Daughters of England Page 15

  There would be crowds on the banks of the river to watch the royal party, and Kate was eager to be among them.

  I was a little anxious about Maggie. Standing for long periods, which was inevitable on such occasions, tired her very much. I wondered if I should dare suggest she stay behind. But I soon realized that that was out of the question, hearing her talking excitedly to Kate. Maggie would be there.

  It was hardly the time of year for such ceremonies. November can be a dark and dreary month and this was no exception.

  The crowds had assembled along the bank close to Whitehall Stairs, and everyone tried to see the royal barge arrive.

  It was indeed a sight. The barge itself, the King immediately recognizable among the company, his tall stature, his magnificent wig of black curls, his feathered hat. He was indeed a King. I watched Kate’s dear face suffused with pleasure and excitement.

  “There is the Duke of York beside the King,” cried Maggie. They were a handsome pair, I thought, and the bride was beautiful. But she looked frightened, as though she were not sure of what was going on.

  The people cheered her for her youth and beauty. They forgot, but only temporarily, that she was a Catholic.

  And then, among those elegant courtiers in the King’s immediate circle, I saw him. He was chatting and laughing and I felt that mingling of pain and excitement which he would always arouse in me. I gripped Kate’s hand firmly. She was unaware of this. I looked at Maggie. Had she seen him?

  The people were cheering wildly. The cheers, I think, were for the King. He never failed to generate this applause wherever he went. There must be some among that crowd who remembered the days of Puritanism and delighted that they were gone and that life was merry under King Charles.

  The King had stepped ashore. He had helped the little bride to do the same. He kept her beside him, holding her hand, smiling at her reassuringly, and she seemed to cling to him. And there was the Duke of York, smiling…looking happy. He had the Stuart charm, but not to the same extent as his brother. I thought in that moment that the people would have liked him well enough if he had not openly become a Catholic.

  In spite of the august company, it was Jack of whom I was most aware. He had stepped ashore. He would pass very close by us.

  There was a sudden surge forward and I was almost thrown off my feet. Kate fell and went down forward.

  “Kate!” I called in alarm.

  I saw Maggie’s white face beside me. Kate was on the ground. Maggie was desperately trying to hold off the crowd. I murmured, “Oh, God, help,” as I tried to reach Kate. A hundred terrifying thoughts passed through my mind in that split second. I had heard of people being trampled to death at times like this. Now it was my turn to try and hold back the crowd. Kate had disappeared from view. Maggie was trying to push forward, but her limbs were stiff and she had lost her agility.

  Then I heard a familiar voice.

  “Stand back! Stand back!”

  It was Jack Adair.

  The crowd immediately gave way to such a fine gentleman. He was forcing his way through. I saw Kate lying on the ground. He was beside her and picked her up. He was smiling his charming smile.

  “All’s well,” he said. “No bones broken.” Then: “Stand back, I say! Cannot you see that a child has fallen?”

  His voice was authoritative. He was obviously a gentleman of the court. Some of the people might have seen him leave the King’s party.

  He stood with Kate in his arms and turned to look at Maggie and me for a moment. Then he said: “Come, follow me. Keep close.”

  He had moved down to the river’s edge and there he knelt down and laid Kate on the grass.

  She said: “It’s all right, Mama…Maggie. I was frightened, though.”

  “Of a surety you were,” said Jack. “Who would not be? Now, let us see if any harm has been done. Can you stand up?”

  She did so.

  “That is wonderful. Any bruises? No, I think we arrived in time. Crowds like that can be ugly.”

  He was watching Kate all the time he was speaking. I could not help noticing that she was charmed by him. He must appear to her to be a gallant gentleman, and one of the King’s party, too.

  “Thank you, sir,” she said. “You saved me.”

  “Right glad I am to have done so.”

  Neither Maggie nor I had spoken. We were too shocked, and overcome with relief to know that Kate was safe, though deeply concerned because of who was her savior.

  I knew that Jack was aware of our feelings and I guessed rather amused by them.

  He said: “Now, I shall conduct you to your home. You will have finished with sightseeing this day, I’ll warrant.”

  “Oh,” began Kate, “I am all right.”

  “My dear little girl, you have been shocked. But I am going to be a dictator and tell you that you are to go home, and I know you will not like this, but you should have a little rest.” His eyes surveyed me. I could see that he was enjoying this adventure. He had seen his daughter, spoken to her, shown himself to her—in the best possible light—and, of course, he was amused by my discomfiture.

  “Are you a doctor?” asked Kate.

  He shook his head. “Alas, no. At this moment I wish I were. But I know my advice is sound. So I shall get a carriage and take you home.”

  “It is not necessary,” I began.

  “I beg your pardon, madam, but I think it is, and I shall not allow you and my good friend Mistress…”

  “Kate,” cried Kate. “I’m Kate. Well, Katherine really.”

  “But Kate to friends,” he said. “Well, Mistress Kate, I am going to take you home in a carriage because I believe it to be very necessary.”

  “Where is the carriage?” asked Kate.

  “I will send for it.”

  There were several soldiers standing on guard near the river stairs and he called to one of them.

  “Bring me a carriage. There’s been an accident.”

  To the delight of Kate, the man obeyed immediately.

  I looked at Maggie. She had not spoken at all, which was unlike her.

  I could sense the tremendous relief she felt. I believe neither of us just yet could think of anything else. When we had seen Kate fall down before that press of people such fear had overtaken all other emotions and we had not yet rid ourselves of it.

  We had to keep staring at her to remind ourselves that she was unharmed.

  And our joy was all due to him…Jack Adair, Lord Rosslyn, the court dandy who had betrayed me so callously.

  Maggie’s face was pale and I saw the lines of fatigue on it. She should not have come. She was no longer fit for these strenuous excursions.

  I felt completely bewildered. He was going to take us home, after which we would thank him, as though he were a stranger who had come to our help. We must not let Kate know that he was her father. He must take us home—after all, Maggie needed a carriage and we could not be sure what effect the accident had had on Kate. Surely he must then say goodbye and go away. Which might well be what he would wish. This was just an isolated adventure to him.

  He was evidently a man whose orders were obeyed, for the carriage appeared very quickly.

  He helped us in. Kate could not contain her enjoyment.

  “A carriage!” she cried. “Are you the King’s friend?”

  “We are all friends of the King, I hope.”

  “I mean a real friend…do you talk to him?”

  “I have done so…on occasion.”

  “It must be wonderful to be at court. How did you get to us so quickly?”

  “I saw you in the crowd and I realized what was about to happen. Crowds will do that. Something of interest happens and they all want to go in a new direction to get a better view. They rush forward…people get swept off their feet, and if they fall, well, that can be dangerous. The crowd does not care…it goes forward…”

  “Walking over you,” said Kate, her eyes round.

  He nodded. “But I
was here just in time, was I not?”

  Kate laughed. “I liked the way you made them stand back. You told them to and they did.”

  “It’s what is called the voice of authority.”

  I knew that she was charming him as he was her, and my uneasiness increased.

  I said: “It was a good thing you did, sir. We both thank you, and so does my daughter.”

  “It has been a great pleasure,” he said, looking intently at me. “I am so delighted to have been of assistance to your charming daughter, madam.”

  I wondered what Maggie was thinking.

  At last she spoke, but all she said was: “This is the house.”

  We alighted. He seemed as though he were expecting to be asked in. I saw Maggie’s lips set firmly together.

  “We thank you, sir,” she said.

  He took her hand and kissed it. She drew it away very quickly.

  “It was a good deed you did…today.” She emphasized the last word. She meant it was a good deed but it did not exonerate him for the cruel trick he had played on me.

  “I thank you too,” I said.

  He then took my hand. “I must perforce be allowed to kiss it,” which he did lingeringly, and in such a manner as to bring back memories.

  “I thank you too, sir,” said Kate. “You saved me from being trodden on by all those people.”

  She held out her hand. He took both of her hands and held them while he smiled at her.

  “How glad I am that I was there. I have rarely been so happy about anything in all my life. It is a great pleasure to me to have made the acquaintance of Mistress Kate.”

  I took Kate’s hand and drew her to the door. He bowed and turned back to the carriage.

  Kate had suffered no hurt from her adventure; indeed, she was greatly stimulated by it. She could talk of nothing but her interesting and charming rescuer.

  When she was in bed that night, Maggie and I talked.

  “What do you make of it?” said Maggie. “It almost seemed as though he arranged it.”

  “He couldn’t have arranged for the people to have surged forward just when he was on the spot.”

  “I thank God that he was,” said Maggie. “But I would rather it had been anyone else who had rescued Kate.”

  “It may be that it was not entirely coincidental, Maggie. I have a notion that he has had some sort of watch on Kate for some time.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He knows she is his daughter and I suppose a father would be interested in his own child.”

  “Mayhap in a passing fashion. These men of the town—libertines, all of them—they want to amuse themselves with a woman and then be off. I never heard of them being overeager to share in the consequences.”

  “Perhaps he is not like the rest.”

  “You are trying to excuse yourself for having been so foolish as to have been deceived by him, perhaps,” said Maggie with her customary frankness.

  “That may be. But I have now and then caught a glimpse of him…sometimes when I have been out with Kate. I have avoided looking closely and tried to pretend I was mistaken. He was there this day in the crowd. I saw him before it happened. He saw us too. That was why he was on the spot and saw the crowd pressing forward. He could have been watching Kate at that moment.”

  “Let us thank God that he was. I must say, it was good to have him close then. She could have been trampled underfoot. And you had to admire the way he did it. ‘Stand back!’ he said. And then he had them all doing his bidding, and that is not easy with a crowd like that.”

  “He was very interested in her.”

  “She’s a very interesting child.”

  “Maggie, I am worried about him. He…I think he liked her very much…and she liked him.”

  Christobel

  HE DID NOT, AS I had feared he might, attempt to renew his acquaintance with Kate, and as the weeks passed into months, I began to think that Maggie was right. His interest in her was only fleeting.

  Then Christobel Carew came into our lives.

  It happened about two months after that encounter with Jack, and Kate had ceased to talk about him. I hoped that she had forgotten the incident.

  Maggie had kept in touch with Jenny Crowther, and Jenny often called. Often I returned home to find her in the parlor and she and Maggie would be exchanging reminiscences of their early days.

  One day, when I came in, I knew at once that something had happened—Maggie, who could never hide her feelings, was excited about something and was eager to tell me what it was.

  Jenny Crowther was there, and obviously shared Maggie’s knowledge.

  “Well,” I said, “what is the news?”

  “Come and sit down,” said Maggie, “and I’ll tell you all about it.”

  “Don’t tell me that Charles Hart or Thomas Killigrew is begging you both to play the leads in some magnificent production.”

  “Pigs do not fly,” said Maggie.

  “That means that it is not your news.”

  “Something far more interesting.”

  “I should have thought nothing could be.”

  “Stop teasing and listen. Jenny has been telling me about a young lady. She comes from Somerset and of a very good family. Lord of the manor and that sort.”

  “She has been brought up to be the perfect lady,” said Jenny. “The Carews of Somerset have been an important family for the last three hundred years.”

  “Very commendable, but what of this young lady?”

  Maggie continued: “They have recently lost their money. A disastrous fire and debts and so on. This young girl is without means and a home. She has to work.”

  “It must be hard for her. I dare say it is not the first time something like this has happened.”

  “Kate is a very bright child,” said Maggie. “I have often thought that she needs to be educated by someone who really knows how to do it…someone of good family who can teach her that little more than we are able to.”

  “You are suggesting that we employ a governess, and it should be this gentleman’s daughter who suddenly has become impoverished?”

  “That’s the notion.”

  “Maggie, we are not in a position…”

  Maggie said: “This girl…her name is Christobel Carew. Jenny thinks she would be delighted to come. Well, not Jenny so much, it’s Rose—Rose Dawson—who knows about it all. You see, now that Rose has become so friendly with Lord Hazeldown, she moves in very high circles and that is how she has heard of this young lady. Rose knows a great deal about her. She had met her before disaster overtook the family and in fact she has spoken to her on this matter. Mistress Carew has told her that she would be glad to get a suitable post. She does not want some grand mansion. That would be too painful for her. What she wants is a home, where the people would be kind to her, treat her as an equal and there would be a roof over her head. She does not ask a large salary. I like what I hear. I think it is a big chance for Kate. Just think. She will learn gracious manners, as well as reading and writing. It’s a chance in a million, Sarah.”

  I hesitated. I had often thought that Kate should have a governess. I was earning a fair salary at the theater, but an actress’s work was not regular. Although I was by now fairly successful, I was not working all the time. I had encroached on Maggie’s bounty enough.

  Maggie knew what I was thinking.

  “Christobel will only take a small wage. What she needs is to find the right place. When Rose told her, Jenny thought of us right away. They were certain that this is exactly the place which would suit Christobel.” Maggie looked at me defiantly. “I am going to ask her to come to see us.”

  “Maggie, we have to think of the expense.”

  “It’s not great. Jenny has told Christobel about Kate, and she is just the age Christobel feels she can manage. She is looking for a home like this. It can do no harm to see her.”

  So Christobel came.

  I liked her from the beginning. It was obv
ious that she was of good breeding. Everything about her pointed to that. Moreover, she was modest and clearly anxious to please.

  She told us much of what Jenny had and how she was eager to have some employment.

  I said we could only pay a small salary and she assured me that that was not the most important thing to her. She had a very small income, which meant she need not be deeply concerned about the money. What she needed was a place where she could be with friendly people. I gathered it was her feeling that to be in a house similar to the one she had just left and in which she would now be relegated to the position of a servant—even a higher one—would have been intolerable. She was being very frank with us and she hoped we understood.

  As she talked I was becoming more and more pleased with the idea. I was often at the theater. Maggie adored Kate, and Kate was certainly very fond of her, but Maggie was old and I knew that nowadays she was often in pain. It would be good for Maggie as well as Kate to have a young person in the house.

  Christobel was bright and intelligent; and something told me that she was very anxious to come to us.

  I looked at Maggie. “If you think we really can afford…”

  “Of course we can,” said Maggie.

  “I do have my small income,” said Christobel. “And it is very important to me to find a place where I can be happy. I was very excited when I heard that you were the famous actress.”

  “Well, perhaps a little known in theatrical circles.”

  “She is over-modest,” said Maggie happily, for she knew I was won over.

  “I should very much like you to come,” I said. “Shall we ask Kate how she feels?”

  “I was just about to suggest it,” replied Maggie.

  Kate and Christobel took a liking to each other at once.

  The matter was settled and Christobel joined our household.

  Christobel quickly became one of us. She was natural and had no airs and graces, as Maggie called them. I could see that she was happy with her new home. Martha liked her and she and Jane were clearly pleased to have such an interesting addition to the household.