There was no time for more, since Meg reappeared, conducting a young man into the room. She lingered hopefully, watching to see what reception he found, but a frown from her mistress as Elizabeth rose to greet the visitor sent her swiftly from the room.
Mr Blagrave was a man in his mid twenties, tall and broadly built, with powerful muscles, but showing already the effects of a wealthy background and good living in a highly coloured complexion and a tendency to corpulence. He bowed to Elizabeth, and responded politely to her greetings, then turned to look hungrily at Drusilla, who had moved across to the window and appeared to be dividing her attention between him and something of absorbing interest in the street outside.
'Mistress Drusilla,' he breathed softly, and as he bowed to kiss her hand Drusilla cast an imploring look across at Elizabeth, who smiled brightly at her and begged Mr Blagrave to tell her how the members of his family did.
'They could scarce have developed plague and smallpox since yesterday,' Drusilla muttered angrily to herself, and plumped down on to the settle again, seizing her needlework and affecting an absorption in it which she rarely showed.
Mr Blagrave replied punctiliously to Elizabeth's polite queries, but with considerably less embellishment than usual, and it was soon clear to both ladies that he was big with news. Having satisfied the proprieties and asked after both their healths, he turned portentously to Elizabeth.
'The fighting has begun!' he announced, with what Drusilla considered unnecessary relish. The news, however, was of sufficient interest to cause her to drop her needle and demand to be told more.
'The King has thrown down the gauntlet! News has just reached Reading that he attacked Parliament's army near Warwick, at a place called Edge Hill.'
'What happened? Who won?' Drusilla asked urgently.
'You need not be afraid, Mistress Drusilla,' he said soothingly, and she fumed inwardly at his tone. 'My Lord Essex has halted the King's army easily enough. Why, you would not expect a rabble of soft courtiers and foreign adventurers to prevail over the might of Parliament, would you?' he laughed.
'So the King has been defeated?'
Elizabeth interposed swiftly. 'What will happen now, do you think?'
'Doubtless he will try to regroup his forces in the north, and possibly make another attempt to reach London. But it will avail him nought, and the sooner he realises it and negotiates the matter sensibly with Parliament, the better for us all.'
'The King was not captured, then?'
'No, but I have heard few details as yet. I hurried to apprise you of the news the moment I heard it, for doubtless you are anxious, Mistress Matthews, with your husband away in London.'
'What details have you?' Elizabeth asked.
'Simply that the King was marching towards London, and Lord Essex had been sent to stop him. The two armies met at this place between Warwick and Banbury, and fought all day, with many men being killed. The Earl had the better of the fighting, and the Royalists were glad to withdraw by nightfall. They will surely be licking their wounds for weeks to come.'
'So James will be home shortly, mayhap,' Elizabeth said, a smile playing on her lips.
'Undoubtedly,' Mr Blagrave assured her. 'Have you heard from him of late?'
'He sent me a message a week since. The deputation has been received by Parliament, and he expects to return soon. He opines that our grievances will be redressed now.'
'Indeed I trust so! It was iniquitous to demand Ship Money from the people of Reading! What have we to do with ships! We submitted and paid over five hundred pounds in '35 and '36, and the King demanded yet more! It is good that the Mayor and Corporation have seen fit to deny those further demands, or there would soon be no free Englishmen left!'
'But what will happen to the King?' Drusilla asked, uninterested in the complexities of the Ship Tax.
'Eventually he must come to terms with his Parliament and agree to their just demands. Parliament have appointed a new Governor for the town, had you heard?'
'No, for you are the first to bring us all the news,' Drusilla replied tartly. 'Who is it?'
'Colonel Henry Marten. He is the man that tore up the King's commission of array at Longworth, and then raised a regiment of horse. A worthy man, though I am told he has too ready an eye for a pretty girl,' he added, throwing Drusilla an arch look. 'You will certainly meet with his favour, Mistress Drusilla!'
Drusilla vouchsafed no reply apart from a darkling glance, and Mr Blagrave chuckled smugly. To her relief he soon took his leave, saying he ought to return home to dispel any fears his mother might be entertaining if she heard any wild rumours of the fighting.
*
Strife Beyond Tamar Page 15
