Player's Wench

by Marina Oliver

  'You'll not be given a bill of health if you go near an infected house,' he warned, but she shrugged.

  'Then I will remain here, and care not what becomes of me.'

  *

  He could not persuade her to change her mind and finally left, saying he had certain preparations to make but would return in the evening. As soon as he had gone she flew down the stairs, and without telling Mistress Betsy where she was going, ran out of the house and sped towards the city.

  It was strangely quiet in the streets. In Drury Lane itself there were crosses on several doors, and watchmen stood outside. At the windows of one of the houses, a face was pressed against the pane, the nose flattened, and Honey spared a sad thought for the child whose life was so soon to be over, yet who watched the rest of the world go by so wistfully.

  She passed Temple Bar and was soon at Ludgate, her pace slowing as she climbed the hill. The churchyard, normally so busy with the stalls of the traders, was almost empty, and half of the shops were shuttered, while the rest did a little desultory business.

  Into Cheapside, and she stopped when she came to her own house. There was the terrifying symbol of death, and a bored looking watchman leaning against the wall outside the shuttered windows of what had once been a busy shop. Honey crept closer, but there was no sign of life from within the house, and the cross looked, even to her inexperienced eyes, to have been painted on the door some days since. It was a dull red instead of the bright, sticky hue of the more recent marks, and had been there long enough for flies and dust particles to stick to it. She walked slowly towards it and stopped, and the watchman looked across at her suspiciously.

  'Best move on, missee,' he said gruffly.

  'Who – who is in there?' she asked instead.

  'Why should you want to know?' he asked, pushing himself away from the wall and taking a step towards her.

  'I – I know the family,' she answered quickly. 'How many of them are still alive?'

  He shrugged, and turned away slightly.

  'They've all gone 'cept one of the maids. And she ain't been seen for two days. The dead cart'll fetch her tonight, and then my job's done here.'

  'All dead?' Honey repeated, staring at him as if she willed him to change the dreadful words, and then, her hands covering her face, she turned and ran blindly down the street until she could turn into the deserted churchyard through which she had escaped from the house so many months ago, on her expedition to the theatre.

  Here she sobbed unrestrainedly for a while, and then, thinking of her elder sister, and recalling Robert had not known for certain if Temperance were in London still, and if she were what had happened to her, she resolved she could not rest until she had tried to discover her fate.

  *

  Soon after her marriage Temperance's husband had bought a pretty little house, newly built, in the growing district of Clerkenwell, saying he wanted to escape from the smoke and stench of the city, and Honey made her way there as fast as she could. To her relief, she saw that the house, unmarked by the dreaded cross, appeared still to be lived in, and she timidly knocked on the door, fearing it would all be an illusion, and everyone was after all dead.

  A girl Honey did not know came to the door, and asked what she wished.

  'I must speak with Mistress Malgrave, if you please,' Honey said nervously, and was for a moment afraid the girl would deny all knowledge of her, and prove to be serving a different family. However, after regarding Honey with a trace of puzzlement, she held the door wider and invited her in.

  'Please to wait here,' she said, opening the door into a small parlour. 'I will fetch the mistress.'

  Honey paced nervously up and down, and turned sharply when the door opened.

  Temperance took a couple of steps into the room, and then stopped. Honey turned to her, and would have flung herself into her sister's arms when she was deterred by the haughty, disdainful look on Temperance's face.

  'Why have you forced your way in here?' Temperance demanded coldly.

  'I came because – Oh, Temperance, do you not know? Mother, and Patience, and everyone '

  'What of them?'

  'The house! They are all dead there. I heard there was a cross on the door, and went to see, and the watchman told me they were all dead!'

  'You did what?' Temperance replied in a furious tone. 'You have been in contact with a house of pestilence, and you dare to come here, bringing the infection with you? Out, this moment, and do not ever come back again!' she ordered, moving as far away from Honey as the confines of the room allowed.

  'But do you not care?' Honey asked, incredulous, and ignoring her dismissal.

  'I care very much that my household, which has so far been kept free of the contagion, should be endangered by the wickedness of one who has disgraced her name! Go! I never wish to see you again!'

  'But Mother, and Patience, and Father! They are dead, and cast into a common grave, and you do not appear to feel anything. How can you be so callous?'

  'They are not dead, as you would have realised if you had a grain of common sense. Father took them out of London the moment the plague came to the house.'

  'Out of London? Then they are safe? Oh, why did you not tell me at once!' Honey exclaimed, sinking down onto a stool beside the table in the centre of the room.

  'I would have thought that, since you abandoned us all, you had no more interest in whether we were alive or not!' Temperance said spitefully.

  *

  Honey had absorbed the fact that her family were still, so far as could be known, safe, and had been puzzling over something Temperance had said.

  'How,' she suddenly demanded, 'could Father take them away when someone in the house had the plague? People are forbidden to move, they must remain shut up in the house.'

  'And court certain death! Father is not so stupid! One of the wretched maids brought the infection back with her after she had visited her mother in Holborn, but when she sickened Father gave it out she had consumption, and obtained bills of health for himself, Mother, and Patience, and left that same night.'

  'Without the servants? He told lies to obtain a bill of health, and then left them to die?' Honey asked in disbelief.

  'He looked after his family!' Temperance snapped. 'As for the servants, it could not be helped. If they had all gone, it would have appeared too suspicious, and someone had to remain to look after the girl!'

  'So they died.' Honey remained silent for a moment, but when Temperance did not speak she went on. 'Where are they?'

  'I do not see it concerns you. You cut yourself off from the family when you ran away, and you have since disgraced us by your antics in that ungodly King's House, and your liaison with a mere player!'

  'You knew where I was?' Honey demanded.

  Temperance laughed, grimly.

  'Do you think we are witless? Even though you had the grace to change your name, and not openly dishonour ours, it soon came back to us that a slut the very image of my sister was flaunting herself on the stage, for every lascivious wretch to see her! And that was not all, for soon all the 'prentices of Cheapside were aware of it, and taunting us by asking how the player's wench did!'

  'I am not! I did not!' Honey gasped, shocked at the virulence of her sister's attack. 'Surely you did not believe that of me?'

  Temperance snorted. There was no other word for the sound of scorn and disgust she made.

  'In the first place,' she said with heavy emphasis, as though she were explaining something to a particularly dim witted child, 'we are told dozens of misguided trollops are turned away from the playhouses every week. They seem to think the open display of their wares will improve their business, and no doubt they are right! Secondly we hear you are become one of the players. How, unless you have someone to back you? It is clear someone has used influence on your behalf. Thirdly it is openly said you are living with one of the men of the company. The reasoning is clear, is it not!'

  'The reasoning may be, but the facts are no
t!' Honey said furiously. 'I am no whore! I do not live with one of the players! In any event, Gervase is not really one of them,' she added inconsequentially, 'but I am not his mistress! He helped us after Father threw Ben out, and when we had nowhere to go. We have rooms in the same house, that is all!'

  'Some might believe you,' Temperance said coldly. 'I do not.'

  'Then you may do as you please! When will Mother be coming back to London?'

  Temperance shrugged, and smiled at Honey with a look of triumph on her face.

  'I really cannot say, but not until the plague is gone away. Did you hope to be received back into the family? Has your lover cast you out, or left you? I suppose now the playhouse is closed down you need other support. Well, you will get none from me, and I know full well Father will never receive you again. You are dead to him. Go back to the stews of Drury Lane! You have chosen your path, and must follow it.'

  *

  Honey stared at her for a moment, and then rose, walked over to the door, and let herself out without a further word. Temperance watched her go, somewhat disappointed that she had not pleaded or broken down, begging for help. Outside the house Honey set off for her lodgings, and now her worry about her parents was stilled, she began to wonder what she had best do herself. Would it be better to do as Robert suggested, and leave with him for the country, or should she remain in London? Was there any possibility of Gervase returning? But even if he did, she reminded herself, there was nothing he could now do to disprove what Robert had discovered. His guilt was clear, and Robert seemed so certain he would find extra proof amongst Gervase's possessions.

  He should not, Honey suddenly decided. If there were papers, she would find them and destroy them. Gervase should not be branded a traitor if she could prevent it, for he had been exceedingly good to her, and without him to provide her with lodgings, and the start in the theatre, she would have been in a terrible predicament. Even if he were dead, and she gave a stifled sob on the thought, his name should not be sullied.

  With this determination in mind, she let herself quietly into the house. Mistress Carter was out shopping, she discovered, and only the maid was left in the kitchen. She sped up the stairs and past the door of Gervase's room. It was locked, as she had told Robert, but she knew the key of the room above, which was empty since the tenant had fled to the country a week ago, fitted. She seized the key and ran back to the first floor landing, and tremblingly unlocked the door.

  Inside the room she stood and looked about her, recalling with painful nostalgia the many hours she had spent there practising speeches. The table still had on it a pile of manuscript, and she remembered with a pang Gervase had mentioned he was writing a play which had a part in it suitable for her. Well, she would never now play that part, so she had best cease repining and do what she had to do.

  There were many books on a shelf, but Honey knew Gervase kept his papers in a small chest placed under the window, and she felt certain what she was looking for would be there. The chest was unlocked, and she raised the lid slowly, hating the thought she must pry amongst his personal papers, but knowing that if she were to save him from discovery it had to be done.

  There were some small, calf-bound books, and Honey picked them up and looked through them quickly, but none of them contained the sort of journal Robert had mentioned. One had lists of expenses and other accounts, and Honey did not linger over that. Another had what turned out to be love poems, and after reading a few lines which demonstrated an intense yearning for an unknown love, Honey put it quickly down, disturbed at this glimpse of such passionate longing in a man she had always thought of as calm and unemotional.

  None of the other books contained what she was searching for, and the rest of the papers in the chest were all neatly bundled together, tied with leather thongs, and would soon be dealt with. She lifted them out onto the floor, and as she did so a small box slipped from between them and fell back into the chest, falling open as it did so.

  Honey reached in to pick it up, and saw an exquisite gold locket, intricately worked, had fallen from the box. She picked it up, when there was a noise behind her, and she stood up quickly. The door opened, and Robert came into the room, stopping in surprise as he saw her.

  *

  'Honey! What are you doing here? I thought you had gone to the city.'

  She was too surprised and full of guilt at being discovered there to think properly, and wonder what he was doing walking into the room.

  'I have been there,' she replied in a low voice, 'but they are all gone.'

  'All of them? Oh, my poor Honey! It was as I feared, my darling. My poor little love!'

  Before she could explain there had been a misunderstanding, and her family were not dead as he had thought her to mean, he had come across the room and folded her into his arms, kissing the top of her head as she found herself resting her face against his shoulder.

  'I am all right,' she began, but he bent and quickly kissed her on the lips.

  'No, do not talk. I am here to take care of you now. I will take you away into the country until all this is over, and we shall be married there, my sweetest Honey. You need not fear anything more.'

  *

  Chapter 9

  Honey pulled away from him after a time, surprised she should feel nothing of the joy she had anticipated when Robert should propose marriage to her. Somehow the problem of protecting Gervase was of greater immediate importance.

  'Oh, I did not mean they were dead,' she said, smiling up at Robert. 'When I said they were all gone, I meant Father had taken Mother and Patience into the country, although I think he used dishonest means of obtaining passes. I saw Temperance, and she was also well, and told me what had happened. The servants were left in the house, and it was on their account, poor people, the cross was on the door.'

  'Then they are not dead? Nor Temperance?' Robert said in surprise, drawing away from her.

  'No, indeed, though Temperance behaved as though she wished I was,' Honey remarked, with a bitter laugh.

  'Oh, well, we can discuss Temperance later. What were you doing in here?'

  Honey stared at him defiantly. 'I could not believe Gervase was guilty,' she replied, 'and I was looking for the journal you mentioned. I have not found it.'

  'Have you searched through all the papers?'

  Reluctantly she shook her head.

  'Then you cannot be sure. I will help you look for what I know I shall find. But what is that you have in your hand?'

  'A locket I found,' Honey answered, showing it to him. Robert took it from her and examined it closely.

  'A beautiful piece of workmanship,' he commented. 'Why is there an "H"in the design? Did he intend it for you?'

  'An "H"? Where? Oh yes, I see. I had not looked so closely before, and had not seen it. Of course it is not for me! I do not know who it was intended for, I know very little of Gervase's private affairs,' Honey said slowly, thinking bleakly of the love poems she had seen.

  'So he is playing with you, is he?' Robert observed calmly. 'It is time you left him.'

  'Left him? He is not here, and from what you say might be dead!' she answered bitterly.

  'Then we might as well assure ourselves of his guilt and find those papers.'

  'No!' Honey exclaimed. 'You must not search for them!'

  'But I do not understand! You were searching for them yourself.'

  'And found nought,' Honey said desperately, for she could not confess to Robert her intention had been to destroy any incriminating papers she found. 'You must not remain here, for Mistress Carter will be home soon.'

  'Then the faster I search the better. I will not be foiled now, but if you do not wish to help me, you may wait for me in your room. When I have finished we will go back to my room for the night, and be ready to make an early start in the morning, so you had best go and pack what you wish to take with you. Here, I should take this locket too, for surely he meant it for you.'

  'You shall not search!' Honey decla
red. 'And I will not steal the locket! It is not for me!'

  'Oh, be a sensible wench and do not make so many objections! Go and pack your belongings!'

  'No! If we are to be married I prefer to make the arrangements from here,' Honey said slowly, hoping to distract his attention and prevent the search.

  'But the matter is rather different now, is it not?' he asked coolly. 'Do not mistake, Honey, I want you as much as ever, and mean to have you, but I cannot afford to wed a penniless girl cast off by her family!'

  *

  She stared at him in horror.

  'Then when you suggest I go away with you, you mean as your mistress?' she demanded angrily.

  'I beg you will not play me these tragedies!' he said, taking her by the arms and attempting to pull her into his embrace. She struggled to free herself.

  'You were ready enough to ask me to marry you when you thought I was orphaned, and heir to my father's fortune!' she gasped as she struggled. 'Oh, what a fool I have been! Now I see why you did not speak before! I'll never come with you, Robert Reade! You are despicable, but I am not like the doxy you keep in Long Acre!'

  'So you know about her, do you? But enough of this outraged innocence! You know you find me attractive, and Dunstone is either dead or denounced as a traitor. He cannot keep you any more, so why not take what I offer?'

  'Gervase has never been my lover!' Honey declared fiercely. 'He cares nought for me, he has only helped me to become an actress!'

  'If you insist,' he said impatiently. 'But he is a traitor! I mean to find the proof! And you will not prevent me.'

  He flung her from him, and she collapsed onto the chair behind the desk. She knew she was too weak to prevent him doing as he wished, and bowed her head wearily onto the table as he tossed the locket down on top of the manuscript, and bent to examine the bundles of papers she had tipped out onto the floor. For a few moments there was silence except for the rustling of paper as Robert went rapidly through the bundles, and then the door opened, and Gervase stood on the threshold, surveying them sardonically.

  *