Courtesan of the Saints

by Marina Oliver

  Chapter 12

  It was almost dusk before Miles stirred. He woke slowly, wondering for a moment where he was. Then he realized that Cherry was lying beside him, his arm still around her, and the events of the previous night came back to him. He lay watching Cherry, considering all she had told him of her former life, and surmising the parts she had glossed over. A wave of anger swept over him as he thought of James Weston ill-treating and abusing her, and for a moment he wished he had the man before him so that he could choke the life out of him. Realizing the absurdity of the notion, he smiled ruefully at himself.

  He began to consider what he was to do. He could not bear the idea of Cherry continuing with the life she had been leading, but he thought she might feel bound to carry on with it while it was of use. Should he try to insist, or should he acquiesce? For a wild moment he thought of giving up his own work, and suggesting they settle safely and peacefully in the country, but knew they would both despise that way out. He had not resolved the puzzle before Cherry woke. She stretched, and her supple limbs touched his, awakening desire in him.

  Feeling him, she opened her eyes, and immediately recalled events. She rolled over towards him and smiled.

  'Thank you, my dear. I hope you slept well, for I did, and feel refreshed.'

  He kissed her, and she returned the kiss passionately.

  'I suppose you have work to do, and I have been distracting you from it,' she said, lacing her fingers behind his head.

  'Indeed I have work to do, but you have been no distraction apart from the fact you have been asleep.'

  'What is it?' she asked, pulling his head towards her so that she could kiss him.

  'I have to make you love me so much you can never bear to consider parting from me,' he assured her, half seriously.

  She laughed. 'I can tell you now that is a task you have succeeded in. There is no need for further effort on your part, my dearest love.'

  'Nevertheless, I intend to make the effort,' he retorted, and did so, thoroughly and effectively, prolonging the moments of ecstasy with all the skill at his command, so that Cherry was loved as she had never been loved before, for all her experience.

  When at last they were satisfied, they lay in each others' arms, and talked and talked. They spoke much more of their earlier lives, and for some time did not broach the topic of the future. It was by now dark, and they had not lit the candle beside the bed, but after some time Cherry sat up and felt for the tinderbox.

  'I am hungry,' she declared. 'I trust my servants have prepared supper. I am sorry that you have missed your dinner.'

  'What excellent servants you have, my dear, to leave you in peace and to prepare meals for you and your guests without needing to be supervised.'

  'I pay them well, and treat them fairly. They know my erratic ways. If I miss a meal, or sleep during the day and not at night, that is my affair, and they do not question it. They merely carry on and are prepared for whatever I request of them.'

  'Still admirable. I wish we had you at the head of our Sealed Knot. You would organize affairs so much better than they do!'

  Cherry laughed. 'Then, I suppose, you would have me mounted on a charger, leading the cavalry in the decisive battle that is to restore the King?'

  'You would decimate the enemy by merely looking at them.'

  'Oh, come, I am no Medusa!'

  'No, I did not mean that,' Miles protested, laughing as she tried to pull his hair. 'I meant they would be so overcome by your beauty they would refuse to fight you.'

  'Then I wish I had the same effect on you,' she panted, as she struggled to free her hands that he grasped firmly.

  'Ah, but they do not know you and your deceitful ways as I do.'

  'What have you in mind for me afterwards? Marriage to the King, who would henceforth be content to allow me to rule his country?'

  'That reminds me, I must not allow Charles Stuart to meet you. If I do, you will forget me instantly, and fall under his charm.'

  'What, do you admit he has more than you?' she asked in mock surprise.

  'No, by no means, but the novelty, added to the glamor of a crown, even though he does not yet wear it, might overwhelm vou. '

  'Methinks you are more like to do that, Miles Talbot!' she retorted. 'Now, do you mean to keep me prisoner all night, fainting for lack of food?'

  He laughed and released her, and they slipped on loose robes and went through to the dining parlour, where a delectable supper had been laid out for them.

  As the meal progressed, they returned to seriousness. 'You mentioned to Harry that you planned to visit the King. When do you mean to go?'

  'I was intending leaving within a day or so.'

  'Will you be gone long?'

  'I do not know. I wish to present to the King the desires of many of his supporters for more action, for a livelier group of leaders than those of the Sealed Knot. It is dissatisfaction with them that causes wild plots like Gerard's to be concocted.'

  'They will have been arrested by now,' Cherry said suddenly. 'While we were sporting and sleeping, they will have been arrested. I should have attempted to reach them, as well as Harry.'

  'No, you should not, for you could have done no good. I attempted to dissuade Gerard to abandon the original plan, but he would neither listen to reason, nor accept my warnings the plot was known. He would not have listened to you and he must pay for his folly.'

  'I wonder how many have been taken? I did not discover all the names of those they suspected.'

  'Cherry, you are in danger, come with me,' Miles urged suddenly. 'It is bound to be discovered sooner or later that you have been spying on them.'

  'I am prepared for that,' she said quietly. 'But until it is discovered, I can be of use.'

  'Then you will not give it up and marry me while there is time for you to escape?'

  'Miles, you torment me! I desire nought so much as to be rid of it all, with the deceits and the problems, yes, and the danger, and to be always with you. Yet you will not give up your task because of the danger. Why ask it of me?'

  He regarded her for a long time. 'No, you are right, it is simply that I cannot bear to let another man touch you!'

  She closed her eyes, and breathed deeply. 'I do not think I could bear it myself,' she said slowly. 'This morning, I thought I could steel myself to do it, but you did more successful work this last hour than you know!'

  'Then, what holds you back?'

  'I think I can still, simply by seeing these men, learn things of value. I will make excuses, and it will serve for a time, they will not be suspicious. They are so accustomed to confiding in me they may still do so, without the seductions of the past.'

  'They will not listen for long to your excuses. Not if they are as full blooded as I take them to be.'

  'I will contrive.'

  He sat silently for a while, and then looked across at her.

  'Why should we not marry and live here? I have been thinking it would be necessary to take you away, and to break with your old friends, and wed in secret, but why need we do that?'

  She looked at him, startled, but immediately began to consider this new idea.

  'And we could both be working for the King, yet I have both the perfect excuse for dismissing them from my bed, and you as well! Miles, I believe it might serve! Yet, we double the risk to each other.'

  'No, not if we are cautious. They must know I have been attracted to you, and have probably been as jealous of me as I have been of them. Have neither Dick nor John asked you to marry them?'

  She laughed. 'No, indeed, for they are both already married. That has been to some extent my protection. They cannot insist on staying with me too often, and become possessive, nor can they object if I take other lovers. And they would be in severe trouble with their wives and with their superiors if it were discovered they spent time so with me! They cannot betray me without making far greater trouble for themselves.'

  'Then as far as they are concerned, it would be na
tural for you to take a husband. You can still entertain, and hope to learn something, and at the very least maintain their friendship, which has its uses.'

  'Miles, I begin to hope!'

  'I see no real objection. Of course, 'twill be said I cannot do my work so well, and I fear that may be true, but neither can I concentrate on it while I am in such uncertainty about you! I fear though, that if I am discovered you will be endangered.'

  'That would be no more than the risk I run already. But if John remains our friend, he might warn us. He would hear of moves against you, for he is high in Thurloe's confidence.'

  'I do not think much of Thurloe's choice, if his lieutenants are so careless as John Taunton,' Miles said consideringly.

  'You are decrying my powers!' she said, pouting and trying not to laugh.

  'Merely comparing them with mine. After all, you confessed you learned nought from me!'

  'Not immediately, but I know far more now than I know about John. What if I were acting, and mean to betray you now?'

  'When will you marry me? Tomorrow?' he responded to this suggestion.

  'I cannot! It would seem too sudden to be convincing. I have had to pay a great deal of attention to John the last few weeks, while this plot was in the air. I cannot abruptly marry another man. Pay your visit to the King, and I will prepare the way here, and wed you as soon as you return. That will appear better.'

  'It will be just as sudden then,' he pointed out.

  'No, for I will have realized during your absence that you mean a great deal to me, and when you return I will be swept off my feet! How is that?'

  'I wish there were playhouses, and women played parts as in France,' he murmured, and she laughed, and threw a manchet of bread at him.

  'Do you accept my conditions, sir? Marriage when you return, or not at all.'

  'Then so be it. I am sure there are many risks we have not considered, but I do not care for them now I have you for my own.'

  They soon returned to bed, and Miles did not leave until the next morning. He had decided to postpone his departure for the continent until certain news of the arrests had been received, and they expected it would take a day or so to become known.

  When the news was learned, it was far more serious than Miles had anticipated. Besides the Gerard plotters, six in all, who had been arrested that Sunday morning, Sir Richard Willys had been taken, and Lord Belasyse was in a state swaying between anger and fear when Miles saw him.

  'I am told he thinks I betrayed him,' he spluttered. 'It is preposterous! The man is demented! But it is not safe to stay in London, while he is held he may think to save his own wretched skin by betraying us. I have told the rest of the Knot to disperse, and I am off myself within the hour.'

  'You mean to break off all plans?' Miles asked in dismay.

  'Not so, not so, my boy. We will continue with our work, naturally, but in a safer place, and at a safer time, when the clamor over this business has died down.'

  'I see,' Miles said, realizing that to argue would be pointless, for the man was thoroughly unnerved.

  'We can do little else,' Lord Belasyse said petulantly, realizing he was making a poor showing. 'We have been attempting to discourage such hotheads as the faction round Lord Gerard, but they were determined to try and wrest the leadership of the Royalists here in England from the Knot. They are encouraged by Rupert's Swordsmen, and unless the King can give us more authority, we can do little else.'

  'It can only leave the field clear for others if the Knot disperses,' Miles pointed out.

  'We do not intend to give up completely,' Lord Belasyse said stiffly. 'Now, if you will excuse me, I must finish some letters before I go.'

  Miles left him to it, and returned to his own lodgings, more disturbed then ever at the way things were going. The men of the Knot were showing themselves incapable of real leadership in the difficult conditions of the time. He did not see hotheads like Lord Gerard and his cousin John as leaders, even were they not now betrayed. He began to consider other Royalists amongst those he had talked with, and slowly a list of possible alternatives to the Knot formed in his mind. He must do his utmost to persuade the King to use some of them, and try thus to restore Royalist confidence in England.

  During the next few days, more of the Gerard conspirators were rounded up, and there was news of more arrests in the country areas. When Miles spoke of these to Cherry, she told him some disturbing suspicions that had been aroused in her.

  'John was with me last night,' she said slowly, then hastily added 'just for supper, you understand, I made an excuse to send him away. He was jubilant over the arrests. When I praised him and the Secretary for obtaining so many names, he said Cotes had done his work well. I asked if Cotes was a fellow agent, implying he had been clever, and John said he had somewhat different tasks. He would not tell me more, and I dared not press it. But it seems strange Thurloe knew so many and was able to swoop so effectively at just the right time.'

  'You suggest that Cotes, whoever he is, might not simply have been in the councils of the plotters, but something else?'

  'John was positive he was no ordinary agent, that he had other tasks. I have puzzled and puzzled over it, and I suddenly recalled the name being mentioned once before. It was last October or November, as far as I can recall, and John was talking with a friend he sometimes brings here, one I suspect of being an agent. I overhead a few words, and they sounded so nonsensical they stayed in my mind. He said, 'With Cotes and his spurs, he will uncover when the time is ripe.' I thought he was talking of clothes, but it was not that, but the name Cotes.'

  'And the spurs could have been encouragements, and the uncovering a betrayal?' Miles said slowly. 'Then, it makes sense. You think this Cotes was trepanning Gerard?'

  'I can think of no other explanation. If Thurloe gets his spies to infiltrate an organization, why should they not lead the others on to commit more follies, and provide causes for arrest? Then he would be able to trace the most likely rebels.'

  'Aye. And so often men have been arrested and then quickly released. If the experience does not prevent them from plotting again, they can always be taken again on suspicion, or when some rising is expected, to circumvent them or frighten others. This has happened to many I could name.'

  'We must discover who he is, and warn our friends.'

  'Or quietly dispose of him,' Miles said thoughtfully.

  'Is it not better to know who is working against us? If he were gone there could be someone else, and probably unsuspected. Better to know the traitors.'

  'There is some merit in that,' Miles agreed, 'but we cannot warn everyone he might contact, and it would take time to place another man who would be accepted. No, I think we must try to render him harmless.'

  'Then while you are away I will endeavor to find out more about him.'

  'Will John not be curious if you question him?'

  'I was not planning to question John. No, Harry was in contact with many plotters, though Gerard never, as far as I know, was in touch with him. But he may know something, at least names of people involved that I can follow up.'

  'Do not write, the post is too dangerous. Can you trust one of your excellent servants with a message?'

  'Not so complicated a one. I will have to go to Norfolk, to deal with business there. It will not be thought strange, I often go for a few days, usually when I need peace from my life here. At least there I shall be free from the attentions of John and Dick,' she finished lightly, touching his hand as it lay on the table between them.

  'Is that a lure to induce me to agree?' he asked, holding her hand tightly.

  'No, for I do not need to use such devices with you. We are so much in accord.'

  'When will you go?' Miles asked.

  'As soon as I can rearrange my engagements here. I have parties planned for next week, but I can tell everyone then that I shall be away. I can leave at the end of the week. When are you going?'

  'I must go tomorrow,' Miles told her
abruptly, and she gave a cry of dismay. 'I have been putting it off, but I must do so no longer. I could not bear to tell you before, and I did not wish to make more of our meetings sad than I had to. I am too cowardly.'

  'No, my love, not that! I have known we must part soon, and must face it. Besides, the sooner you go, the sooner we can marry when you come back.'

  They made the most of their last few hours together, and then Miles dragged himself away, much earlier than usual, for he had many things to attend to before he left on his journey. It was this earlier departure that enabled the two bullies hired by Faithful Denham to watch the house to follow him.

  They had been employed by the furious little man for six months, and even he was beginning to get tired of the whole affair, but a certain vindictive stubbornness made him continue to pay them in return for a report each week of who stayed late at Cherry's house.

  They had watched Dick Ashford and John Taunton many times, and much as it caused Faithful to writhe at the thought of them enjoying Cherry's favors, he was powerless to harm them. Dick was on friendly terms with the Protector, and Faithful dare not accuse him. John was one of Thurloe's most valued spies, and similarly would be protected from Faithful by his master. Faithful had considered simply causing them to be attacked as they made their way home in the darkness, but much as he felt that would be a suitable punishment for them, he knew it would not satisfy him. He needed to gloat over his victim, and stress the fact he had been instrumental in bringing him to ruin.

  He maintained the watch because he could not forget the man he had himself followed and lost the bitterly cold December night. He was convinced it had been neither Ashford nor Taunton, and the thought of yet another man as a lover of Cherry made him at the same time furiously angry, and hopeful that here might be someone less powerfully protected on whom he could take his revenge.

  Miles had previously escaped their vigilance because he had stayed so long with Cherry. Unlike Ashford and Taunton, who had wives to check on their absences, he had been able to stay whole nights, and usually left only at dawn. The watchers had by then given up, not wishing to be seen at their post by the servants as they began the day's work. But this night he was unfortunate, and realizing this might at last be the man Faithful had long insisted was another visitor, they were careful to follow as closely as possible.

  Miles was thoughtful as he walked along, and though he kept the usual wary eye for footpads, and his hand on his sword, he was careless and did not realize he was being followed. He was regretting his parting with Cherry, made possible only by the thought that the unbelievable had happened, and he was to marry her. Then, reluctantly, he began to think of the mission before him, and review the arguments he must use with the King.

  Reaching his lodgings, he immediately began to pack, and then, with all in readiness, lay down for a couple of hours sleep before he set off. The men who had followed him settled down to wait until daybreak and as the servants began to stir, they kept careful watch on the house where Miles stayed. They were fortunate, for very soon a maidservant came out swinging a pail and went to buy milk. She was a flirtatious piece, and one of the men was soon able to get into conversation with her, and learn Miles' name. Their work completed, they hurried to Faithful's house and delivered their report.