Her Captive Cavalier

by Marina Oliver

  'Jacob, it's not what you think. They are Parliament men outside, searching for his lordship. I've hidden him in the priest's hole, and you must not say he is still here.'

  To her relief, though he still stared at her, mouth agape, he seemed to understand her words.

  'Good fer ye, Mistress Caro.'

  'Say he left early today, and we lent him a horse because his own needed shoeing. Say he was going to Bristol. Let them search if they insist, but make a fuss. Delay them as much as you can. Now I must warn Bessy and Joan. Oh, and I shall say this is my room, to explain the warm bed. Bessy must come into mine, and we'll say she was unwell. What can it be? I know, her joints pained her and she could not climb all the stairs, so she is sleeping down here for a time. Now go, and play your part well! His lordship's life, and mine, depend on you!'

  ***

  Chapter 5

  The search was thorough, and the soldiers grew increasingly bad-tempered as no Royalists were found. Jacob dithered. Bessy, hurriedly transferred to Caro's room, was voluble and indignant. Joan, unusually subdued, forgot to flirt and cowered beneath the covers, emitting squeaks of alarm.

  Caro firmly suppressed her unruly thoughts concerning the strange sensation of being in Robert's bed. She tried to forget she was lying where he had been just minutes earlier, that his warmth enfolded her, and the faint tangy scent of him was all round.

  She raised a sleepy head from the pillows, rubbing her eyes, when the soldiers burst into the room. Jacob's protests floated after them.

  'What - Sirs! How dare you enter my bedchamber?' Caro demanded, both incredulous and indignant as her bed curtains were swept aside and a lantern thrust near her face.

  'You've been harbouring God's enemy!' the leader told her in a sanctimonious tone as he held the lantern aloft and looked suspiciously round the room.

  'What on earth do you mean? We're not doing anything of the sort.'

  'Royalist scum!' He peered behind the window curtains, threw open the lid of a press, then turned back towards the bed.

  'There are no Royalists here! How dare you make that your paltry excuse for invading my bedchamber!' Caro protested vehemently, clutching the bedcovers under her chin.

  'His horse is still in the stables, he must be here.'

  'Oh, him! The stupid fellow who got himself wounded when they tried to steal our horses. I'd have let him die, but Bessy is too soft-hearted and would keep him here until his wound was healed.'

  'You admit it! Where is he?'

  'Half way to Bristol, I should think,' Caro said coolly. 'If the horse we gave him in exchange for his own isn't lame yet. He didn't know it was prone to throwing a splint. I think we had the better of that bargain. It will repay us for the trouble we had nursing the wretch! And now, I expect an apology from you for bursting into my room like this.'

  He glared at her, then suddenly seized the covers and dragged them aside.

  'Out. Out of the bed,' he shouted over her now genuinely indignant protests. 'Many a man's been found cowering under his mistress's petticoats.'

  As he spoke he took Caro's arm and dragged her, furiously berating him, from the bed. He flung her towards the other man, standing grinning in the doorway, and turned to plunge his sword into the mattress.

  As Caro regained her balance, pulled upright by the man who'd caught her, she turned to see a cloud of feathers drift upwards. Then they searched in every possible hiding place, beneath the bed, behind it, on top of the tester, and for good measure between the mattress and the boards.

  'He must be here, there's nowhere else.'

  'I tell you he left early this morning. You don't think I would keep a Royalist here longer than I had to? My cousin, who owned this house, fought for Parliament, he died fighting the King! I've no love for the Royalists!'

  In the end, uttering threats, they had to go. Caro came down to the hall to make sure the door was locked and barred, then sagged against it with a sigh of relief.

  'Oh, Jacob!'

  'There, Mistress Caro, they'm gone now. You can let his lordship out.'

  'Not yet, we must be sure they've really gone.'

  On that thought she moved into the small parlour and peered out of the window. The men were on the far side of the wall, some already on their horses, the rest about to mount.

  As Caro watched they turned and rode slowly towards the village, out of the valley. She leaned her head against the mullioned glass, suddenly exhausted. Bessy's voice, a piercing whisper, came from the stairs.

  'Be they gone, Jacob? Thanks be! I could do with a cup o' my best parsnip wine. Where's Mistress Caro?'

  Caro went wearily into the hall.

  'I'm here, Bessy. I'll go and tell his lordship he can come out now, and we could all do with some wine.'

  She climbed the stairs and went back into the bedroom. After looking out through the window, and seeing no trace left of the soldiers, she opened the seat of the settle and called to Robert that he could come out.

  He struggled out, with some difficulty.

  'They must have been very small men, those priests!' he commented, pulling his saddle bags out after him. 'Now what are you laughing at?'

  Somehow, in the darkness and the cramped space, he had managed to pull on his shirt and breeches. He was carrying his boots, and his hair was covered in a net of cobwebs, and more hung round him like a ghostly, tattered shroud.

  'I'm sorry,' Caro spluttered. 'You must have terrified all the spiders! We don't sweep and brush in there more than once a century, by the look of you!'

  He grinned ruefully, brushing ineffectually at the clinging strands.

  'Never mind that, tell me what they knew.'

  Caro sobered, suddenly shivering at the narrowness of their escape. If she hadn't been sleepless and gone to make that posset they'd have all been caught unawares. Then they'd have been dragged off to the nearest lockup to await trial, no doubt.

  While she found a brush and helped Robert brush away the worst of the cobwebs, she related what had happened.

  'Then I'd best leave straight away. I can't put you in danger any longer. I can follow the track up onto the moor and make for Barnstaple. Prince Charles and his people will still be there, and I can get news of Rupert.'

  Caro knew there was no choice.

  'Bessy is getting some wine. She can pack some food while Jacob gets the horse ready, and you can be away in ten minutes.'

  'You're a remarkable girl,' he said softly. 'I haven't yet thanked you for your bravery and quick thinking. How did you know they were here?'

  'I couldn't sleep, and was down in the kitchen preparing a tisane. Oh, I never drank it!' she remembered. 'I heard a noise from outside and went to look out of the parlour window. Then I thought of the hiding place and – well, the rest followed.'

  'Have you ever been in it?' he asked, grinning.

  'Once, when I was about ten. Peter often played there but I was afraid. I'm sorry you had to hide there.'

  'Better to suffer spiders than be strung up on a tree by vengeful rebels. I really am grateful, Caro, my dear, and one day I'll prove it to you.'

  She gazed into his eyes, unable to look away from the dancing gold specks which lit up the dark brown iris. As his hands reached out for her she swayed slowly towards him.

  'Mistress Caro! Be everything all right? My Bessy's got the wine and heated some soup.'

  Caro found herself outside the bedroom door, soothing Jacob and going calmly downstairs. No one would have guessed the tumult of emotions within her.

  He'd said some day he would thank her properly. What did he mean? Was it a promise for the future, or the meaningless sort of phrase courtiers used? Confound Jacob for interrupting at that moment. She knew Robert had been about to kiss her, and somehow she also knew that this kiss would have been different from all the others they'd exchanged. It would have meant something, a promise, a commitment, not merely a kiss of gratitude or farewell, the sort she might now receive as he departed from Waring Manor.
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  Bessy fussed over them and when Caro asked where Joan was, snorted in contempt.

  'Too much afeard to show her face! Poltroon! She's well to the fore when there's an advantage for her, or she thinks there is, but the first hint of danger and she hides under the bed! Leave her quaking there.'

  They sipped the parsnip wine, potent and sweet. While Bessy found a clean linen napkin and packed food for his lordship, the others tucked into the soup and the remains of a huge apple pie as though they hadn't eaten for days.

  Then Jacob lit another lantern and went to unbolt the door.

  'I'll go and get the horse ready, sir,' he said.

  'No. Not with a lantern, Jacob. They may have left a man on watch, and we don't want to alert them before I'm ready to ride. Can you manage in the dark or would you prefer I did it? It wouldn't be the first time.'

  'I'll do it, sir.'

  They were silent for a while after he'd gone, and then Robert stood up.

  'I'll go and fetch the rest of my things,' he said quietly and left the kitchen.

  Bessy, with a sympathetic glance at Caro, rose and silently began to collect the used bowls and goblets. Caro took the remains of the food back to the pantry, pausing for a moment to cool her hands on the slate shelf.

  She would not weep. Even though she thought her heart must be breaking, she would not allow him to see it when the moment came for Robert to ride out of her life.

  During their hurried midnight meal she had convinced herself she would never see him again. His kisses meant nothing, except perhaps gratitude and friendship. His words were empty phrases, and once back with his friends he would forget her.

  Caro realised with a sudden shock that he might even be married. He must be almost thirty years old, high time for a man of his quality to be wed. They had never talked about his home, she did not even know where he might have houses or estates. He could have a wife and several children.

  She took a deep breath and walked firmly back into the kitchen, and relieved her feelings a little by poking the logs on the fire vigorously.

  'Don't do that, Mistress Caro, it'll flare up and burn away before morning,' Bessy remonstrated, but her words were drowned by the sound of an altercation from outside, and both women ran to the door as fast as they could.

  'Jacob!' Bessy exclaimed fearfully as the old man was pushed unceremoniously through the doorway.

  Caro looked in astonishment at the man who held Jacob's arms in a fierce grip behind his back.

  'John Culham!' she exclaimed. 'What are you doing here in the middle of the night?'

  'Where is he? I know he hasn't left, I've had men out watching every track.'

  'What do you mean?' Caro tried to sound bewildered, but it was becoming clear what had happened. John had called at Waring Manor on his way home, and must have heard about Lord Ashring's presence from the villagers. He was for Parliament, he and Peter had fought together. He must have informed and sent the troop here.

  She peered past him but he was apparently alone.

  'Why didn't you come with your hired bullies?' she demanded hotly. 'Were you too ashamed, informing on me – and you a friend of Peter's! Those ill-mannered louts dragged me out of bed, did they tell you that?'

  He grinned triumphantly. 'They did, and wished they'd had more time to dally with you, they said. But I found it very strange you should be sleeping in Peter's old room!'

  'Our sleeping arrangements are none of your business!' Caro snapped. 'But your men found no one here. All we did was look after a man I wounded accidentally. Nothing but common charity, if you know what that is. And he left this morning.'

  'Without his horse? You can't trick me, Caro. You hadn't a horse in the stables that a soldier would have looked at twice, while that great brute Jacob was getting ready in secret just now stood idle.'

  'The horse had a colic, I were but seein' he was comfortable, as I was up anyway,' Jacob intervened.

  'Believe what you like,' Caro said contemptuously, turning away, 'but leave us in peace. We've been disturbed enough tonight and I want to go back to bed.'

  'To act as watchdog over the priest's hole?' he asked softly. 'Had you forget Peter and I used to play there as boys? I know all about it. Well, my men will be back in a few minutes, and then we'll flush out your precious cavalier!'

  ***

  Chapter 6

  'You shall not!' Caro declared. 'I'm in charge here, for young James. I will not permit you to search the house!'

  'You cannot stop me,' he replied calmly. Unless – '

  He paused consideringly, then smiled ruefully.

  'Unless what?' she asked quietly.

  'Caro, we were friends once. I was with Peter, and I know how much he loved you. Surely you believe in the same things he did? The right of men to have a say in Parliament, to disagree with the King when he is wrong, to set their own taxation for their own needs, not just for spending on vainglorious adventures in Europe, fighting other rulers' battles?'

  'I know nothing of politics,' Caro said cautiously. 'I never did, but I don't see why there has to be so much killing.'

  She would have supported Peter's views unthinkingly once, but since Robert had talked with her and explained his own reasons for supporting the King she'd become uncertain. There were arguments on both sides, and she favoured neither one nor the other.

  'But you must have heard the King's cause is all but finished?' John said.

  'No, we don't get a great deal of news here in the valley, and we never know what to believe anyway,' Caro retorted sharply. 'It seems to depend on who is doing the telling.'

  'The King's strongholds are falling, he has almost no supporters left apart from here in Devon and Cornwall, and with Fairfax and Cromwell approaching they won't last out for long,' John said persuasively.

  'Then why should it matter whether one Royalist escapes the net? It can't be very important.' Caro shrugged her shoulders, trying to look petulant.

  'All men who cause such trouble are to be tried and punished as they deserve.'

  'That could apply to either side,' she said crossly. She was praying that Robert would not walk unaware into the kitchen. Let him realise, and retreat once more into the priest's room.

  Culham cast her an impatient glance. 'This particular Royalist is more than a mere troublemaker,' he explained with exaggerated patience. 'He is dangerous, if he manages to get through to the King. We know he has been recently to Ireland, and has news of what foreign support the King may expect. The Queen and others are busy spreading false rumours around the European Courts, and this man knows to what effect. We need to know what support might come for the King in order to prepare suitable defences.'

  'I told you, he left early today,' Caro lied again, trying to put as much conviction into her voice as possible.'

  'I don't believe you. I think you're seeking to protect him. He's bewitched you, made you think he loves you, no doubt, and trapped you into working for the King.'

  'That's utter nonsense!' Caro's voice said, while her mind knew that he was correct in that she loved Robert. She did not work for the King, and never would. How could a mere girl do that, she wondered irrelevantly. But how did he know?

  As if she had spoken aloud John Culham ignored her denial, and went on slowly.

  'We have our supporters in every village, you know.'

  'Spies,' she interrupted contemptuously.

  'Whatever the squires believe, men think for themselves. Peter took a few of the younger tenants or their sons with him, and they died with him too. Their fathers and brothers have no love for the King. They've seen you and this man dallying on the moor, hand in hand, and no doubt more intimate embraces have been exchanged when you've been more secluded.'

  'How dare you insinuate such things!' Caro tried to cover her dismay with anger. There was anger that people she had believed to be loyal tenants or friends had spied on her and Robert. But there was also anger at themselves, that they had not been more discreet. Most of all
she was furious that it was true. They had only their own carelessness to blame.

  Whatever her own feelings she still could not quite believe it meant nothing to Robert, though it would have been natural enough, she thought bleakly, for a man to while away an idle week or so with dalliance.

  'I dare to say the truth. But if he's still here, Caro, and you'll endeavour to find out from him what we want to know, that would be more valuable to us than he would be himself. He'd not reveal his knowledge to us though we tore out his nails and threatened him with a traitor's death.'

  'You would torture him?' She was aghast.

  'No more than he deserves. Will you not help us, for the sake of Peter's memory?'

  'It would be a sad memorial to an honourable man to make me a spy!' Caro retorted furiously.

  'Hardly spying. Ashring's a traitor who seeks to bring foreign armies onto English soil. That would lead to more fighting, more deaths. Would you not work to prevent that?'

  'I want nothing to do with either side, and I could hardly spy on a man who is presently riding towards Bristol.'

  'He has you even more in thrall than I imagined. Then I've no alternative. I must search the house.'

  'You shall not! If my word is not good enough, I am sorry for our former friendship. But I will not permit another search.'

  'You cannot prevent it. I have the right, and enough men to enforce it. But first, you must all go into the cellar.'

  'The cellar?' Caro's voice rose in astonishment.

  'I regret, but I cannot permit you to hamper us. My men are outside, awaiting my signal, and that pernicious Royalist will not escape us this time. If I hadn't been delayed before, they'd have known about the secret room and Ashring would have been on his way by now, in chains.'

  Caro went slowly towards him. She was only a girl, and Bessy and Jacob were old, but surely between them they could overpower John Culham for long enough to permit Robert to leave. It was his only chance now. Since John Culham knew about the hiding place, it was no longer of value.

  Culham guessed her intention, however, and gave a harsh laugh as he stepped back. When Jacob moved forwards he pushed the old man viciously aside so that he stumbled and collapsed onto the bench by the table.