During one of the skirmishes that took place in various parts of Devon, the most tragic loss for Hopton was that of the poet, Sydney Godolphin, who was killed at Chagford. It had been Godolphin who had been responsible for guiding Hopton into Cornwall initially, through hostile country.
'But for his arrival, I doubt if a Cornish army would have been formed,' Jon said when he brought this news. 'Hopton is grieved, sorely, at the loss. Godolphin was so fine a man.'
Kate was not prepared to allow that Sir Ralph, much as she admired him, had been the only inspiration for the Cornish.
'Sir Bevill and Sir Nicholas would have raised an army,' she said, defending her fellow Cornishmen. 'What are they doing, do you hear of them?'
'They are in Devon, doing what they can.'
But this, hampered as they were by the shortage of men and ammunition, was insufficient to subdue Plymouth, and the Royalists were beaten off and forced to withdraw towards the end of February. Both sides needed a respite, and on the last day of the month the first of several truces was signed, under which the Cornish drew to their own side of the Tamar. Cornwall breathed a sigh of relief and hoped the respite would be a long one.
Chapter 6
Despite her anxiety about the progress of the war, Kate was enjoying herself in Fowey. The weather in February had been wintry, with some snow, but towards the end of the month balmy spring breezes replaced the bitter winds, and signs of an early spring abounded in the hedgerows and the woods. Morwenna had welcomed Kate with great delight, and she had renewed her acquaintance with Nicholas, Morwenna's older brother, who had his own boat and was, she soon discovered, another of the venturesome seamen who were in league with Sir Nicholas Slanning. Mistress Anscombe was a native of Fowey, and besides Phyllis Trevose, had another sister Elizabeth, who was married to a farmer called Penwyn and lived across the river near Polruan. Her brother Robert Carlyon owned a small estate further up the river on the eastern side at Bodinnick, and there were many visits paid amongst the families. Kate met her other cousins, but they were all much younger than she, so she naturally spent most of her time in Morwenna's company.
About a week after the first truce had been signed, Kate and Morwenna came home one afternoon to find Nicholas entertaining Petroc in the little winter parlour that looked out over the sloping garden onto the harbour and across at Polruan.
Surprised, and recalling what he had said at their last meeting, the ball at Saltash, Kate greeted him curtly, then was angry with herself because she knew he was inwardly laughing at her confusion. Soon the girls left on the excuse that they must help prepare the supper, and Nicholas and Petroc walked out into the garden. It was here Kate was sent by her aunt to call them in for supper.
At first she could not see them, and surmised they were in the little summer house that was in a sheltered spot right at the end of the garden. She walked towards it. As she approached she heard their voices. Petroc was speaking.
'He does not work for us, that I am sure of. Jon Peyton plays a double game. Why else should he converse with James Chudleigh? And two days before the meeting at Stone House. It smacks of treachery.'
Appalled, realising the implication of what she had overheard, Kate almost ran round the corner of the summer house to confront Petroc angrily.
'What is that you say? You accuse Jon? Why? I demand to know!'
Nick came hastily to his feet and stepped towards her, but Petroc remained where he had been sitting, on a wooden bench beside a small table.
'Eavesdropping, Kate?' he asked lazily.
'Nought of the kind,' she retorted, furious. 'I was sent to bid you to supper, and could not help overhear that last. Jon is no traitor!'
'But you do not know what I do.'
'I do not believe it! You are trying, for some devilish reason of your own, to blacken Jon's name.'
'Did you say supper was ready?' Nicholas interposed. 'Mother will be put out if we linger here.'
'But I must know what Petroc means. You cannot dismiss it like that,' Kate answered, turning on him.
'Kate has a right to be told, Nick. But now is hardly the time for what I foresee as a lengthy session. Kate, I promise you I can give you good reasons for my allegations. Will you listen to me after supper?'
There was little alternative and Kate nodded, then turned and ran swiftly back to the house leaving them to follow. She was silent during the meal, causing her mother to cast worried looks at her, but Petroc seemed as merry as ever and entertained the company with tales of some of the fighting he had witnessed during the skirmishes about Plymouth before the Cornish army had withdrawn. After the meal the two men and Kate withdrew into the winter parlour while the others made music as was their custom in the main parlour of the house.
*
'Now, what do you accuse Jon of?' Kate demanded as soon as Nick had closed the door.
Petroc stood before the fire and looked gravely at her.
'I have no wish to blacken his name, Kate, despite what I have said to you in the past about him. That is an entirely different matter to this, and has nought to do with it.'
Kate blushed, and hid her confusion by burying her face into the glass of wine Nick handed her.
'Tell me,' she said at last.
'I was in Plymouth a few days ago, and I saw Jon talking with James Chudleigh, who commands the Parliament foot there.'
'Why should he not?' she asked.
'Chudleigh is a Devon man, and cannot help but know, since Jon and his family are well known in Plymouth, that Jon is fighting with the Royalists. He is a most astute commander, and has already done much against us. He made the siege much more difficult by creating diversions behind our lines, and forcing us to give chase. It was on one such occasion that Godolphin was killed.'
'What has that to do with Jon?'
'It was clear to us then that the enemy had more information of our movements than they should have had. Someone was passing on information. It was likely enough, of course, and I do not say Jon was implicated. But after what I saw on March the third, it seems as though he might have been.'
'I think you are seeing what you want to see in something that can no doubt be easily explained,' Kate said calmly. 'But you will have to tell me all.'
'Jon had, so far as I know, no reason to go to Plymouth.'
'He could have been visiting his family!' Kate put in swiftly.
'Yes, but he had no mission for us, that I am certain of.'
'Are you told everything that is planned, Mr Tremaine?' she asked scornfully.
'Nick Slanning is a very good friend of mine, and he is close to Hopton. I have to know because of my own work what is going on, and who may be found in odd circumstances with the enemy,' Petroc replied coolly. 'I think I would know if Jon Peyton had some secret mission amongst them. After all, I had to go there myself and might well meet him. I would be told to prevent just such suspicion as this from developing.'
Kate sniffed. 'It seems unlikely. But whatever the reason for Jon being there, if he was and I have only your word for that, even – why should he not have talked with this man Chudleigh? Might they not be old friends?'
'That is indeed possible, for they are the same age. But since Jon is a known Royalist, even friendship would not persuade a man like Chudleigh to allow him to go free. He is a vigorous commander and a veteran of the Irish wars, and he knows that sentiment over friends can be very dangerous. Therefore the only conclusion I can reach is that Jon is of some use to Chudleigh, which implies that he is providing information. He is most of the time with Hopton, therefore close to the command. And he has been carrying messages to Pendennis, which is a vital fortress for us to hold.'
'It does seem suspicious, Kate,' Nick said to her gently.
'Moonshine!' she retorted.
'I was alarmed because it was just two days before the conference that had been planned at Stone House, just outside Plymouth. But as they met in the open I was unable to come close enough to hear aught.'
Kate shook her head. 'Why were you in Plymouth? Does not the same suspicion rest on you, going amongst the enemy?'
'Not altogether the same. I am not a native of the town and I do not mix with people who know I am a Royalist when I go there. I can go anonymously which is impossible for Jon.'
He stared down at Kate and she found herself held by his gaze for a long minute. Then she stood up and looked from him to Nick.
'I think you are mistaken, if nothing worse. I do not believe any of the allegations you have made. Jon would not betray his friends.'
'But who are his friends?'
She shot an angry glance at Petroc. ' 'Tis obvious you are not! But I will not believe your story! I know Jon far better than you can and he is honourable! He would not do what you say.'
'A man might think it honourable to infiltrate the enemy camp! What else do you think I have been doing? Do you call me dishonourable therefore?' Petroc asked quietly. Kate did not reply. 'I do not seek to argue the case with you, for I know I do right. Jon might be equally certain. But it behoves each side to seek out those who might betray secrets or discover information. That is the risk we take. If what I suspect is true, Jon and I are on different sides, enemies.'
'You are that in any event, and but seek to discredit him!' Kate said angrily and suddenly Petroc laughed.
'Oh, I do not think he is a very great enemy in any other respect,' he said softly, and with another angry glare at him Kate stormed from the room.
Nick looked anxiously at Petroc. 'She will tell him our suspicions the moment he comes here,' he said worriedly. 'I wish we had not told her.'
Petroc laughed. 'So do I, but it was inevitable when she heard what she did. We must be better conspirators in future, Nick! At least it has the advantage he will be tempted to make some move that will betray him, or confirm our suspicions!'
The next few days were anxious ones for Kate. She did not in the slightest believe what Petroc had said was true, though she admitted to herself that if it had been Jon that Petroc had seen as he had described, the explanation he had produced was a possible one. She would admit no more, arguing that it might not have been Jon, or that there was some perfectly innocent explanation they had not thought of.
*
Petroc appeared almost every day, but he did not again mention his suspicions. Kate contrived to avoid him whenever she could, and longed for the next visit from Jon, which she expected within a few days. But before he came Petroc had invited them all, the Anscombes and the Trevoses, to dinner with his parents. Kate's father, visiting in between one of his now regular trips across the Channel, welcomed the opportunity, saying he had met the older Mr Tremaine many years before and would be delighted to renew the acquaintance.
On the appointed day they set out in a boat crewed by some of Nick's sailors. The Tremaines' house, Tremor, was situated on the steep slopes of Pont Pill, a beautiful little creek that ran between Polruan and Bodinnick on the far side of the Fowey River. It was about a mile up the creek from Polruan, and as they were rowed along the smooth wide stretch of water Kate looked admiringly at the sides, thickly wooded, that began to close in on them as they went further. The trees were bright with the new growth, and the sun was warm, so that even in Cornwall where they were used to short winters they commented on the early spring.
Suddenly, rounding a slight curve of the bank, they saw a small landing stage and far above it in a clearing of the trees an old stone house, long and low, and fortified like an ancient castle. Kate stared, but had little time for admiring it for they had pulled into the landing stage and Petroc, with several younger folk he afterwards introduced as his brothers and sisters, was awaiting them.
The greetings and introductions were merry, and to Kate confusing, but she was glad to be able to hide her confusion in the babble of conversation that broke out, for the Tremaines were an uninhibited family and knew the Trevoses well. They were determined to make the Anscombes welcome and Robert found himself monopolised by a boy a year or so younger, who demanded to know what it was like voyaging to France, complaining bitterly that he was not yet allowed to go. Mr Anscombe walked with the eldest of the girls while Petroc escorted Mistress Anscombe, and Kate was taken in charge by a girl a couple of years older than herself who introduced herself as Bridget Penhale.
'I do not suppose you sorted us all out when Petroc introduced us,' she commented laughingly. 'I think it is a fearsome custom to introduce strangers to a dozen or more people at once and expect them to remember.'
Kate smiled and agreed.
'I am Petroc's sister, but I married two years ago and live at Bodmin. I am here now, as the rest of my married sisters are, for the celebration of my mother's birthday. We always try to be together then and at Christmas. You will find we are a very close family.'
She chatted on, and talked about the house as they walked up towards it through gardens that had been cleverly contrived to make the best of the steeply sloping ground, with terraces in a formal pattern, interspersed with wilder parts, the whole connected with winding paths and cunningly concealed short flights of steps. It was a long climb, but so varied and full of unexpected new views that it was accomplished without any weariness.
'The house is about three hundred years old in parts,' Bridget informed Kate. 'It looks rather like a castle, but is really just a fortified manor house, which we have extended in the original style, though trying to make the inside more convenient and comfortable!'
'It is beautiful,' Kate admired, and Bridget smiled.
'I am glad you like it. Not everyone does, they prefer the newer sort. That has its attractions, I admit, with larger windows to let in the sun, but we have done what we could here without spoiling the look of it, I think. After dinner if you wish I will show you round.'
Eagerly Kate accepted this offer, for the house fascinated her and she longed to explore. By this time they had reached a terrace of smooth shaven grass that ran the whole length of the house, and Petroc's parents were waiting here for their guests. More introductions were made and then the older people went in to be served wine in a large, low ceilinged parlour, while the younger and hardier spirits agreed to remain for a while out of doors, drinking the wine brought to them by a couple of maids, and then wandering about in the gardens close to the house, where there were many trees, flower gardens sheltered by high hedges of box, and a beautiful little garden set out in the Italian fashion which Kate particularly admired.
Soon it was time for dinner, and they went into a huge hall which occupied a good third of the house, reaching to the vaulted roof and effectively splitting the house into half. There was some old oak panelling, but much of it was covered by old but still lovely tapestries depicting scenes from both the Bible and the classical authors. At one end of the hall was a small gallery where minstrels used to play. Seeing Kate looking at it, Bridget smiled.
'We used, when children, to creep in there and watch what went on down in the hall when there were guests,' she explained. 'In some ways this is most inconvenient, the hall splitting the house in two, but it has been the tradition that when the heir of Tremor marries, he and his wife occupy one half, while the rest of us live in the other.'
For a brief moment Kate imagined what it would be like to come here to Tremor as Petroc's bride, then she hastily pushed the thought away, casting Petroc an embarrassed glance almost as if she feared he had read her thought. But he was preoccupied talking with Mistress Trevose and appeared to have no interest in Kate. As Bridget continued to chatter she was able to compose herself and enjoy the leisurely and sumptuous meal was set before her.
Afterwards Bridget swept her off on a tour of the house. They saw the many parlours, and Kate especially admired the comfortable book room with its pine-panelled walls and the volumes of leather-bound books. Then they went upstairs and Bridget showed how they had recently constructed passages along the front, north-facing wall of the house.
'You can imagine how very inconvenient we found it whe
n all the rooms led out of one another. Many of the old doors are left, of course, but this enables us to be more private, for the passage connects with all the bedrooms.'
Kate duly admired, and stood looking out of the windows in the passage towards Pont Pill.
'Have you been attacked from the sea?' she asked.
'Oh, yes, in the past, but not for many years now. Forty years ago I believe a boat full of Barbary pirates made their way into the river and up the creek, but they were disturbed when they landed and after a fight made off without any booty, but also unfortunately without being punished.'
'How fortunate that those days are over. Though I wonder if we are better off now?'
'There have been many improvements,' Bridget said, laughing. 'Come, we can pass into the other half of the house through a narrow passage that goes behind the minstrels' gallery.'
They stopped to peer over the edge of this into the hall below, but there was no one there apart from a couple of dogs asleep before the fire, and they passed on into the rest of the house where again a connecting passage had been cut along the side of the rooms.
'This is traditionally the bridal room,' Bridget announced, throwing open the door they first came to. 'There is a superb view to the south. It is the only room from which one can see the sea, for it is just so placed that it commands a gap in the trees. The house is just below the summit of the hill, and invisible from the southern coast.'
Kate stood and admired the view. She turned to say something to Bridget, to see Petroc standing in the doorway silently watching her.
'Bridget, Penhale has just arrived. I will take over your duties towards Kate if you wish to go to him.'
'John? Here already? Why, I had not expected him until this evening. Kate, will you excuse me?'
Strife Beyond Tamar Page 7