I bundled it all back and trod hard onto the board to make it lie flat. My hands shook when I stood up and my heart was pattering very fast. I hastened from the room to put more space between me and the stolen hoard.
As I laid the table my thoughts rambled round in circles trying to make sense of it all. If my mistress was what I thought she was, she was an outlaw and a felon. She would bring us all down with her if she was caught. But one thing I did know: I had to stop her meeting Ralph on Tuesday.
*
But on Tuesday night Grice kept me a long time in his room. His leg was worse and every time I rose to go, he asked me to fetch more water or more linen. I gritted my teeth and did the dressing as fast as I could.
‘Fat-witted girl!’ he grumbled. ‘It’s all wrinkled. I can’t walk with it like that. Fetch more linen and do it again. That spoiled dressing can come out of your wages.’
I hared to the linen press and came back panting with a pillowslip which I tore into strips. ‘For heaven’s sake!’ he said. ‘You make an infernal noise everywhere you go. It gives everyone a headache. There’s no hurry.’ I nearly wept with frustration.
Finally he let me go, and I bolted up to my mistress’s room. Pitman was already stationed at the door and he tried to bar my way, intent on pinching my bottom as I passed him, but I was too quick, and slammed the door behind me.
The room was empty. I let out a roar of disappointment. She had out-foxed me. It was too late. I could find no other way out, but somewhere out there my brother was meeting my mistress and I was trapped indoors unable to do anything about it.
And Mr Grice had said I was always noisy. I couldn’t hear how much din I made so he was probably right. I wondered how my voice sounded. Did I speak too loud? I sagged. Ralph’s face had glowed with the idea of meeting Kate. But she was not simple Kate at all. She was a royalist lady and a highway robber and Lord knows what else.
The image of Ralph’s smiling face would not go away, though I pummelled on the bed in frustration. Jealousy squeezed its claws into me. I wished Jacob would look at me the way Ralph looked at Kate, but I always did something bird-brained whenever Jacob was near me. It was as if he brought out the boggarts and the clumsy spirits from their hiding places and they were all teasing me. I was stupid. I always had been. Only someone like me could leave a candle alight next to a curtain and forget it was there.
That was the end of my family’s comfortable life. Nobody ever said it was my fault. But I knew. And even though I’d been punished, I still felt responsible. If only I could turn back time I’d snuff the candle so hard the wax would splash right up to my elbow. Then we’d still be in our panelled chamber with its polished tables and turkey rugs. And I would still be able to play the virginals instead of scrubbing floors.
*
Next morning, Lady Katherine had not reappeared by the time I had to begin my kitchen duties, but she was coming down the stairs as I was going up. Of course I stood to one side.
‘Did you meet Ralph?’ I said, even though it was not my place to ask.
‘Yes,’ she whispered, her eyes sparkling. ‘He was asking if I have any kin to stop me joining them in their community. I told him there was no-one.’
‘But it’s not true.’ I could hardly get out the words, my tongue seemed to stick in my mouth.
‘I want to be with him. If I could, I’d be his wife.’
Had I heard her right? ‘His wife?’ I asked.
She took hold of my hands and squeezed them tight, nodded her head.
‘You can’t.’ My heart seemed to freeze in my chest. ‘You are already married.’
‘Ralph asked me. Or rather he hinted as much. And he’s going to meet me again tonight.’ And she whisked past me down the stairs and into the chamber where Mr Grice was waiting.
I could not move. I never believed she would go this far. I would have to do something. But what? That was the question.
14. Truth Will Out
I was determined to run to Ralph to tell him who Kate was, but I couldn’t get away. It was laundry day and Mistress Binch kept me so busy I couldn’t get a minute of free time. I ground my teeth in frustration. And the next day, just as I was about to slip away I was called by Mr Grice.
‘We are riding to the notary in St Albans,’ he said. ‘You will accompany us.’
I looked to Lady Katherine. She was grim-faced and white. There was an atmosphere as though an argument had just taken place, a slight bristling of the air.
Grice hoisted me by the arm and took me to the window. He pointed to my pony which was just being saddled. ‘Riding. Out. You will come,’ he said. He obviously still thought I was dim in the wits and Lady Katherine did not speak up for me.
Needless to say, Mistress Binch was not pleased she was to do all the chores herself today and it earned me yet another black look.
Pitman had to give Mr Grice a leg up onto his horse which turned to nip at his foot. I hoped the bad-tempered animal would manage to bite him and get a mouthful of wood. The sun beat down on my back as we rode. Rigg brought up the rear, then me on little Pepper, behind a silent Lady Katherine. Mr Grice and Pitman rode ahead of us to lead the way.
The St Albans road was notorious for thieves and I was glad Rigg had a flintlock pistol in his belt, and both servants had swords though they looked as though they were guarding Lady Katherine, rather than protecting us from brigands – just something about the way they watched her. Lady Katherine looked elegant as she rode – her swinging curls, the flowing skirts. There was no trace whatsoever of Kate, the girl who had shovelled earth with her bare hands. Nor could I imagine her holding up a coach in the dead of night. I was surely mistaken. This young woman in the green riding habit looked every inch a lady.
*
On the way I asked the servant Rigg why we were going into town and he told me my mistress was needed to sign some documents.
The fields shimmered in the heat haze and sweat trickled down my forehead. Flies buzzed around the horses’ ears. In the town we tethered our horses outside the notary’s shop, which was half-timbered and gloomy, its small leaded windows like half-closed eyes.
I waited outside with Pitman who smiled at me in a leering way that made me uncomfortable. It had happened before and it made me want to fold my arms across my chest to stop him from looking.
Mr Grice and my mistress had only been gone a few moments when Lady Katherine shot out of the door all in a flurry, and put her foot in the stirrup to mount her horse.
Mr Grice was right behind. He grasped her by the waist to pull her down.
‘Leave go!’ Lady Katherine’s face was white and angry. I leapt forward to help her but Rigg shoved me away with his rough red hands. My mistress struggled, but Rigg and Pitman held her fast.
‘You will sign,’ Mr Grice said.
‘No!’ She kicked out at him, and he staggered backwards, losing balance. There was a puff of dust as he landed heavily on his back. He immediately tried to get to his feet again, but his wooden foot could get no purchase.
‘I won’t sign.’ Lady Katherine stood over him in defiance. ‘The King will win and my husband will return.’
‘Help me, you fools.’ Pitman and Rigg levered Grice to his feet. A vein stood out on Grice’s forehead. ‘The King cannot win,’ Mr Grice said, his lips small with suppressed rage. ‘The Scots failed him. Sir Simon fears his lands will be forfeit. He wants me to take possession of them in case he is captured. He will need to flee to avoid execution. That’s why he sent me these signed agreements.’
‘No. I won’t sign away a single acre, not even a blade of grass! Not until I’ve spoken to my husband.’
‘It is a simple signature. Your stepfather has signed them already. You must witness the papers, that is all.’
‘You cannot force me.’
Grice lost patience. ‘You think I can’t? How about a little hunting accident when nobody is looking?’ I was not sure I had heard him right until he drew out his pistol and finge
red it thoughtfully. He pressed it gently to the side of Lady Katherine’s neck. She flinched away from it, but he pushed it harder. I did not know if it was loaded. He gestured for the men to take her back inside.
‘You would not…’ She laughed, thinking it a joke. But then she looked up into his face and her words died away.
They manoeuvred her through the door, the pistol still at her neck.
I walked away from the door shakily and brushed dust from my skirts although they did not really need it. But my hands needed to do something because I could not believe what I had just seen.
I could run away. But I didn’t want to leave Lady Katherine alone.
Pitman came back out and grinned at me in a conspiratorial way, but I ignored him. I could not sit, I was too shaken. He made a lewd gesture poking a finger at me and I went away to the churchyard to wait on a bench out of the sun.
The wait seemed interminable but finally the sundial on the church tower read two o’clock and Mr Grice emerged, holding Lady Katherine by the arm. She was dry-eyed and blank-faced. We mounted in an atmosphere sharp as a pike and set off back to the house. This time the bridle of Lady Katherine’s horse was tethered and held by the servants, as if she might gallop away.
After we had gone past the turnpike toll and paid our pennies she said to me, ‘You may leave me if you wish, find another place. I will give you a reference.’
I could not answer, because the road improved and Grice’s horse broke into a canter and we had to keep up. As we approached the village we had to pass Norland Common where the Diggers had built their settlement.
Grice slowed his horse to a trot. A fallen branch from a large oak tree was almost blocking the way. Two young men were there on the road, bare-chested, swinging their axes to cut it. As we got closer they stepped to one side to let us pass.
I stiffened in the saddle with a surge of recognition. It was Ralph and Jacob.
I kicked Pepper on, urging him forward until I was alongside Lady Katherine, ‘Mistress!’ I shouted, frantic, but she did not hear me and there was no time to give another warning. I feared they would call to her and then Grice would arrest them both.
We had to slow to go round the tree and it was as if the world slid to a standstill. My brother doffed his hat as was the custom to passing noblemen, and then he saw me. His face broke into a smile and he lifted his hand to wave. His eyes glanced to Lady Katherine and stopped, fixed there.
We were passing them now. Lady Katherine’s head whipped round. I saw her lower her eyes, bring one hand up to cover her face. But it was too late. Ralph was behind us, standing in the middle of the road, one hand outstretched as if to call back the Kate he knew.
15. Dark Passage
Mr Grice galloped ahead and all I could think of was my brother’s expression, as if he had been slapped. Lady Katherine’s cheeks had flared into two bright spots of crimson, but I could not get close enough to speak to her.
Grice dismounted at the front door and gestured for us to fall in behind him. As we entered the sun was cut by shadow. I went over to Lady Katherine but she could not stand still; she paced the floor folding and re-folding her gloves.
‘You have mud on your hem,’ Grice said. ‘You may change from your riding habit if you wish.’
Lady Katherine threw me a distressed look.
‘I will help the mistress change,’ I said.
Mr Grice gave me a thin smile. ‘I expect you both back downstairs forthwith.’
We made a grateful escape to my mistress’s chamber. It wasn’t until we were in the dressing room that she said, ‘It was Ralph, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you think he saw?’
I nodded. I was relieved that I didn’t have to pretend any more, except that I could see the misery on milady’s face as she unfastened her riding habit and let it drop. It made me tearful to see her. She hugged herself, and her knuckles showed white. When she turned so that I could unlace the bodice, there were still raised scabs where she had been beaten. It softened my heart.
She stepped out of her petticoats and held them out to me. ‘I just wanted someone to like me for who I was. Not because I’m Lady Fanshawe or because I have money or position. Ralph says the Diggers are like a family. I’ve never had a family. My mother died when I was eight years old.’
I rested my hand on her shoulder to comfort her.
‘Can you imagine – nobody locks doors in the Digger community, he says, because they hold all goods in common. Such a relief, not to be judged by your fortune. Was it so foolish of me to dream of a different life?’
‘No milady. But my Mother always says, people must do their duty according to their station.’
‘But station is just a word. Like the way they call me a lady, yet I have no goods to speak of, no privileges, no position. I am just a bag of coins to be raked through by any man who can get close enough to threaten me. Like Grice.’ She took my hand in entreaty. ‘I didn’t mean what I said on the road. You won’t leave me, will you?’
I pulled my hand away. ‘Grice is dangerous. He scares me.’
‘My stepfather sent Grice some signed documents. To sign over the tenancies to him so Parliament can’t take them if the Royalists lose. The corn mill, the weaver’s cottages, parcels of land. He thinks my stepfather will need to hide abroad. It seems premature, when we don’t know yet what will happen, and it’s my inheritance. I don’t like it.’
I had seen no letters from Sir Simon, but I did not dare say so. I put her gloves in the drawer. ‘I expect Grice is only following orders. But to threaten you like that, it’s not right.’
‘None of them care for me. But Ralph – he’s different, he thought I was just a farm girl. He liked me because of who I am.’
‘But you are Lady Katherine.’
‘No, you don’t understand,’ she said, shaking her head, ‘I’m not. I’m Kate on the inside.’
We could not talk more because the door swung open.
‘Your brother’s here,’ Mrs Binch said, glaring. ‘Flaming cheek of it. Just to knock on the door and expect me to run round after you.’ Her forehead was perspiring from having to come up the stairs to fetch me.
I glanced at Lady Katherine before ducking away under Mrs Binch’s arm, through the open door. I sped downstairs. Ralph was at the back door; he must have come straight over, for his shirt was stuck to his back with sweat.
‘Tell me I’m wrong,’ he said.
I did not reply, but my eyes could not meet his.
‘It was Lady Katherine Fanshawe you were riding out with today, wasn’t it?’
I nodded miserably.
‘Not Kate?’
‘No.’ My face must have told him everything. He balled his fist and slammed it into the wall, I saw his lips spit out curses. ‘You stupid girl.’ His eyes when they turned to me were full of pain. ‘You’ve ruined everything. How could you? She’s our enemy. Her and all her land-grabbing family. You helped her, didn’t you, to disguise herself as one of us?’ He took hold of my arm, shook it, his thumbs digging into my flesh so I winced. ‘The Diggers trusted me – and now it’s my fault. It was her wasn’t it? She sent people to destroy the Diggers’ houses –’
‘It wasn’t her, it was Mistress Binch, she was spying on us. She was at the Common, I saw her talking to Mr Grice –’
‘You deceived me. How could you do that to me? To your own brother? Here was I thinking Kate was bonny and clear and good, and all the time she was calculating and spying on us.’ He turned as if he would walk away, strode back and forth to quiet his own restlessness. Finally he turned to me with a wounded expression. ‘I thought she liked me, but I’ll bet she despised me. She’s probably been laughing at me the whole time.’
‘No, she wasn’t. She admired you. Her family treat her like a beast. She only wanted –’
‘Why? Why did you bring her?’
‘She said…I knew I’d lose my position if I didn’t.’
He shot
me a look of ice. ‘She’s a viper. You’re leaving, come on, I’ll take you home.’ And he began to tug on my arm.
‘Hoy!’ Mr Grice and his servants rounded the corner. ‘What’s this? Who are you and what do you want?’
‘Ralph Chaplin. Abigail’s brother. She’s leaving.’
Mr Grice shot me a displeased look as though his mouth was full of vinegar. I expected him to dismiss me on the spot, but he surprised me. ‘No she is not,’ he said. ‘She has not given notice. She will get no pay and no reference.’
‘Please, Ralph,’ I begged, ‘don’t make a fuss. I need that reference. Please, just go. We’ll talk later.’ I was scared Grice would throw Mother off the Fanshawe estate. And I’d worked months, I couldn’t bear the thought that I’d get no pay and it would all be for nothing.
‘You are not working for the Fanshawes.’ Ralph was angry now, tell-tale signs of red flaring on his neck.
I was begging him, hopping from foot to foot. He didn’t understand anything. ‘Please Ralph, go home. I’ll come and explain later –’
Grice did not wait for me to get the words out. ‘Remove this trespasser from my land,’ he ordered. The servants moved in to take Ralph by the elbows. ‘Chaplin, inside. Now.’
I gave Ralph an anguished look, bobbed my head and hurried inside. Grice followed me, pulled the door shut after us, and limped his way purposefully upstairs. Mrs Binch simply stared, unable to believe Mr Grice had actually been in her kitchen. I ran to the kitchen window and was just in time to see the servants manhandle Ralph down the drive until he finally freed a fist and punched Pitman in the eye.
A few moments later he ran off into the copse, leaving Pitman still floundering on his back in the drive with Rigg trying to help him up. I pressed my hand to my forehead and sighed. Trouble – this could only mean more trouble.
*
Sure enough, that night when I was dressing his foot Mr Grice said, ‘Your brother hit my servant.’
‘Yes. I mean, no. I don’t know Sir.’
Mr Grice terrified me. I could not get the image out of my mind of him pressing the pistol to Lady Katherine’s neck. He examined me through shrewd eyes. ‘You will not see your brother again and you will be obedient to me. Do you understand? Then I might consider keeping you on and giving you a reference.’
Shadow on the Highway Page 12