Georgette Heyer (28 page)

  'I thank you, sir, but we believe William's sickness to be mending.'

  'The more reasons to have a care to him. These fevers are not generally understood, and much harm may result from them. Now, tell me: how long has the ague been gone?'

  'A full two weeks, sir,' replied Jane.

  'Two weeks? Ay, very good, very good, but has he been purged since it left him?'

  'Yes, indeed, sir.'

  Lassels, who had been listening in an agony to this inter change, tried at this point to engage Dr Gorges's attention, but without success. The doctor continued throughout the meal to ply Jane with questions, and to describe the various methods used in treating such disorders. She answered him to the best of her ability, but was very thankful when supper was at last over, and Eleanor Norton bore her off for a cosy chat with her in the winter-parlour.

  Several gentlemen from the neighbourhood had sat down to supper at Abbotsleigh, and when the two ladies went away together, the conversation soon came round to sport. Mr Norton desired the opinion of one of his friends on a fowling-piece which he had just purchased, and most of the men, including Lassels, went off with him to inspect it. Happily for what little peace of mind was left to Lassels, he did not observe Dr Gorges presently withdraw from the group.

  The doctor, who was no sportsman, was still consid ering the case of William Jackson, and had decided to see the sick man with his own eyes, and, if necessary, to prescribe for him. A waiting-man readily directed him to Lassels's bedchamber, and up went the doctor, puffing a little as he mounted the stairs.

  The King, who had just finished his supper, heard the heavy footsteps halt outside his door, and quickly got into his bed, drawing one of the panels a little, to shut out the light of the candle on the table near by. When he saw who was entering the room he shifted his position until he lay as near the wall as he could, with his face in deep shadow.

  The doctor came up to the bed, saying kindly: 'Well, my poor fellow, and so you are sick! I am sorry for it, and will do what I can for you. Let me take a look at you!'

  His hand had already grasped the candlestick, but the King groaned, and begged that the light might not be brought close, since it hurt his eyes.

  This did not at all surprise the doctor: he had met with such cases before, and assured the King that the weakness in his eyes would pass, if he would but follow his directions. He then possessed himself of the King's hand, and felt his pulse. He seemed a little disappointed to find it so strong but said that he could detect a flutter in it.

  The King, who thought this extremely probable, said that he had a great desire to sleep.

  'Ay, I daresay, and so you shall presently,' replied the doctor, pulling up a stool to the bedside, and sitting down upon it. 'You have been ailing a long time, have you not? That hand has not done any work this many a day, I can see. But you shall soon be hale again, I promise you.'

  The King withdrew his betraying hand. 'Ay, master, but indeed I am well-nigh recovered. I would not be wishful to trouble your honour.'

  But Dr Gorges, securely mounted upon his hobby horse, told him to put such qualms out of his mind, and began to question him very searchingly upon the nature and duration of his disorder. The King, who knew as little about agues as any other healthy young man, took refuge in wary groans, and when pressed, complained that his head ached so that he knew not what he was saying.

  The doctor left him at last, promising to tell his mistress of an excellent remedy for him, and warning him against eating too much red meat.

  He encountered Jane upon the staircase, and hailed her immediately, saying: 'Well, mistress, I have just come from Jackson's bedchamber!'

  A man less preoccupied with his own importance might have wondered to see the colour recede from Jane's cheeks. Dr Gorges noticed nothing, not even how her hand gripped the baluster, nor how the pupils of her eyes dilated.

  'Yes?' she said, her voice a mere thread of sound.

  'Ay, I have this instant come from him. Poor fellow, he is very sick still and cannot bear to have the light fall upon his eyes, which is a common symptom of his disorder. But we will speedily amend all. He must keep his bed, and take a strong posset before sleeping, to induce a sweat, which will greatly relieve him.'

  A tiny sigh broke from her. 'Yes. I thank you, sir. You are very good.'

  He disclaimed, detained her a few moments longer to listen to his instructions and then went off to direct Margaret Rider how to prepare the posset. Jane, who had first felt ready to faint, and then sick with the surge of relief, waited until he was out of sight, and sped down the passage to the King's chamber. She scratched upon the door, calling softly: 'May I enter?'

  'Come in, my Life!' he answered.

  She slipped into the room, and shut the door securely. The King had risen from his bed, and was standing in the middle of the floor. She looked across at him, her breast unquiet, and, hardly knowing what she did, went towards him with her hands held out. 'Sir, he knew you not!' she managed to say.

  The King took her in his arms. 'Why, my Life!' he said gently, feeling how her limbs were trembling. 'Why, sweetheart, what is this?'

  The cause of her agitation was suddenly forgotten. She stood still, her cheek laid against the King's chest. His hand caressing her bare shoulder made her shiver. Her fainting reason, struggling against the insistent tingling of her body, grew stronger. She said with a little gasp of breathlessness: 'No! No, my liege!'

  The King loosed his hold. If she were willing he would like, he thought, to lie with her. She was beau tiful, though not, his cynical mind reflected, of that type of bold handsomeness which most appealed to him.

  He watched her, half-waking desire in his expres sive eyes. He knew too much of women not to know that he could have his way with her, if he chose to exert his power a little. But the profligate in him could never, all his life long, quite overmaster the gentleman, any more than his lusty, urgent body could subdue his brain. His brain was working now, telling him that he would be a knave indeed to seduce this gently-bred girl to whom he owed his life. Suddenly he laughed. Jane looked quickly, questioningly, up at him. 'That rogue, Charles Stewart!' he quoted ruefully. 'Alas, sweetheart, I am not rogue enough to satisfy my needs.' He put his arm round her waist, and kissed her cheek. 'Be of good cheer, Jane! He did not know me.'

  She did not immediately answer him, but after a little pause she said: 'No. But his visiting you made me afraid. He will go away tomorrow. Yet this house is over-public. I know not how my lord may contrive to come to you here without exciting remark.'

  'Let Wilmot grapple his own problems,' said the King carelessly. 'If he is in this neighbourhood he will certainly come to me.'

  She agreed, but could not share his unconcern, for until Wilmot was once more in touch with the King nothing could be done towards hiring a vessel to carry him to France. Presently, when Lassels joined them, she spoke to him of this anxiety. He, feeling even more strongly than she the danger of allowing the King to remain long at Abbotsleigh, said instantly that if nothing were heard of my lord upon the following day, he would himself go into Bristol to try for a vessel. The fact of his being little more than a boy, quite inex perienced in such matters, made her look upon this resolve with considerable misgiving, but she acquiesced in it, taking comfort from the King's evident belief that Wilmot would surely come.

  The King slept soundly that night, and, waking early in the morning, got up and dressed himself before Lassels opened his eyes. Lassels had slept only fitfully, the encounter with Dr Gorges having taken such possession of his mind that he could not rest. As the dawn crept over the horizon, however, his youth cried out, and he sank into a deep sleep of exhaustion from which he was only aroused by the King's sprinkling drops of cold water on to his face from the tips of his fingers. He started up then in instinctive alarm, but the King was wiping his hands upon a towel, and laughing at him, so he knew, even in his bemused state, that no danger threatened.

  'You need not get up,' said Charles. 'I woke you only to tell you that I am hungry, and so am going down to the buttery to get me some breakfast.'

  'Oh, do not, sir!' begged Lassels. 'It shall be sent up to you here!'

  'No,' replied Charles. 'That would be folly, nor will I stay prisoned in this room all the time I remain at Abbotsleigh.'

  'But, sire, it is well-known that you have an ague!'

  'It is in the intermission today,' said Charles.

  He was gone before Lassels could advance any further

arguments against his exposing himself to the scrutiny of the household, and, drawing his hat over his eyes, found his way presently to the buttery.

  There were several strangers present there, in addi tion to the regular servants. Those near the entrance gave the King good-day, but no one appeared to take any particular interest in him, except Pope, the butler, who was dispensing bread-and-butter and ale, and who looked rather suspiciously at him from under frowning brows. As he handed him a plate with a slice of bread on it, he asked: 'Where might you come from? Where were you reared?'

  'In Staffordshire,' responded the King, taking a bite out of his bread. 'I am a tenant of Colonel Lane's, of Bentley Hall.'

  'Your master's an honest man, I know well,' said Pope. He picked up the blackjack at his elbow, and poured out a tankard of ale, and pushed it across the table towards the King. 'But as for you, Jackson (or whatever your name may be), you look to me like a Roundhead.'

  'Not I, i' faith!' said the King. 'I was never of that stamp.'

  'Well, I will try what metal you are made of,' Pope said, still frowning, but reaching out his hand for his own tankard. 'Will you drink to the King's health?'

  'Ay, with all my heart!' replied Charles. 'Here's wishing his Majesty a safe deliverance from his enemies!'

  The toast caught the ear of a man at the other end of the buttery, who was the centre of a small and inter ested group of serving-men, all of whom seemed to be hanging upon his lips. He called out: 'That's a good toast, but I warrant you the King will mighty soon be taken prisoner, and so you would say also if you knew him like I do.'

  Charles shot a glance at him from under the brim of his hat. He was a rough-looking man, dressed in a leather doublet and patched breeches, but he wore his hair long, in imitation of his betters, and the battered beaver on his head had a brave, rakish cock to its brim. He was evidently held in some esteem by those gathered round him, for they all watched him admiringly, and one of them begged him to tell them some more about Worcester fight. He was nothing loth, but straddled his legs, and at once took up his interrupted tale, saying: 'Well, lads, there was we, way out beyond the Sidbury Gate, and the ammunition all gone, and us fighting with the butt-ends of our muskets. Ah, and I accounted for a round dozen of red-coats myself. We had 'em on the run, I promise you, but the Scots – the black vomit on them for a set of lily-livered canting Convenanters! – they was a-laying down their arms fast as they might, and the King a-riding up and down the lines, so heedless and all he was like to have been cut down, only that I sees the red-coats round him, and I catches a pike like this, and smites 'em hip and thigh, as they'd say themselves, and so he got away.'

  A murmur of approbation sounded. The King picked up his tankard from the table, and strolled towards the group. A man in an otter-skin waistcoat said: 'And the King warn't killed in the battle? Folks do say as his body was found, all cut up horrid.'

  'It's a lie, for I was there myself, ay, and in the thick of it, and I say he got clean away. But for all that they'll have his head off yet, because he's a tall man, and one nobody could mistake.'

  'A thousand pounds they do be offering to any as'll help them to catch him,' observed a groom. 'It's a lot of money, so 'tis.'

  'They'll have him,' asserted the swashbuckling gentle man. 'Why, if I was to see him, I'd know him the instant I clapped eyes on him, no question.'

  'Ah, but you was one of those as was close to him!' said an obvious sycophant.

  'Close? Ay, I warrant you!'

  From the other end of the buttery, Pope said with a scornful laugh: 'Braggart's talk! The likes of you don't come nigh to princes. If you saw him once in your life it's the most you did.'

  The swashbuckler's chest filled. 'I've seen the King twenty times!'

  'What was your regiment?'

  The sudden question came from the King, and brought him under the gaze of six or seven pairs of eyes.

  'The King's regiment, my bully!'

  'Colonel King's regiment? I have heard there was such a regiment.'

  'Ho, you have, eh? May be you'm right, but when I says the King's regiment, the King's regiment is what I means! I was of his own Guards, in Major Broughton's company, and them as says I don't know him lies in their teeth!'

  The King's mouth was full of bread-and-butter; he washed it down with a draught of ale, and enquired: 'What kind of a man is he, then?'