Kate nodded, scarcely able to refuse, and Bridget swiftly left the room. Kate began as though to follow her out, but Petroc had moved to block the doorway. He looked at her quizzically.
'What do you think of our bridal room?' he queried. 'Bridget did tell you all about our customs, I hope?' He took a step towards her and Kate involuntarily stepped back, her heart pounding uncomfortably against her ribs. Petroc laughed softly. 'Have you seen the view from this window?' he asked, smiling at her as he walked past to stand looking out.
Kate mentally berated herself as a fool, knowing that she was affording Petroc considerable amusement. She decided that his declaration at the Saltash ball had been a piece of mischief, and promised herself she would ignore it and attempt not to read any significance into Petroc's words and actions. She managed to reply with tolerable composure that she had admired the view, and Petroc nodded and went towards the door, holding it open for her to pass through.
'You will come to appreciate it,' he murmured as she passed, but apart from lifting her head slightly higher, Kate might not have heard the remark.
*
They soon joined the others, and Mistress Tremaine spoke kindly to Kate, asking about their experiences at Saltash with the opposing armies, and commiserating with her at having to leave her own home.
'Though I am delighted to have the opportunity to meet Morwenna's cousin, for she has often spoken to me about you.'
Soon it was time to depart and the visitors were escorted to their boat, Kate contriving to avoid Petroc without seeming to do so, at the same time chiding herself for making the attempt. But when they reached Fowey all thought of Tremor was driven from her mind, since during their absence Jon had arrived and had walked down to the harbour to greet them when he had seen the boat returning across the river.
Kate greeted him joyfully and the others demanded news from him.
'The Conference at Stone House was to no avail, apart from extending the truce,' he told them, and at the mention of that place Kate's thoughts immediately flew to the accusations Petroc had made. But Jon was continuing. 'I have a few days' leave while they, our leaders, go to a meeting at Exeter with the deputies from the other western counties. They hope to secure an agreement that there will be no invasions of neighbouring counties, and thereby keep the war out of the south-west.'
'Do you think there is much hope of their succeeding?' Mr Anscombe asked. Jon shook his head.
'I think we all recognise that these truces are respites only, while we both recover from the exertions we have made and recruit more soldiers. Certainly our recruiting has not ceased.'
Kate waited impatiently until she could escape alone with Jon. She contrived to take him out into the garden, to the same summer house where she had first overheard Petroc's suspicions voiced. After he had kissed her and told her how much he missed her, and other lover's talk, she told him what had occurred, wary of keeping her own voice low as she did so.
'And he will not believe other than that you are a spy for Parliament, Jon, whatever I say!' she concluded indignantly. 'Were you indeed in Plymouth, or was he mistaken, or telling lies? But if so, why? Do you know any reason?'
Jon was silent for a moment, and then turned to her, smiling down into her anxious eyes.
'For some reason Petroc Tremaine has always been antagonistic towards me, since we first met last summer. I have no idea why.'
Kate moved uncomfortably. She had not told Jon of Petroc's words about marriage, partly from embarrassment, partly, she told herself, to avoid exacerbating the already strained relations. So she waited in silence for Jon to continue.
'I have not been in Plymouth, Kate. Either he saw someone who resembled me and is genuinely mistaken, or he is trying to make mischief. But it was unfriendly of him to spread such suspicions about a fellow soldier without confronting me with them first and asking for my explanation. I shall demand an apology from him.'
'Then I am sure he was mistaken,' Kate tried to persuade herself. 'I did not believe what he said, Jon, but it is strangely comforting to hear from you that I was right. But how long are you able to stay this time?'
'But a few days, my love. I must return by the eighteenth. The Exeter meeting is tomorrow, the fourteenth, and they hope to return within a few days. I must be back in case there is need of my service, either to speed the recruiting, which I fear is the most likely outcome of the talks, or to help with any other arrangements if they are successful.'
'So soon,' Kate said with a sigh.
' 'Tis better than my normal hurried visits on the way to Pendennis,' Jon reminded her, and she smiled and agreed, determined to make the most of this opportunity they had to be together.
*
The following day they took a boat and rowed along the river for some distance, as far as the little village of Golant which perched on the steep bank. They passed the old burial ground for lepers, and the remains of what was thought to be an ancient causeway built by the Romans to assist the crossing at this point, the lowest fordable part. When the water was clear the remains of the great stone path could sometimes be seen, clear of mud and weeds. The day afterwards they walked along the tops of the cliffs towards Gribbin Head, visiting the ruins of the tiny chapel once named after St Catherine, and admiring the little castle that had been built more than a hundred years earlier after the great priory of Tywardreath had been abandoned in the reign of the eighth Henry.
After she retired to bed that night Kate recalled she had left some wild flowers, picked as a memento of the walk and which she had intended to dry and keep, in the parlour. Fearing the maids might throw them away before she was up the next morning, she cautiously slipped out of the bed she shared with Morwenna, who fortunately was already asleep, and pulling her cloak about her felt her way to the door.
There was a candle left burning in a sconce in the hall, and so she could find her way without trouble. As she reached the head of the stairs there was a slight noise below and the parlour door opened. Kate paused, and saw Nick appear. He was dressed in a dark cloak and hat and she noticed with dismay he had pistols and a sword in his belt. Uncertain whether to reveal her presence, she hesitated, and while doing so saw Nick go to the door and quietly unhook the chain and draw the bolts. He slipped outside before she had determined on her actions. Then as she still hesitated, there was another figure in the hall, and she recognised Jon. Before she had time to cry out he too had slipped through the door and closed it gently behind him.
Kate went swiftly back to her own room, and careful not to wake Morwenna hastened across to the window which overlooked the front of the house. She was just in time, opening the shutters a fraction, to see Nick walking swiftly along the road that led towards Gribbin Head. Jon was not visible, but just as Kate was about to move away he appeared from the shadows of the hedge beside the gate and cautiously set off after Nick.
Kate could bear the uncertainty no more. She speedily pulled on a thick gown, and picking up her cloak and some stout shoes crept down the stairs and out of the house. There she had to pause to pull on her shoes and then, flinging her cloak about her and fastening the clasp as she ran, sped along the road in the wake of Nick and Jon, trying to keep as much in the shadows as possible while moving at speed.
There was no sign of either Nick or Jon all the way along the path which led from the house up on to the cliffs. Kate paused and looked about her, straining to see in the fitful starlight. She moved cautiously forward along the path over the clifftop, seeing and hearing nothing until she was close by the ruined chapel. Then she halted suddenly, for it seemed as though a shadow, more solid than the rest, had moved across the doorway. As Kate watched, tense with anxiety, again the doorway was momentarily darkened. What was happening, she wondered frantically. Were Nick and Jon for some reason meeting at the chapel? Remembering Nick's weapons she grew more fearful, and heedless of her own danger determined to stop them from harming one another if that was their intention. She could not imagine what they mig
ht have quarrelled about unless Nick had taken up Petroc's accusations, but there was trouble expected and she feared for Jon.
She moved silently forward across the smooth turf that spread towards the chapel and reached the doorway. Hesitating for barely a moment she stepped inside. Then everything seemed to happen at once. Kate's foot kicked a loose stone which rattled loudly against the side of the doorway. This noise, frighteningly loud in the silence of the night, was followed by the even more terrifying report of a pistol, and Kate, instinctively drawing back from the doorway after she had kicked the stone, felt a searing, tearing pain in her arm as she stumbled, lost her footing, and fell to the ground.
Chapter 7
Thinking back, Kate could not be sure whether it had been the pain in her head or that in her arm she had first noticed when she had regained her senses. She had come to herself to find someone bathing her temples with water while her arm was being tightly bound with a bandage. For a moment she lay still, and the words she heard made no sense to her, until she heard Jon's name mentioned. Then, forcing her disordered senses to obey her, she tried to follow what was said.
'It makes no odds. Why were you here?' The voice, to Kate's vaguely puzzled ears, sounded like Petroc's, and her first thought was that he could not be present for she had not followed him, only Nick and Jon. Then Jon spoke.
'I fail to see why I should answer your questions, Tremaine! Let us first carry Kate home. She is our first concern.'
'She was not when you shot her!' This was Nick, and Kate felt a strange surge of relief they were all three accounted for, while she wondered what Nick had meant.
'I did not shoot her, and will not be so accused! You both wish to discredit me, and I suppose will attempt to convince folk that two lies are better than the truth from one man!'
Kate felt an arm being slid beneath her shoulders, and she was raised gently to a sitting position. She groaned as the movement made her head throb violently.
'So you have awoken?' Petroc said quietly. 'Do not fear, you will soon mend.'
'My head!' was all Kate could mutter in reply.
'Do not try to talk. I am going to carry you home now, and when you are recovered a little will be the time to ask questions.'
He lifted her easily and she let her head rest thankfully against his shoulder as he carried her along the cliff path. She thought she heard Jon protest, but the pain in her head, aggravated by the movement as she was borne along, made concentration or thought impossible.
When they arrived at the Trevoses' house it was to find Mistress Trevose prepared and waiting for them. Afterwards Kate learned Nick had run on ahead to appraise his mother of the accident.
'Take Kate into the spare room at the top of the stairs,' she said calmly. 'Then no one else need be disturbed. Unless you wish for your mother, child?'
'No, do not disturb her,' Kate answered weakly. 'But what is the matter with my arm?'
'Do not talk,' her aunt admonished gently, but Petroc also answered.
'You were hit by a pistol ball, but 'tis only a graze and will soon mend. Then you hit your head on some stone, so that is why you must be still and patient.'
Kate sank gratefully into the soft feather mattress of the bed as he laid her down on it and closed her eyes, content to allow her aunt to remove the rough bandage that had been contrived and inspect the wound. She bathed it and applied an ointment, the receipt of which had been passed on to her by her husband's mother, she later told Kate. Then she bathed the gash on Kate's head and gave her a medicine to drink that would enable her to sleep, despite the pain.
'I shall remain here in case you need aught, but 'tis unlikely. You will sleep for several hours now.'
Kate closed her eyes and the next thing she knew was when she heard Morwenna's voice whispering close behind her. She opened her eyes and saw Morwenna talking to one of the maids, and for a moment could not remember how she came to be in a different room. Then she became aware of the dull ache in her arm, and looked, puzzled, at the bandage. Suddenly recollection of the night's adventure came flooding back, and she gasped, causing Morwenna to turn swiftly to her.
'Kate? Are you awake?' Morwenna asked gently, and Kate smiled weakly at her.
'At least my head does not hurt now,' she said, raising her uninjured arm to feel the large lump at the side of her head.
'Would you care for some milk and an egg? Mother says you cannot have aught else for a few hours.'
Kate considered. 'I do not know whether I can manage even that,' she said in some surprise. 'I feel unable to move!'
'You were badly hurt on your head, and lost quite a lot of blood,' Morwenna said gently. 'I will send for it, and if you do not wish to eat you shall not.'
Kate discovered, once the food was there, that she had not lost her appetite, and after having eaten felt much restored.
Morwenna told her she was to remain in bed for that day at least, and explanations were to wait.
'So you must not ask questions any more than I,' she said mock severely.
Soon Aunt Phyllis appeared to rebandage Kate's arm, and she gave Kate another dose of the medicine, very effectively sending her to sleep again, so it was late on the following morning before Kate was able to satisfy her increasing curiosity about what had happened.
'Nick came to rouse Mother, saying you had been shot. I slept through all the excitement!' Morwenna said regretfully. 'Petroc and Jon were accusing each other of having shot you. I thought both of them were being ridiculous.'
'Why were all three of them there in the chapel?' Kate asked.
'Petroc had received a note asking him to meet one of his sailors there. He was suspicious and took Nick with him. Jon says he also received a message, supposed to be from Sir Nicholas Slanning to meet one of the Royalists there.'
'He followed Nick,' Kate said slowly.
'How do you know?'
'I saw them. First Nick crept out of the house and Jon after him. That is why I went, for I was afraid when I saw Nick had pistols and a sword. I thought mayhap they intended to fight a duel.'
Morwenna stared. 'Why ever should they do that?'
Kate laughed, shamefacedly. 'I have no idea. 'Twas just that the thought came to me when I saw the weapons. I did not stop to think, but followed them.'
'Had Jon weapons also?'
'I cannot remember. I suppose he must have done, though I do not precisely recall seeing them. Who did shoot at me? Did they think I was some enemy?'
'Neither will admit it.' Morwenna was puzzled. 'Jon says he did not, and both Petroc and Nick say neither of them did. I cannot believe any of them were lying, so there must have been someone else there, possibly the person who lured them with false messages.'
'But who? And why should anyone want Jon and Petroc to be there together?'
*
This was unanswerable, and Kate had to wait until she was allowed to dress and make her way, shakily, down to the parlour for an hour after dinner. Nick had gone out but Jon was there.
'My dearest Kate!' he exclaimed as she entered, and sprang to help her into a chair.
For a few minutes they exchanged lovers' talk, then Kate began to ask questions.
'Who could have lured you there?' she asked, but Jon shrugged.
'I suspect Tremaine, but he will naturally not admit it.'
'He says you shot me.'
'That is a confounded lie, and I trust you do not believe it?'
'Of course not, unless it was by accident. You could not have known who it was, coming into the chapel. No one could, for it was too dark to see clearly.'
'I did not shoot you, Kate. I did not even have a pistol with me. Do you believe me?'
'Of course I do!'
'They, Tremaine and Nick, say neither of them shot you either. But they came up afterwards from opposite sides of the chapel and so could not have been certain. They both carried pistols.'
'Could it not have been someone else entirely?'
'Who? I think Tremain
e sent me the message, and is inventing the one he received. He still believes I am an informer. But what were you doing there, my Kate?'
'I saw Nick leave the house, and then you follow him.'
Jon looked puzzled. 'I did not follow him,' he said slowly.
'But I was upstairs, and I saw you leave the house almost immediately after he did.'
'That must have been pure chance. I did not see him or anyone else on my way to the chapel.'
Recalling how she also had seen no one, Kate nodded. ' 'Twas very dark,' she agreed.
'Oh, Kate! Foolish Kate! To put yourself into such danger!' He knelt beside her and held her hand tightly. 'I thought when we ran to you that you were dead. I do not think I have ever been afraid before, but I was terrified then. What if I had lost you? If we could never have married! I have thought much about it since, and know a little of what you must feel when I have to go off to fight. Forgive me, my sweet, and marry me soon!'
Kate drew in her breath sharply. 'Jon! You mean you have changed your mind? That we need not wait for this wretched war to end! Oh Jon, yes, of course I will!'
Jon embraced her tenderly, and they began to make plans.
'I must return to Sir Ralph at once, for he is expecting me when he comes back from Exeter. If the conference there has gone well I should be able to obtain more leave. Your father has to go to Falmouth for two weeks, and after that you should be well enough. I spoke with your parents yesterday and they are willing, if you wished it, to arrange for the wedding here in Fowey. St Fimbarrus Church will be a fine setting for us, Kate! In two or three weeks you will be my wife!'
Kate smiled happily, pleased Jon had come round to her view in this matter, but also delighted he should be so enthusiastic about the prospect. She had been worried slightly at his excuses, secretly asking herself whether a man truly in love would have made them, but now she was content, and with the prospect of so quick a wedding, less sad than usual when she waved farewell to him on the following morning.
*
Strife Beyond Tamar Page 8