the least, no less a place than England itself, save in size.'

  'Oh, she was right,' Parke said. 'There can be no doubt about that. And more, you are now right. Which is why I am here, in St John's, and not setting up my standard in Sandy Point. The centre of the Leewards is in Antigua, and the centre of the intransigent spirits is right here as well. I shall show them the quality of my blood, you may be sure of that. But I shall need men I can trust about me, Kit. Men like you. And you, like me, have a score to settle.'

  'Indeed I have,' Kit agreed, frowning. 'Yet I doubt that a spirit of vengeance is the best in which to undertake to rule a people.'

  'Ah, you were always nine-tenths of a Quaker, which is why your true interest always lay in the direction of that Danish beauty. She waits to see you now.'

  'Lilian? Here?' Kit dragged at his clothes.

  'Easy, Kit. Easy.'

  'You do not understand. It has been all but a year, and in that time I have not seen her. More, she has not left her father's house, except privily, and at night. I do believe that you are jesting.'

  Parke smiled. 'I never jest, about women, Kit. She has obeyed the summons of her Governor, and gladly. But before you go rushing off to her soft arms, we must finish our discussion. I need you, Kit. Will you serve me?'

  'I am distressed you find it necessary to ask again, old friend.' Kit buttoned his shirt.

  'Then understand what you do. I have commanded a fast revenue cutter to be built, and the work is already in hand. There is an old saw, is there not, set a thief to catch a thief? I remember how well you commanded the Bonaventure, and how with your skill and speed and a few sharp teeth you evaded all attempts at capture by that clumsy frigate. I shall put a stop to the smuggling, Kit, by using a similar sort of vessel. All I need is a man who will sail her, and fight her, if need be, as ruthlessly as I would myself. Do I possess such a man?'

  A ship, at last. And to be used for striking at Chester. 'Aye, Dan,' Kit said. 'You have such a man.'

  'Then am I content. But listen to me carefully, Kit. You and I, we shall bring these proud planters to heel. But it must be done by the strictest adherence to legality and the wishes of the Queen. This point I must make before you offer Lilian any promises you will not be able to honour. You hate these petty upstarts, and perhaps one or two in particular. But you will fight no duels, and you will make no visits to Green Grove, sword in hand.'

  'You cannot have heard the full story of that affair.'

  'Believe me, Kit. I have heard the full story of that affair. Marguerite is your wife, and a wife's jealousy comma
nds respect everywhere. And you did kill a man. Oh, I have no doubt he died with a sword in his hand, yet where Kit Hilton is concerned that is too close to murder. And should we reduce matters to a straight choice, these people may become desperate. No, no. You know, and I know, that these creatures are sufficiently criminal for us to bring them down without resort to personalities. They smuggle, and that is against the law. I put that in your charge. Hale me a planter to court on a proven charge of smuggling, and by God I will fine him all of next year's crop. I know, and you know, that they habitually talk treason. That will be my charge. And the answer there, once proven, is the gallows. Let those be our two objectives, undertaken with the consent, nay, with the blessing—why, what rubbish do I speak—undertaken at the express command of Her Majesty. "Bring them to heel, Mr Parke," she said. And smiled.' Parke smiled.

  And Kit stared at him. There could be no doubting his intention. For where Kit's hatred was all anger, to be expiated in a blow, he understood that he was here witnessing a cold and deep-seated venom, not to be alleviated either by success or pleas for mercy, supposing any planter would ever bring himself to that. And inspired entirely because he could not at this moment reach those he really hated. There was a terrifying thought.

  'I will let the matter drop, for the time,' he said.

  'Spoken like my old friend. Then I have one last charge for you. As I intend to make St John's my headquarters, and I cannot spend the rest of my term of office in these scurvy rented quarters, I mean to build a new residence for the Governor, on that hill outside the town, overlooking it and the harbour and the sea beyond. An eyrie for an eagle, Kit. That will be your first responsibility, as you know the people here, and your ship is not yet commissioned. Build it high, and build it strong. You know the planters' houses. Eclipse them. Fear not the expense; they will be paying for it in their taxes. And build yourself a wing. Your best protection against careless challenges is the certainty that you and I walk shoulder to shoulder all the while.'

  There was a knock on the door. Parke glanced at Kit to make sure he was dressed, and then called, 'Enter.'

  The Negro servant bowed. 'Begging your pardon, Your Excellency, but there is a lady to see you.'

  'A lady?' Parke frowned.

  'Lilian,' Kit said, making for the door.

  'Easy, Kit. She has been here this past hour, and patiently awaits your presence. Who is this lady, Jonathan?'

  'Mistress Chester, Your Excellency. She is the wife of the Speaker of the House, and calls to bid Your Excellency welcome to Antigua.'

  'By God,' Parke said. 'Mary Chester. Why, when last I was here she was just wed, a child of sixteen.'

  'She scarcely seems more than that now,' Kit said. 'Despite the high office her husband has attained.'

  'Indeed?' Parke demanded. 'Well, well. And she has come to call. As indeed she must, as her husband is Speaker. I must greet the lady, obviously. You'll excuse me, Kit. Jonathan, you will return here immediately, and show Captain Hilton to the chamber where Miss Christianssen waits for him.' He went to the door, looked over his shoulder, and raised his glass. 'To our mutual success, dearest Kit.'

  'Tread carefully, I beg of you, sir,' said Wolff the engineer. 'The seed is but freshly laid. But in a month there will be a lawn, stretching from the patio, here, right across to that bluff. Is that not splendid?' He had short legs, and scurried in front of Kit as they crossed the freshly smoothed ground.

  Fifty yards from the patio the rocks and earth had been hewn sheer, to make a drop of some twelve feet to the land below, thus creating a glacis on this side. Truly was Daniel building a fortress, Kit thought. The only breach in these defences was the great tree-lined drive running up the side of the hill, and mounting the man-made terrace through a sloped escarpment.

  He turned, looked back at the house, already roofed and gleaming with paint. And Lilian, waiting for them in the trap beneath the shade of the great trees which fringed the drive, while the horses plucked foliage from the bushes at the side of the road.

  'A splendid sight, is it not?' Wolff was still looking down at the town. 'A commanding eminence, fit for the ruler. Oh, yes, 'twas well chosen.' He discovered Kit already on his way back, panted as he caught up. 'It has been said the verandahs are too deep, Captain. But a house needs deep verandahs, in these climes, to trap the breeze. And what think you of my doors, eh? Three inches thick, Captain. They'll catch a cannonball. You'll see that I have left a good twenty feet between the kitchens and the house itself, although my covered passageway will make sure the Governor's food does not get rained upon. No house of mine will ever be destroyed by fire from within.'

  'An admirable concept,' Kit agreed. 'Perhaps you should also build a covered passageway from the barracks, to keep the guard dry into the bargain.'

  'Now there is a plan, sir. I will see to it immediately.'

  'Then I shall leave you to your duties.' Kit walked beneath the trees, got into the trap. 'What do you think of it, sweetheart?'

  'It is a beautiful spot, Kit,' Lilian answered. 'I remember when I was a girl, how I used to walk up this hill, and lie on the grass over there, and look down on the town, and the harbour.'

  'And think, about what?'

  She glanced at him, and then away again. 'I do not remember thinking at all, Kit. It was just sufficient to lie on the warm glass, and feel at peace.'

  And do you think, now, he wanted to ask her? There were so many things he wanted to say, and to do, and ask. Looking at her, seated in the trap, wearing a light muslin gown in pale green, and her favourite broad-brimmed hat, with her fine hair loose and floating in the faint breeze, with every last blemish gone from her complexion, it was impossible to suppose that anything so tragic, so disgusting, as that night had ever happened to her. Yet it lay between them like a brick wall. She was the same woman he had always known, and always loved. With but a solitary difference. For whereas before, when not talking, or smiling, or loving, she had revealed a continual interest in what was going on around her, now, when he left her to herself for but a moment, her gaze and clearly her mind returned into some private sanctuary of its own.

  He could gain no inkling of what thoughts she sought in that privacy. Did she give way to hatred of Marguerite, to thinking of the wildest and most hideous ways of revenge? Or did she surrender to a memory of the brutality and obscenity to which she had been subjected? Or did she remember her feelings when she had lain, naked and debased, in the centre of St John's, waiting to be discovered?

  These were bad. But there were possibilities which were worse. For did she, in that privacy, blame him for his failure? He had failed so very often, by setting off in anger and haste, bent on doing only what seemed to him to be necessary at the moment. Or then again, did she merely retreat into a world of despair, a world of which she could not help but be continually conscious, for if there was no man dare offer her an insult or even a smile, while she walked by Kit Hilton's side or was so clearly under the Governor's protection, yet was there not a man who did not turn to stare after her, imagining, or worse, remembering. And the women, who feared no physical interference with their pleasures, were more openly interested in her survival, the brazenness, as they regarded it, of her existence, the effrontery of her apparent triumph.

  And yet she accepted his embraces, with the same shy reserve which so suddenly blossomed into passion. Whenever he could find an opportunity to embrace her. By tacit agreement she had remained these two months in her father's house. But now the Governor's new residence was all but completed ...

  'You have inspected our apartments?' he asked.

  'Indeed I have. And I congratulate Mr Wolff.'

  'I have already done so. What I meant was, will you be pleased to take your place in them?'

  'I will be pleased, Kit, if that is what you wish.' 'Believe me,' he said. 'I wish it could be different." She continued to gaze at him.

  'But as it cannot,' he went on, 'and as I must leave you from time to time, if I am to give my su
pport to Daniel, I could not contemplate abandoning you anywhere else but under his protection.'

  'And I shall be safe, under his protection,' she said, half to herself.

  Kit flicked the whip. The horse turned and the trap made its way slowly down the hill. It was the middle of the afternoon, and the heat was intense. 'I suspect that you do not much care for our Governor,' he suggested. To have her speaking, about anything, would be a blessing.

  'I am sure my feelings are irrelevant,' she said.

  'They are most relevant to me, sweetheart.'

  'Well, then, I will say that he is a good friend, Kit. I think he must be about the best friend that a man could have.'

  'The best friend that ever this man could have, certainly,' Kit agreed.

  'And yet, he is not a good man,' she said.

  Kit frowned. 'I do not understand you. So he killed a man over a card game. I have killed at least a dozen. Am I then a very bad man?'

  'You, I would describe as a good man, Kit,' she said. 'The crime is surely not so relevant as the thought, the emotion, the ambition which inspired it. Mr Parke is a man who seeks to kill, in some form or other, whether it be by sword or by word. He seeks the contest, continually, like some wild bull, galloping round and round his herd, daring another male to look him in the eye, daring any female not to beckon him with hers. Life without contest, without challenge, and without victory, is for him stale and uninteresting.'

  'Now that is remarkable,' Kit said. 'Marguerite used similar words of him, oh, a very long time ago.' He bit his lip in anger. How easily words slipped out.

  'Like me, I think, your wife is a good judge of character,' Lilian said.

  'My wife,' he shouted, dragging on the reins. 'My God, what meaning you put into that. Lilian ...' 'I would not speak of her, yet, Kit.' 'But it must be done.'