Pistoleer: Brentford

by Smith, Skye

  "Ah, yes, about that," Oliver said glumly. "Colonel Lunsford broke his parole and escaped his guards before I could arrange the exchange. The cad. When I untied him and handed him back his father's sabre, he swore an oath to me as a Christian officer that he would not try to escape and that he would remain neutral in all things until he was exchanged. The very next day he used that same sabre to escape my guards."

  "So Lunsford is at large. Oh no, not him, anyone but him," Daniel hissed. "We have a demon walking amongst innocents again, and it is all your fault. Did I not warn you specifically not to untie him until he was locked up in a cell?"

  "Aye you did," Cromwell replied "But he is a gentleman and an officer. How could I not trust his oath of parole."

  "You trusted the oath of the man that they still call the kiddie cannibal of London? Oh why did I listen to you and spare that demon a lung full of mud. The world would have been well rid of him."

  "In truth," Cromwell observed, "I expected you to be a lot angrier about it. I have been fretting about telling you since the man escaped me."

  "I was furious a few days ago in Wellenhay when I was first told that Lunsford had escaped. Since then I have had time to calm down. What is frustrating is that I have captured that same man three times, and each time he has been given a parole and has then broken it. Never again. I swear it, never again."

  "How could you have known a few days ago?" Oliver asked suspiciously. "I have not told anyone of his escape. I was too embarrassed. Am I being spied upon."

  Britta decided this was a good time to interrupt. Oliver Cromwell used to work for Ely Abbey as a tithe collector and one of his duties as he made his rounds was to investigate suspected witchcraft. "Oliver is coming with us to the dinner," she told Daniel, "for his own invitation must have gone astray." It was a polite way of saying that the man was not of noble blood and therefore had not been invited.

  Daniel looked around and saw no one else in the room. "Is Betty not coming with you?"

  "None of the wives were invited," Britta told him. "There is just not room, despite the size of the main dining hall."

  "Oye love," Daniel interrupted. "Why is it that Ollie and I are dressed like undertakers and you are dressed like spring flowers? I though the Rich women had decided to dress in mourning until this war was over, out of respect for all of the new widows and grieving mothers in this kingdom."

  "Ah, but this dinner is a celebration of a great victory by our illustrious general. The hostesses are to dress for the gaiety of the occasion. Come then, let's go," she said and Oliver helped her on with her formal cloak, a linen cloak that wouldn't keep her warm but at least would keep her costly gown clean. "I suggest we use my new gate and cross Warwick House's grounds to reach the house. That will be so much, um, more polite than crashing the front door without invitations."

  It was a good plan but it ran foul as soon as they were through the connecting gate and into the grand grounds of Warwick house. "I can't go on," Britta complained. "There has been a heavy dew on the long grass. If I walk across it, my dancing slippers and the bottom of my gown will be water stained."

  "Can't you hike the gown up?" Oliver asked. "My wife's gowns have a string up near the knees that she can lift and tie to pull the bottom up off the ground."

  "Silk gowns don't have such strings because they would pinch the silk," she replied, dejected. "Bloody hell, I'm already late. I was supposed to arrive early to help Susannah and Anna keep everything organized." Susannah was the Countess of Warwick, while Anna was her daughter-in-law and mother to the young lad who was learning how to please women.

  Daniel was nothing if not practical. "Here love," he said as he bent his knees and bowed his back, "you can ride me piggy back across the long grass." It took a few moments to figure out how to she could organize the many layers of the gown and cloak so that she could sit astride him, but then they were away. By the time they were halfway across the field, Daniel was flagging. "This field is wider than it looks," he told them in a puff. "All this bare land surrounded by the city. It must be worth a fortune."

  "I can take her for a while," Oliver offered.

  There was a boulder ahead and Daniel set her down on it so she could change mounts. "Please be patient Ollie," she said, "I have to re-gather the under layers. Ow, this French bodice is pinching my boobies. There that's better. One of you will need to cinch the girls in again once we reach the house." She mounted Oliver and they were away again through the field. He lasted all the way to the house. "Stop, let me down on those paving stones. I need to load this bodice again before we reach polite company." She noticed that Oliver was trying not to stare at her breasts, and jested. "Oh Ollie. When did cod pieces become fashionable again?" It was enough to cause Oliver to turn his back to her while Daniel pulled her laces tight.

  A tall figure stepped out of the shadows and called out, "And who may you be, and may I see your invitations please." Britta stepped into the light so he could see her. "Oh it is you mistress. Who are those gents with you?"

  "My pages. They just finished carrying me across the wet grass so I wouldn't ruin my gown." She ruffled and patted the gown to make it hang straight again.

  "They don't look like pages to me, miss. Do you mind stopping here a minute while I call my sergeant. The watcher tapped his staff three times on a flagstone and the thud echoed around them. There was an answering thud from the left along the house. "He'll be along directly mam."

  The man was well trained as a watcher. Watchers never got into a scuffle until they had backup ... the more backup the better. The nock on pavement signals were used by all the watchers in London ... a simple code. If they interrupted a scoundrel, they would not approach him, but just follow him as they kept knocking out a signal. At each intersection they would be joined by another watcher, and then another, and another, until the scoundrel was so outnumbered that he would give up without a fight.

  Once Britta had herself all put back together she stepped closer to the young guard. "What happened to your eye?" she asked. "You've got a shiner." She turned to Daniel and Oliver and repeated, "He's got a shiner. All black and blue it is."

  "I was out after curfew and got caught by the night watch. Before I could explain that I was also a watcher, one of them knocked me with his staff. It doesn't hurt ... not much. The worst part is the embarrassment."

  "I got caught by the curfew watch last night because the Cambridge coach was late." Daniel told the lad. "Cost me tu’pence each to the two who delivered me to Mistress Britta's house."

  "Tu’pence," the watcher said and then whistled. "That's a bit steep. The little bite for being caught out is supposed to be a ha'penny. You got done, mate, I mean, sir." By 'little bite' he meant a bribe at the lowest, and cheapest level of authority.

  "Aye perhaps I was done out of some coppers, but at least I'm not sporting a shiner. I can't believe that doesn't hurt." Daniel reached out to press it with a finger but the lad pulled back. So it did hurt.

  "Curfew, why is there a curfew?" Oliver asked.

  As both of her pages had just got to town, Britta explained, "The first news London got about the big battle was that Essex had been trounced and his army scattered, so all of the kings supporters in the city rallied into the streets demanding that the gates be opened for the king and that London's trainbands should stand down and change allegiances. As the day wore on, all the fence sitters joined them in the streets, and the Lord Mayor feared that there would be a riot so he read the riot act and called a curfew for one night, just to calm things down.

  It was a good thing he did because the next news we got was that the king had been routed and captured and Essex was triumphant. That brought all the king haters out into the streets looking for revenge against the first set of marchers. Luckily because of the curfew the two sides were kept apart and so the Lord Mayor ordered the curfew extended for another night. The next news was that both sides in the battle had lost, but that the king's army was closer to London than Essex's
army. The curfew was extended yet again to stop the king's supporters from tearing the gates down to let the king in."

  "When I left Banbury," Daniel added, "the king was indeed closer to London than was Assex. Assex had marched north to Warwick rather than south to Banbury, so it amazes me that he has won the race of armies to London?"

  "Assex," the watcher said with a guffaw, "tha's a good'n. Fittin' like."

  "There was some trouble in Banbury which slowed the king down," Oliver replied knowingly. "Otherwise it would be the king at the gates rather than Ass... er ... Essex. Instead the king made a detour to secure Oxford so he could use it as a base for his march on London. His indecisiveness may have cost him London. I suppose the king didn't know that his supporters were rallying to open the city to him. We who marched with Essex certainly didn't know."

  The sergeant of the guard arrived with four other men. Daniel did not recognize the sergeant but he did recognize two of the others. The original watcher made his report and then the sergeant turned to Britta and told her, "The countess is waiting for you inside mistress. I'll send a man to escort you. As for the men who came with you, I cannot let them stay. They will be disarmed and escorted to the front gate."

  One of the men who Daniel had recognized grabbed the sergeant by the arm and pulled him around so he could whisper to him, "Don't be a fool. Let them pass." A whispered conversation started up between the sergeant and his men. Eventually the sergeant turned to Daniel and said, "My men vouch for you. They tell me that you are one of us and probably working under cover. They assure me that the admiral trusts you with his life. Can you vouch for this other man?" His arm was tugged again.

  After some more whispering, he said, "My apologies your honor, for I did not recognize you. Of course you may both pass, but I must ask that Mister Cromwell surrender his weapons at the front door, as will all the guests tonight."

  "But he is my next door neighbour. We all came here through my gate and across the grounds," Britta complained. "After the party is he supposed to collect his pistol from the front door and then come back through the house with them so he can use my gate to go to his home. We are using the gate because we must stay to the end. At that hour the curfew watch will be out in force on every street."

  There were a few more whispers and then, "I suppose it would be all right if Mister Cromwell handed his weapons to Captain Vanderus for safe keeping until he leaves." Oliver immediately took a small wheellock pistol out of his pocket and slipped it into Daniels pocket. "Very good gentlemen. As guests you are early, but Mistress Britta is a bit late."

  They went into the great house using the herb garden door to the kitchen, and Britta merrily touched and greeted the many women she knew in the huge kitchen as she hurried through them to gain the back stairs to the main floor. It was warm in the kitchen and Daniel and Oliver were in a sweat from their exertions out in the cold so they decided to wait for the arrival of the other guests in the small, plain, dining room where the staff took their meals.

  Two valets were already sitting there and immediate made the point that this was a private room for those in service only. Valets always wore their master's importance like a badge of snobbery. The minor uproar resulted in the chief cook getting involved. She came in person to sort it, but as soon as she recognized Daniel, she gave him a big hug and then hissed at the valet's to watch their tongues if they didn't want them cut off. The valets left in a huff to carry their complaints elsewhere.

  "Well love," Daniel said, making sure his friend was well hugged, "I expected you to have moved to the other Warwick house over in Westminster by now. There isn't enough coal in London to keep this place heated all winter."

  "We have moved. This old house is an empty shell save for the dining room and some other main floor rooms used as meeting rooms. The Westminster house can't seat a dinner so large as this one, so we spent all of yesterday equipping this kitchen again. Got to run love. Save me another hug for when I'm not so busy." And she was gone.

  Because the staff room was warm and close by the kitchen side boards used to prepare food, it was a favourite for the guards whenever they needed to warm up. Still, Daniel was most surprised when Henry Rich, the Earl of Holland, and his eldest son Robert, walked in with two of the sergeants and sat down beside them. By the orders that Henry was dishing out to the sergeants, it was obvious that he was in charge of security tonight, probably as a favour to the countess since her husband was away with the fleet. Henry had given them a quick smile, but had otherwise concentrated on his sergeants."

  Daniel leaned closer to Oliver and whispered, "This is too good of an opportunity to miss. Whatever I say, play along." Once Oliver gave him the nod, Daniel raised the volume of his whisper to the point where it could easily be overheard by Henry. "So anyway, the villages around Boston and all along through Holland are taking advantage of there being a time with no Earl of Lindsey. They are hurrying to take back control of the common fields that Lindsey had claimed through his drainage enclosures."

  Oliver winked knowingly and replied, "Will there be time enough to do that? Lord Willoughby will surely be the first officer exchanged to the king, and will immediately be confirmed as the new earl. Once he is free the first thing he will do is take some of his regiment and secure all of his manors. Can you imagine the treasure that is stored in those manors. The old earl was as rich as the king."

  "You know," Daniel took over the loudish whispering, "I always wondered why Lindsey held so much land in Holland. Doesn't make sense does it." He kept watching Henry's head for any sign that he was listening or not. Then he saw it. A quick glance at them. Daniel immediately looked away and back to Oliver. "Oh well. It's too late to do anything about it because Willoughby will be freed any day now."

  Henry dismissed the sergeants and then began whispering to his son. As one they rose and left the room. "Do you think he took the bait?" Daniel asked.

  "I hope so," Oliver replied. "Well we will know soon enough. One of the main topics over dinner tonight will be the prisoner exchange." They discussed more about the situation around Boston, for both men had interests in the welfare of the fens and fens villages. They topped talking when one of the snob valets. He carried a message for Daniel and actually bowed as he delivered it. Daniel was needed at the front door.

  The hosts and hostesses were beginning to gather in the front hall to form a reception line for the guests who had just started to arrive. The countess Susannah was standing with her brother-in-law Henry Rich and she waved him over as soon as she saw him. "Daniel, what a timely arrival, and thank goodness. Could you be a dear and take command of the security so that dear Henry is freed up enough to help me greet the guests?"

  Daniel gave her a buss on the cheek and told her that he could never refuse her anything. She beamed a genuine smile at him because she knew it was true. The next thing he knew the two sergeants were fawning over him, and one of them was deeply thankful that he had not earlier gone ahead and ejected this man from the grounds. Daniel was also thankful, for this would give him access to everything that would go on in this house tonight. For now, however, he was fully busy supervising the front gate where carriages were already arriving, and at the cloak room, where not just cloaks but firearms were being checked.

  Throughout the busy confusion he kept an eye out for the new Earl of Manchester, Edward Montagu. Edward was one of the last to arrive, which was good because there was no longer a mob of nobility pushing to get to the reception line, which now included Assex, the hero of Edgehill. Daniel pulled Edward to one side and told him that they had things of importance to discuss.

  Edward looked at the queue at the reception line and gauged its pace, and then said, "I can spare you a few minutes to brief me on these issues so I can think about them. We can discuss them later, after the meal, yes?"

  Daniel quickly told him about how the villagers who the Earl of Lindsey had abused so cruelly during his siege of Boston, were now taking his land. That the early exchang
e and release of the next Earl would put them in grave danger again. Edward listened patiently, and then said, "Commoners seizing land from a lord sets a dangerous precedent, one that could spread all across the fens and therefore will be heartily opposed by many of the lords at tonight's dinner. Is there some way I can argue the delay without mentioning the taking of Lindsey land?"

  "Well, the old earl was a very rich man. Would it be worth delaying the son's release until some of that wealth is claimed through ransom? Or what about the fairness of his exchange. The king has not captured any of our earls, so why not hold him longer in case one of our earls is captured."

  "Both good reasons, but all of this is to right the wrongs of the past. As much as I pity those villagers and as much as I dislike the Bertie family, what will decide me is some reason that will swing the near future towards our cause."

  "My wife tells me that you have chartered my clan's ships in The Wash," Daniel told him.

  "That is your clan. I didn't know that. Those ships were a godsend to break Lindsey's siege of Boston so I chartered them as a way of keeping four counties safe with fewer men. The freed up bands are being used elsewhere."

  "Those same villagers have volunteered to provide extra crews so we can keep the ships at sea, and so that we can convert and offer four more ships to your service. That will allow the ships to patrol more of the coastline. The villagers have already grabbed up four ships that used to belong to Lindsey, though as soon as the new Earl is released he will come looking for them. It will take us a few months to convert them beyond his recognition."

  "Now that interests me, and just in time for I must join the greeting line," Edward interrupted. "I will think on it."

  "One more thing," Daniel said to hold him for a moment longer. "All of those ships would be far more effective if they each carried two swivel guns and a small field gun. Perhaps a modern four pounder, but no larger than six. By modern I mean cast in iron rather than brass, so that they are lighter."