The Mask Revealed (The Jacobite Chronicles Book 2)

by Julia Brannan

  The Mask Revealed

  The Jacobite Chronicles, Book Two

  Julia Brannan

  Copyright© 2015 by Julia Brannan

  Julia Brannan has asserted the right to be identified as the author of this work under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  DISCLAIMER

  This novel is a work of fiction, and except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Formatting by Trevor Gent

  Cover by Najla Qamber Designs

  To Jason Gardiner and Alyson Cairns, who taught me that I didn’t have to choose between love and freedom, but that both are possible. I love you dearly.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First of all, I would like to thank my good friend Mary Brady, who painstakingly read and reread every chapter as I wrote, spending hours on the phone with me, giving me encouragement, and valuable suggestions as to how to improve the book. I owe her an enormous debt of gratitude.

  I also want to thank my wonderful partner Jason Gardiner, who put up with me living in the eighteenth century for over two years while I wrote the first four books in the series.

  Thanks also to all the friends who read my books and encouraged me to publish them, including Alyson Cairns and Mandy Condon, who has already determined the cast list for the film of the books, and also to everyone who has read Mask of Duplicity, has given me their valuable feedback. I hope you enjoy book two as much as you’ve enjoyed book one!

  Thank you to the other successful authors who have so generously given me their time, advice and encouragement, especially Kym Grosso and Victoria Danann.

  Thanks also have to go to the long-suffering staff of Ystradgynlais library, who hunted down obscure research books for me, and put up with my endless requests for strange information.

  If I’ve forgotten anyone, please remind me and I will grovel and apologise profusely, and include you in the acknowledgements in my next book!

  HISTORICAL BACKGROUND NOTE

  Although this series starts in 1742 and deals with the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, the events that culminated in this uprising started a long time before, in 1685, in fact. This was when King Charles II died without leaving an heir, and the throne passed to his Roman Catholic younger brother James, who then became James II of England and Wales, and VII of Scotland. His attempts to promote toleration of Roman Catholics and Presbyterians did not meet with approval from the Anglican establishment, but he was generally tolerated because he was in his 50s, and his daughters, who would succeed him, were committed Protestants. But in 1688 James’ second wife gave birth to a son, also named James, who was christened Roman Catholic. It now seemed certain that Catholics would return to the throne long-term, which was anathema to Protestants.

  Consequently James’ daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange were invited to jointly rule in James’ place, and James was deposed, finally leaving for France in 1689. However, many Catholics, Episcopalians and Tory royalists still considered James to be the legitimate monarch.

  The first Jacobite rebellion, led by Viscount Dundee in April 1689, routed King William’s force at the Battle of Killikrankie, but unfortunately Dundee himself was killed, leaving the Jacobite forces leaderless, and in May 1690 they suffered a heavy defeat. King William offered all the Highland clans a pardon if they would take an oath of allegiance in front of a magistrate before 1st January 1692. Due to the weather and a general reluctance, some clans failed to make it to the places appointed for the oath to be taken, resulting in the infamous Glencoe Massacre of Clan MacDonald in February 1692. By spring all the clans had taken the oath, and it seemed that the Stuart cause was dead.

  However, a series of economic and political disasters by William and his government left many people dissatisfied with his reign, and a number of these flocked to the Jacobite cause. In 1707, the Act of Union between Scotland and England, one of the intentions of which was to put an end to hopes of a Stuart restoration to the throne, was deeply unpopular with most Scots, as it delivered no benefits to the majority of the Scottish population.

  Following the deaths of William and Mary, Mary’s sister Anne became Queen, dying without leaving an heir in 1714, after which George I of Hanover took the throne. This raised the question of the succession again, and in 1715 a number of Scottish nobles and Tories took up arms against the Hanoverian monarch.

  The rebellion was led by the Earl of Mar, but he was not a great military leader and the Jacobite army suffered a series of defeats, finally disbanding completely when six thousand Dutch troops landed in support of Hanover. Following this, the Highlands of Scotland were garrisoned and hundreds of miles of new roads were built, in an attempt to thwart any further risings in favour of the Stuarts.

  By the early 1740s, this operation was scaled back when it seemed unlikely that the aging James Stuart, ‘the Old Pretender,’ would spearhead another attempt to take the throne. However, the hopes of those who wanted to dissolve the Union and return the Stuarts to their rightful place were centring not on James, but on his young, handsome and charismatic son Charles Edward Stuart, as yet something of an unknown quantity.

  I would strongly recommend that you read Mask Of Duplicity before starting this one! However, if you are determined not to, here’s a summary to help you enjoy Book Two…

  The Story So Far

  Book One – Mask of Duplicity

  Following the death of their father, Elizabeth (Beth) Cunningham and her older half-brother Richard, a dragoon sergeant, are reunited after a thirteen year separation, when he comes home to Manchester to claim his inheritance. He soon discovers that while their father’s will left her a large dowry, the investments which he has inherited will not be sufficient for him to further his military ambitions. He decides therefore to persuade his sister to renew the acquaintance with her aristocratic cousins, in the hope that her looks and dowry will attract a wealthy husband willing to purchase him a commission in the army. Beth refuses, partly because she is happy living an unrestricted lifestyle, and partly because the family rejected her father following his second marriage to her mother, a Scottish seamstress.

  Richard, who has few scruples, then embarks on an increasingly vicious campaign to get her to comply with his wishes, threatening her beloved servants and herself. Finally, following a particularly brutal attack, she agrees to comply with his wishes, on the condition that once she is married, he will remove himself from her life entirely.

  Her cousin, the pompous Lord Edward and his downtrodden sisters accept Richard and Beth back into the family, where she meets the interesting and gossipy, but very foppish Sir Anthony Peters. After a few weeks of living their monotonous lifestyle, Beth becomes extremely bored and sneaks off to town for a day, where she is followed by a footpad. Taking refuge in a disused room, she inadvertently comes upon a gang of Jacobite plotters, one of whom takes great pains to hide his face, although she notices a scar on his hand. They are impressed by her bravery and instead of killing her, escort her home. A secret Jacobite herself, she doesn’t tell her Hanoverian family what has happened, and soon repairs with them to London for the season.

  Once there, she meets many new people and attracts a great number of suitors, but is not interested in any of them until she falls in love with Daniel, the Earl of Highbury’s son. The relationship progresses until she discovers that his main motivation for marrying her is to use her dowry to clear his gambling debts. She rejects him, but becomes increasingly depressed.

  In the meantime, the Jacobite gang, the chief members of whom are Alex MacGregor (the scarred man) and his brothe
rs Angus and Duncan, are operating in the London area, smuggling weapons, collecting information, visiting brothels etc.

  Sir Anthony, now a regular visitor to the house, becomes a friend of sorts, and introduces her to his wide circle of acquaintance, including the King, the Duke of Cumberland and Edwin Harlow MP and his wife Caroline. Beth does not trust the painted Sir Anthony and thinks him physically repulsive, but finds him amusing. Following an ultimatum from her brother that if she keeps rejecting suitors he will find her a husband himself, she accepts a marriage proposal from Sir Anthony, partly because he seems kind, but chiefly because he has discovered a rosary belonging to her, and she is afraid he will denounce her as a Catholic, which would result in her rejection from society and her brother’s vengeance.

  The night before her wedding, Beth is abducted by Daniel, who, in a desperate attempt to avoid being imprisoned for debt, attempts to marry her by force. Beth’s maid, Sarah, alerts the Cunninghams and Sir Anthony to Beth’s plight, and she is rescued by her fiancé. He then gives her the option to call off the wedding, but thinking that being married to him is the best of the limited options she has available to her, she agrees to go ahead as planned.

  LIST OF CHARACTERS

  Sir Anthony Peters, Baronet

  Lady Elizabeth (Beth) Peters, wife to Sir Anthony

  Sergeant Richard Cunningham, a Dragoon and brother to Beth

  Sarah Brown, formerly lady’s maid to Beth.

  Lord Edward Cunningham, cousin to Richard and Beth

  Isabella Cunningham, his eldest sister

  Clarissa Cunningham, his middle sister

  Charlotte Stanhope, his youngest sister, widow of Frederick

  King George II, King of Great Britain, Elector of Hanover

  Edwin Harlow, MP

  Caroline Harlow, his wife

  Lord Bartholomew Winter

  Lady Wilhelmina Winter, his wife

  Anne Maynard, impoverished great-niece of Lord Winter

  Lydia Fortesque, his daughter

  Jeremiah Johnson, a Puritan gentleman

  Thomas Pelham, Duke of Newcastle

  Gabriel Foley, leader of a smuggling gang

  Alexander (Alex) MacGregor, Highland Chieftain, currently living in England

  Duncan MacGregor, brother to Alex

  Angus MacGregor, brother to Alex

  Iain Gordon, liegeman of Alex

  Margaret (Maggie) Gordon, his wife

  William (MacGregor) Drummond of Balhaldie, a gentleman

  Graeme Elliott, formerly Beth’s gardener

  Thomas Fletcher, her former steward

  Jane Fletcher, wife to Thomas

  Mary Swale, a scullerymaid

  Ben, a boy servant

  James Stuart, (the Pretender), exiled King of Britain

  Charles Edward Stuart, his eldest son

  John Murray of Broughton, a Jacobite gentleman

  Katerina, maid to an Italian Countess

  Sir Horace Mann, British envoy in Florence

  Nathaniel and Philip, his clerks

  Sir Thomas Sheridan, tutor to Charles Stuart

  Father Antonio Montefiori, a priest

  Louis XV, King of France

  Marguerite, his mistress

  Henri Monselle, servant to the King

  PROLOGUE

  August 1743

  Once he’d divested himself of his shoes and his coat, he sank back into the chair, which was positioned in front of the hearth in his bedroom. As always, when he found himself alone at last, he sighed with relief. He enjoyed this nightly routine, needed it even. His days were so busy, so full of activity, that during them he couldn’t take even a moment for himself. He had to be constantly on the alert, and although physically he exerted himself less now than he had ever done, by the end of each day he was usually mentally exhausted.

  No matter how tired he was, before undressing and getting into bed, he would always sit for a few minutes and try to relax, to forget the worries of the day and let tomorrow take care of itself.

  He attempted to do the same tonight. He stretched his arms above his head and his feet out towards the hearth, in which a small fire burned merrily. He felt his muscles and tendons lengthen, and the tension in them melt away. Then he stared into the fire and waited for his mind to become hypnotised by the flames, to calm.

  After a few minutes, he sat back and sighed. There would be no peace for him tonight. He had been a fool to think there could be. He looked across at the bed, knowing he really should climb into it, and try to get some sleep. Tomorrow would be a long and arduous day, but that would be nothing compared to the days to come after that.

  He sighed again, and looked longingly at the crystal decanter of amber liquid that sat invitingly within arm’s reach on a small table at the side of his chair. No. He had had enough to drink this evening, and anyway, the only way he could calm his mind tonight would be to drink himself into a stupor, and he could not do that. He had to be sharp tomorrow; he wanted to be sharp tomorrow.

  He could only hope he was doing the right thing. He was not accustomed to taking stupid chances. Chances, yes; they were an almost daily occurrence, but they were all taken with the bigger picture in view. This, though, was a chance he could not justify in terms of the cause that had dominated his whole life for the past years. This was personal.

  He did not mind the risk to himself; but in what he was about to do, he risked his men, his family. He knew they thought his decision to be a wrong one, yet they would follow him nonetheless, and die for him and with him, without a word of censure, if it came to it. It was up to him to make sure it did not come to that.

  In that moment, as the fire burned lower and the candle in its holder on the table guttered, he was suddenly seized with the certainty that he was wrong. His instincts, which usually served him so well, had failed him, and he and those whose lives he held so dear, would pay for his recklessness with their blood.

  Somewhere in the distance a dog howled mournfully, twice. He shivered suddenly, although the room was not cold, crossing himself instinctively as protection against the Cù Sith, in case there should come a third howl, and then just as instinctively glanced around to make sure he had not been seen. Which was ridiculous, because he was alone in his room.

  He laughed out loud at this, and the black mood which had possessed him for a moment dissipated. He stood, moving away from the fire, and began to prepare himself for bed. His decision had been made. It was too late to go back now, and if he were being honest, he would not go back if he could. It would work out, as everything he’d done until now had worked out, in the end.

  He would make it so.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Beth had felt somewhat reassured by the actions of her fiancé on the eve of their wedding, sufficiently so that, against all her expectations, she had actually managed to sleep for a few hours. Impressive though it had been, it was not his rescuing her from the imminent prospect of a forced marriage to the impecunious and desperate Lord Daniel that had reassured her; it was his offer to release her from her promise in the carriage on the way home that had made her feel more comfortable about marrying him.

  She had no idea why he had made such an offer. After all, he had coerced her into agreeing to marry him by his unspoken threat to expose her as a Catholic and, by implication, a Jacobite. It was clear to her that whatever his real reasons for wishing to marry her, he had been willing to resort to blackmail to secure her reluctant agreement to his proposal. So why he had, at the last moment, given her the chance to back out, she had no idea. Maybe he had just acted on impulse, although it was becoming increasingly obvious to her that Sir Anthony Peters was not an impulsive man.

  But whatever his reasons, the fact that at the last moment he had truly allowed her the choice, had given her a sense of freedom, a feeling that to some extent she had control of her own destiny, something she had not felt since her father had died and Richard had returned home. And for that, at least, she was grateful to him.


  By the evening of the following day, however, all the camaraderie Beth had felt with Sir Anthony the night before had evaporated, replaced by renewed doubts as to whether she was doing the right thing.

  Whether she was or not, it was too late to worry about it now, she reflected, as she sank down wearily into her chair at the dinner table. In actual fact there were several tables; the head one at which Beth, Sir Anthony and all the Cunningham family were seated, and the rest adjacent to it, at which all the other guests were accommodated, nearly two hundred in total.

  It was a great relief to be able to sit down at last, and once settled, she slipped her feet unobtrusively out of her shoes and wriggled her crushed toes ecstatically, reflecting on the day’s events so far. To her satisfaction, she had managed to drag the cumbersome weight of her shimmering gown down the stairs and up the improvised aisle in the drawing room with surprising dignity, although the effort had left her momentarily breathless and flushed, which had merely enhanced her ethereal beauty, causing not only the bridegroom but also most of the guests to catch their breath. It was generally assumed that the blushing bride was overcome with the emotion of the occasion, and everybody expected her to swoon delicately away at any moment.

  They were disappointed. Beth gave her vows in a clear, confident voice. Sir Anthony, dressed tastefully for once in silver-embroidered cream silk, also made his responses unwaveringly, but as she raised her hand to his for him to place the ring on her finger, she noticed with surprise that his hands, gloved as always, were trembling as he placed the plain gold band on her ring finger. The trembling was slight, but not an affectation, Beth was sure of it. Until now she had avoided meeting his eyes, but once the ring was safely in place, she glanced up at him, surprising a look of such tenderness that she had looked away, momentarily confused by the rush of sympathy she felt for him.