by Smith, Skye
After the hugging was finished, she seduced him with a drink of hot cacaolait to get him to stay longer to tell them his news and to bounce her baby. Daniel saw Thomas looking a bit worried, and he assured him that he hadn't come to reclaim the gold that he had leant to him. "No, I've come to ask a favour of Alice."
She looked up from her richly dark drink and said, "Name it."
"My step-daughter, Teesa, has taken it in her head to visit London."
"Oh but of course she may stay with us,” Alice said with relief and took another sip of sweet heaven.
"I don't mean right away, or perhaps never,” Daniel explained. "She is staying with friends at Warwick House, but if things go badly there she may need a sanctuary and someone to see that she catches the Cambridge Coach."
"Oooh,” Alice’s voice had a naughty tone. "Who does she know to live in such a palace."
"The Earl himself, and therein lies the problem. When it comes to city gentlemen she is still very naive."
"Why do I have the feeling that her naivety is only a part of the problem. Is she of age and comely?"
"Very,” Daniel replied. He knew that Alice of all women would understand. She had once been corrupted by the noblemen of Bridgwater ... the Wyndham men ... vicious buggers. "Thank you so much, Alice. I already feel relieved."
* * * * *
The streets that led him from Saint Paul's towards Warwick House in Holborn were cleaner and less crowed than those of the old town closer to the river. That is, until he asked directions from a local who sent him on a short cut through Smithfield Livestock market. Between the smell of the pens of animals awaiting slaughter, and the sorry state of the cheap labour supplied by Saint Barts poorhouse, he swore off eating meat while in London.
The manor at the end of Greville Road was indeed a palace, complete with spacious grounds and outbuildings such as stables. Unfortunately in his hurry to speak to Teesa he had neglected to bring along his fine cloak to hide his seafarer's togs, or his wide brimmed cavalier hat to hide the state of his unkempt blond hair. Of course this did not escape the notice of the gate keeper, and of course Daniel was treated like a ne'er-do-well come begging for work.
How had he ever expected to get beyond the gate dressed like this? On his previous stays in London with Henry Marten, he had met many politicians and Parliamentarians, but until lately this had not included Earl Warwick, and so he had never been to this house before. Warwick ran with a different circle of politicians from Henry ... the Broughton Circle, who were mostly wealthy Lords.
During the dozen years when Charlie refused to call parliament into session, the few lordly politicians who were critical of Charlie created a kind of shadow parliament which met at Broughton castle. The circle included the owner of the castle, Viscount Saye-and-Sale, as well as Earl Warwick and Baron Brooke. It was they who had funded John Hampden in his long legal battle against the king's shipmoney tax.
He had dined many times with John Hampden and John Pym at Henry Marten's London townhouse, so now he lied through his teeth to the gatekeep and explained that he had an urgent message for the Earl from the poorly Mr. Pym. The gatekeep looked at him askew through the bars and simply told him to pass him the letter and he would see that the Earl got it.
"It is to be delivered in person. It is not only vital, but requires a response,” Daniel explained quietly as if such information was a secret.
"The Earl is not at home."
"Then I will wait, but not out here in the street where the king's men will doubtless grab me."
The insinuated danger had the gatekeep off his stool and rushing to open the small door in the great gate. The man could not leave his post, so he yelled to a passing gardener to take the stranger to the kitchen where he could be fed something while he waited for the Earl. He was led through the formal garden, the vegetable garden, and then the herb garden around the back to reach the kitchen doors. The kitchen was far larger than the one at Rochford but then so was this house. It was a kitchen of the size to serve up large dinner parties, so the staff had no problem finding him some tasty leftovers.
He sat beside a kitchen girl at a big oak preparation table and swallowed a few mouthfuls of a tasty game pie before he whispered to the girl, "Please miss. Could you go and tell Miss Teesa that her father needs to speak with her. Shhh, it's a secret."
One thing he had learned about the servants of great houses was that they were all eager to learn a secret that no one else knew, for such would give them leverage over the other staff. The girl waited until the kitchen women were facing away and then she crept to the back staircase and tiptoed up the stairs. She returned mere minutes later with an upstairs maid in tow. The upstairs maid told him to follow her, and together they climbed the back stairs.
The room he was shown into was bigger than Teesa's entire thatch house back in Wellenhay, and it had its own chimney and a bed wide enough for two. Teesa was standing in front of a full length mirror stroking and pushing up the bust-line of a costly looking dark green velvet gown. She turned to him and said woefully, "I was hoping you wouldn't come to get me ... but I suppose I always knew that you would. You owe that much to my mother."
Daniel stared at her voluptuous form, and how mature she looked. How was it that he hadn't noticed before how much she had grown up? Where was his gangly tomboy? "When did you grow such breasts?" were the clumsy words that spilled out of his mouth.
"Oh these,” she reached down her neckline and pulled out what looked like a doll's pillow. Suddenly her bust line looked like it was signaling a right turn. "Roberts daughter Frances was bigger than me when this dress was made for her. I'm just trying to make it fit me better without resorting to needle and thread." She looked over at the maid and said crisply, "C'est tout, Marriette, and you may close the door."
When did Teesa learn to order French maids about? "I've not yet decided whether you may stay. First I need to speak with Warwick, and he is not at home."
"No, he rushed off to Westminster palace. Something about the House of Lords and the Irish. He should be back soon though."
The girl knew nothing about what hard drinking timewasters the members of the House of Lords were. "I have no choice but to wait. Do your new skills include knowing how to order a parched man a cup of wine?" She surprised him completely by reaching to a pull rope that hung beside the bed. A moment later Marriette returned and was sent away again to bring some wine. Daniel groaned. There would be no living with Teesa after this.
After a valet, rather than Marriette, had served them wine, Daniel began his birds and bees talk. "You don't know what the nobility are like. They are lechers. You will be his plaything like, like, like a little boy playing with an ant, and eventually his play will turn rough until he crushes you and then he will throw you away and forget you and move on to another plaything."
"He's not like that. He is a gentle man. He says that I bring back his youth. That when he is near me he feels young once more."
"Let me tell you about Christian gentlemen. In their view there are only two types of women. Their wives, sisters, mothers, daughters are angels ... and every other woman is a whore. They will dress you up and show you off and put you on a stage as if you were a player, and they will even worship you, so long as you never have sex with any of them. The moment that happens, you are a whore, and that is how they will treat you from then on."
"But Danny, this is my big chance. Not only my one chance to see and live in London, but to do it in style. Yes he will dress me up and show me off. He has already told me that. I will be his escort to all the finest parties. All I need do is pamper him in public to make him the envy of other men."
"Are you sure that is all you must do,” Daniel gave her 'the stare'.
"I have already refused him my bed. I told him that I was saving my virginity for my husband. He accepted it. All he wants is for me to be at his side; to make him feel young with my smiles, and my teasing, and my company. What's so funny?"
Daniel s
tifled his mirth. "And he truly believed that a Frisian clanswoman of your age was still a virgin?"
"He also believes that we are Anabaptists, so I suppose so, yes. Oh please let me stay. What is the worst that can happen? So I have an old man slobbering over me every once and a while. It will be worth it."
"When it is no longer worth it, I have arranged a sanctuary for you. Now pay attention. From everywhere in London you can see Saint Paul's Cathedral. If there is trouble then flee to it."
"You've arranged a sanctuary for me with alter-boy-humping priests? Eeww... no thank you."
"Would you listen. One of the main roads leading away from Saint Paul's is called Cheapsides. On Cheapsides near the church there is a goldsmith called Smythes. Go to his shop and ask for Alice, his wife. She is Rob Blake's little sister, and she will deny you nothing until Smythes can find a way to send you home."
"So I can stay?"
"I haven't decided yet. I told you, I first need to speak with Warwick. It worries me that his wife Susannah no longer shares his bed. That may mean that he has the French Pox. The man was a sea faring privateer in his youth, and he is a wealthy lord, so there is a good chance he has the pox."
"He told me that Susannah doesn't like sex any more."
"Well that is just not true. You saw her panting at my bedroom door,” Daniel pointed out. "That is one of the things he must explain to me. It's not as if you ran away to be with someone like Rob Blake. Him I know and trust. I hardly know Warwick, but I do know that he allows slavery on his plantations in the Americas. How can any young woman ever trust a slaver? How can she take the risk that she may be sold to someone else, as if she were a prize cow."
"But he says he will take me to the best clubs, and..."
"Well that is one thing I can say right now. You are forbidden to go to clubs with him. Gentlemen's clubs in London are just very exclusive whore houses. Some are renown for hosting parties where the gentlemen share their latest mistresses."
"Oh. OOHH!" she exclaimed as the full meaning of his words swirled through her mind. There was a knock at her door, but before she could say 'come in' Warwick opened it and came in. "I was told that you were entertaining a messenger from John Pym in your room,” Warwick said softly. "May I join you?"
"Yes, please do come in,” Daniel replied politely.
Warwick stumbled over the carpet and his indecision. Part of him wanted to flee to the safety of his lifeguards from the company of this dangerous father, while the other part wanted to tell this man what he had just found out about the Irish. He saved his balance, quelled his fears, and came further into the room. By summoning all of his courage, he managed to close the door without calling his men to him.
"There are only two cups for the wine, my dear Teesa. Do you mind if I share yours?" He swallowed it down, all of it. "I suppose you have come to take her away. I can't blame you for I wouldn't trust such a delight to an old rake like me. A shame really, for through my eyes she would have had a glimpse of the ruling elite that few women ever see, and through her eyes I would have had a glimpse of the same elite through fresh young eyes. Would you leave her with me if I sent for Susannah to be our chaperone?"
"Yes."
"Then I will send for her, but it will take most of a week before she arrives. Meanwhile your ship has pressing business in the Netherlands. I assure you she will be quite safe with me in the meantime."
"Remember when we first landed in London,” Daniel told him, "and those rough louts were on the dock waiting for us to throw them the lines? Remember the lewd calls once they realized that our tillerman was a comely young woman? Teesa is more than just a comely woman, she is a Frisian clanswoman. What do you think the crew would have done to any of those dock louts had they grabbed at her or harmed her?"
Warwick shivered, not because of the obvious answer to the question, but because of how this dangerous father's eyes had turned from happy blue to steely grey while he had been talking. "I get the message, but believe me when I say that I would also have beaten any lout that did her harm I assure you that Teesa will be as safe in this house as one of my own daughters. I will even introduce her as my niece."
"No, not a niece,” Daniel replied. "Instead introduce her as the daughter of your good friend, who is currently on the run from the law for cutting the balls off the last man who messed with her."
The father's eyes turned back to their normal blue, and Warwick felt at ease again and sat down close to the jug of wine and poured himself another cup, right to the brim.
"So Teesa, do you still want to stay here even though Susannah will soon be joining you?" Daniel asked.
"Of course. All the better. She is wonderful. Perhaps she will teach me more of the mannerisms of the nobility so I won't embarrass everyone."
"So long as you don't learn the vanity, self-importance, and snobbery,” Warwick saluted her by drinking half the cup, and then passed it to her for a sip.
"And you truly expect me to leave a cherished daughter in the hands of a pirate and a slaver?"
"That was the young me, the privateer me,” Warwick explained, "one of the men who were trying to keep up the traditions of Drake and Hawkins despite the snot-nosed Stuarts. Let's see, twenty years ago there was me and Courten, ... Carlisle and Buckingham, bloody Buckingham. Each of us had a fleet of privateers, and we were winning against the Spaniards.
Do you know that in the House of Lords today there are but a handful of us that have ever captained a ship. In Elizabeth's day, every Lord had ships. We live on an island for Christ's sake. Bah, you aren't old enough to remember the way it was. Elizabeth knew that England could never best Spain, fleet against fleet. The Spanish empire was too rich. A million a month in gold was coming to them on their galleons. Instead she sent out privateers like Drake to hound them and to capture the occasional galleon."
"And like you, Robert?" Teesa asked.
"Even I am not that old,” Warwick replied with a frown. "Elizabeth's privateers explored the world. Drake even circled it. We had colonial ventures everywhere, even on the Amazon River. After she died, our companies kept up the good fight despite the incompetence of James Stuart, but then bloody Charlie was crowned and he had that ass Buckingham go fleet to fleet against the Spanish at Cadiz. Oh how he was humbled.
Ten years ago Charlie had to sign a peace treaty with Madrid and enact the Shipmoney tax to replace his lost fleet. Under the terms of the treaty, Charlie had to punish some of the Pope's enemies, so he made life miserable for English Puritans, and revoked all the privateer contracts. That was why I switched my ships from hunting treasure ships to supporting Pilgrim colonies. Without the support of the king I couldn't keep Elizabeth's vision going, but at least I could keep the colonies going. Since then I have helped to plant a dozen new Pilgrim settlements on the coast of New England."
"So is Charlie's peace treaty with the Spanish why you want rid of him?" Daniel asked in a whisper. "Is that why you formed the Broughton Circle?"
"The Broughton Circle, hah, that is the gossip of washer women,” Warwick also spoke in a whisper. "That was why we formed the Providence Company. Every parliamentarian who is pushing reform on the king is a shareholder, an officer or at least is in the pay of the Providence Company. The king thinks it a company formed to colonize an island, the Spaniards think it is a cover for privateers, but in truth we formed it as a tool to help us get rid of this Stuart regime once and for all."
"And leave who as king?" Daniel asked quietly, "You?"
"Why not me? If it weren't for my companies and my privateers, England would have no colonies left in the Americas. Besides, there is more English blood in my veins than in Charlie's."
"I would rather a king be chosen by merit than by blood." The two men were now leaning their heads towards each other to be almost touching so they could speak ever more softly.
"You've been to Massachusetts,” Warwick voice rose a bit. "Do you know why it is so different from other colonies? Because their charter gives a
hundred acres to each family, and protects their civic rights. That charter was my doing. There is no other document like it on this earth. Would that all Englishmen were protected by the like. If I were king, a Bill of Rights would be enacted straight away. But I've said too much, far too much. We were speaking of Teesa." He grabbed the girl's hand. "I will not wrong Teesa, I swear it."
"I accept your oath,” Daniel announced, "and I will let her clansmen know that you have made one." Teesa squealed in delight and gave Daniel a hug before she danced over to hug Warwick.
There was something about Daniel saying he would tell her clansmen that unnerved Warwick, but the oath was already made. Warwick pushed her layers of silk away so that he could see Daniel again before he said, "Before you leave, you should hear what I just found out about the king's current situation from the Earl of Lindsey, the keeper of the palaces of Westminster. Do you know Lindsey?"
"I met him just once, and Teesa has too. We argued over a football match. He said that the pitch was too wide, but we ignored him. Teesa even tussled with one of his daughters. It would be best if you kept Teesa far away from that man."
"Duly noted. The man is a rat's bastard but I pretend a liking for him. The Westminster clerks all answer to him and therefore he sees things not meant for my eyes. Well, according to Lindsey, Charlie has foxed himself again. Have you ever heard of a General Leslie?"
Daniel did not want to mention that he had fought under the general, but he did rattle off, "The Swedish field marshal on loan to the Scottish parliament. The general of the Covenanter army. The general who has humbled the king's army twice, and did so without resorting to slaughter. The same general who controlled Newcastle and the coal fields until Charlie agreed to a peace treaty."